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About

Danielle Langlois is a human-robot interaction researcher whose work sits at the intersection of social robotics, aging, and user-centered design. Her most influential contribution, a 2022 participatory design study conducted across the US and Japan, explored how socially facilitative robots can alleviate loneliness and social isolation among older adults — earning 32 citations and establishing her as a thoughtful voice in age-inclusive technology design. Langlois takes a deeply collaborative approach, centering the needs and preferences of older populations rather than imposing top-down technological solutions. Her qualitative interview-based research further examines how robots can meaningfully mediate human-to-human connection for adults aged 50 and above across cultural contexts. Beyond aging, Langlois investigates the social dynamics of human-robot teaming, including a provocative 2024 finding that pre-existing human relationships can actually increase resistance to robot teammates — a nuanced challenge for workplace robotics integration. Her earlier work on multimodal robot interfaces highlights her broader concern with reducing user error and cognitive load in increasingly autonomous systems. Across her portfolio, Langlois consistently champions ethical, human-centered design in robotics, making her research particularly valuable for scholars working at the boundary of technology, social well-being, and inclusive design.