Deanna Hood

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Papers

Total Citations

286

H-Index

About

Deanna Hood’s research lies at the intersection of human-robot interaction, educational technology, and developmental robotics, with a particular focus on how robots can support children’s learning through social and cognitive engagement. Her most influential work centers on the “learning by teaching” paradigm, where children take on the role of instructor for a humanoid robot. In her landmark 2015 paper, “When Children Teach a Robot to Write” (171 citations), she introduced a novel robotic system that learns handwriting from children, thereby stimulating meta-cognition, empathy, and self-esteem in young users. This work was extended in her 2016 study (83 citations), which demonstrated the system’s effectiveness with children diagnosed with visuoconstructive deficits, showing how the robot could adapt to individual learning needs. Hood is also a key contributor to the CoWriter Project at EPFL, which has garnered attention for its innovative use of robots as teachable agents in special education contexts. Her research has been recognized for its potential to transform assistive learning technologies, making her a leading voice in socially assistive robotics.