Christopher Widdowson
Papers
5
Total Citations
37
H-Index
3
About
Christopher Widdowson is a pioneering researcher in human-robot interaction, specializing in the safe and socially aware integration of small flying robots—or multicopters—into human-populated environments. His work uniquely bridges robotics, virtual reality, and human factors, with a core focus on understanding and modeling human safety perception during close-proximity encounters with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Widdowson’s major contributions include developing a novel motion planning framework that accounts for human comfort and perceived safety, as detailed in his most-cited paper, "Socially Aware Path Planning for a Flying Robot in Close Proximity of Humans" (2019, 21 citations). He also created a VR simulator to study collocated human-UAV interaction in residential settings, enabling the measurement of emotional responses like intrigue or alarm. His notable "Carebots" work (2016, 4 citations) proposes a multidisciplinary approach to augment elder care through cooperative flying robots. Widdowson further advanced the field by introducing a novel head-movement measure of safety perception in VR (2023, 3 citations). Though his citation counts are modest, his foundational studies on socially aware flight and human-centric design are critical for the future of autonomous systems in everyday life.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1Socially Aware Path Planning for a Flying Robot in Close Proximity of Humans21 citations · 2019
- 2
- 3Carebots4 citations · 2016
- 4
- 5VR study of human-multicopter interaction in a residential setting2 citations · 2016