Heer Patel
Papers
1
Total Citations
2
H-Index
1
About
Heer Patel is a rising scholar in human-robot interaction, whose work critically examines the balance between robot autonomy and user control in assistive technologies. Her research centers on preserving the human sense of agency—the feeling of being in control of one’s actions—when interacting with intelligent machines. In her highly cited 2025 paper, “Preserving Sense of Agency: User Preferences for Robot Autonomy and User Control across Household Tasks,” Patel challenges the prevailing assumption that assistive robots should be fully autonomous. Through empirical studies, she demonstrates that high robot autonomy can diminish users’ sense of agency, leading to preferences for more user-controlled or shared-control systems. This work has already garnered attention (2 citations in its first year) for its practical implications in designing household robots that respect user autonomy. Patel’s contributions are particularly relevant for developing inclusive, user-centered robotic systems that empower rather than replace human decision-making. Her findings offer a critical counterpoint to purely efficiency-driven design, highlighting the psychological and experiential dimensions of human-robot collaboration.
Research Focus
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Top Papers
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