Simran Bhatia

About

Simran Bhatia is a rising leader in human-robot interaction, focusing on how social robots can support adolescent mental health and social connection. Her groundbreaking mixed-methods research, including her most-cited work "The Experience and Effect of Adolescent to Robot Stress Disclosure" (16 citations), explores how teens disclose stressors to robots—a novel approach to addressing youth loneliness. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Bhatia's co-design study with isolated adolescents demonstrated that social robots could provide safe, infection-free social interaction, a critical contribution when in-person connection was limited. Her work on embodiment preferences (12 citations) reveals which robot forms teens find most comfortable for sharing emotions. Bhatia also innovates in research methodology, pioneering collaborative virtual reality games and web-based VR for participatory robot design—enabling remote user studies during pandemic restrictions. With over 56 citations across her key papers, Bhatia's human-centered design approach is shaping how robots can become trusted companions for vulnerable youth, bridging technology and developmental psychology in ways that promise to redefine social robotics for generations to come.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   The Experience and Effect of Adolescent to Robot Stress Disclosure: A Mixed-Methods Exploration

   16 citations · 2020
2. 2
   Robots for Connection: A Co-Design Study with Adolescents

   12 citations · 2022
3. 3
   Sharing stressors with a social robot prototype: What embodiment do adolescents prefer?

   12 citations · 2021
4. 4
   Designing a Collaborative Virtual Reality Game for Teen-Robot Interactions

   10 citations · 2019
5. 5
   Exploring Web-Based VR for Participatory Robot Design

   6 citations · 2021

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links