Max Robotics — Global Service Robot Directory + US Certification

About

Michael Lewis is a pioneering researcher in human-robot interaction (HRI) whose work has fundamentally shaped how humans collaborate with, control, and trust robotic systems. His research spans three interconnected domains: HRI metrics and evaluation frameworks, multi-robot teaming for disaster response, and human control of robot swarms. Lewis made an early and lasting contribution by co-developing common metrics for task-oriented HRI (2006, 753 citations), providing the field with a standardized toolkit that remains foundational for researchers worldwide. His work on urban search and rescue robotics demonstrated practical architectures for deploying robot teams in life-critical environments, helping establish this application domain as a serious research frontier. Through his development and validation of the USARSim simulation platform, he gave the HRI community a rigorous, accessible tool for conducting reproducible research without costly physical deployments. Perhaps most distinctively, Lewis has been a leading voice in the emerging field of human-swarm interaction, investigating how a single operator can meaningfully influence large, autonomous robot collectives — a challenge with profound implications for disaster relief, military operations, and environmental monitoring. His examination of trust in human-robot relationships (2018, 276 citations) further reflects his commitment to understanding the human dimensions of increasingly autonomous systems. With over 2,000 cumulative citations, his influence on shaping responsible, human-centered robotics research is substantial and enduring.