Elizabeth J. Phillips
Papers
6
Total Citations
41
H-Index
4
About
Elizabeth J. Phillips is a leading researcher in human-robot interaction (HRI), with a focus on how people perceive, trust, and morally evaluate intelligent robots. Her work bridges cognitive science, social psychology, and ethics to understand when humans attribute a humanlike mind to robots—a key insight from her highly cited 2019 paper (16 citations). Phillips has pioneered the study of moral HRI, developing systematic methods to examine how people respond when robots violate or justify norm conflicts; her 2023 paper on robot justifications (6 citations) reveals that explanations alone are insufficient to preserve trust, but justifications can mitigate moral criticism. She also explores foundational concepts like mental models for human-robot teamwork (2011, 8 citations) and draws analogies from human-animal teams (2012, 4 citations) to inform robot design. Most recently, her 2025 work investigates telepresence robots as an educational alternative to videoconferencing, showing that embodiment and presence matter for learning outcomes. With a career spanning over a decade, Phillips’ research has shaped how engineers and ethicists design robots that are not just tools, but socially integrated teammates. Her contributions are essential for anyone building robots that must navigate human norms, trust, and collaboration.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1How People Infer a Humanlike Mind from a Robot Body16 citations · 2019
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- 5Human-animal teams as an analog for future human-robot teams4 citations · 2012
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