Avram Block

Papers

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About

Avram Block’s research lies at the intersection of social robotics, human-robot interaction, and engineering education, with a particular focus on accessibility and inclusion. His work explores how robots can serve as both educational tools and assistive companions, especially for underrepresented groups and individuals with neurological conditions. In his most cited study, “Teaching Social Robotics to Motivate Women into Engineering and Robotics Careers” (2019, 9 citations), Block demonstrated that framing robotics around social applications—rather than mechanical tasks—significantly increased girls’ engagement and interest in STEM fields, offering a practical pathway to address gender disparities in engineering. His second highly cited paper, “Emotion expression in a socially assistive robot for persons with Parkinson’s disease” (2020, 8 citations), investigates how robots can communicate emotions through multimodal channels—kinesthetic, auditory, and semantic—to better support individuals with movement disorders. This work has implications for designing more empathetic and effective assistive technologies. Though early in his career, Block’s contributions are already shaping how robotics can be taught and deployed to foster inclusion, with his research cited in discussions on educational robotics, assistive technology, and diversity in engineering.