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About

Joanna Butchart is a leading researcher at the intersection of socially assistive robotics (SARs) and paediatric rehabilitation. Her work focuses on the human-centered design, clinical deployment, and stakeholder acceptance of robots that support children with physical disabilities during therapy. Butchart’s major contributions include pioneering the *in situ* adaptation of general-purpose social robots for real-world clinical settings, as demonstrated in her most-cited work (37 citations), which outlines a participatory design process with therapists and families at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne. She has also provided critical insights into the perceptions of children, parents, and physiotherapists regarding the therapeutic value and acceptability of SARs—her 2019 study (33 citations) offers one of the first in-depth analyses of child and parent perspectives. With over 80 combined citations across her key papers, Butchart’s research is shaping how technology is integrated into paediatric care. Her recent work (2024) further explores the broader explosion of technology in rehabilitation, framed through the “F-words in Child Development” lens. Butchart’s achievements lie in bridging engineering, clinical practice, and patient experience, making her a pivotal voice in the future of child-centred rehabilitation technology.