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About

Boyoung Kim is a cognitive and social scientist whose research sits at the intersection of human-robot interaction, moral cognition, and robot ethics. With over 300 cumulative citations, Kim has established herself as a leading voice in understanding how humans perceive, judge, and interact with robotic agents in increasingly complex social contexts. Kim's most influential work examines the moral dimensions of human-robot relationships. Her 2016 paper on moral judgments of human versus robot agents (77 citations) probed fundamental questions about whether and how people apply ethical standards to machines, directly informing robot design decisions. Her investigations into robots as moral advisors — exploring deontological, virtue-based, and Confucian ethical frameworks — reveal how robotic agents can meaningfully guide human decision-making and promote honesty. Kim has also made significant contributions to understanding the uncanny valley phenomenon, co-developing the Anthropomorphic RoBOT (ABOT) Database and conducting comprehensive re-evaluations of how human-likeness shapes emotional responses to robots. Her work on robot teleoperation interfaces and human-machine teaming further demonstrates her breadth across both theoretical and applied domains. Taken together, Kim's scholarship illuminates the psychological and ethical landscape of a world increasingly populated by social and autonomous robots, offering essential guidance for researchers, engineers, and policymakers alike.