Devyani Mclaren
Papers
2
Total Citations
9
H-Index
2
About
Devyani McLaren is a pioneering researcher at the intersection of affective computing, haptics, and human-robot interaction. Her work fundamentally reimagines how machines can perceive and communicate human emotion through touch. In her landmark 2024 study, "What is Affective Touch Made Of? A Soft Capacitive Sensor Array Reveals the Interplay between Shear, Normal Stress and Individuality" (7 citations), McLaren developed a novel soft capacitive sensor array that captures the nuanced mechanical parameters—shear and normal stress—that humans instinctively use to express emotion through touch. This breakthrough addresses a critical gap in touch-sensing technology, providing the sensory richness needed to estimate affect from physical contact. Her research also extends to improving human connectedness in remote collaboration. In her 2023 work, "Demonstrating Virtual Teamwork with Synchrobots" (2 citations), she introduced "Synchrobots"—a robot-mediated approach designed to combat "Zoom fatigue" by restoring the nonverbal communication lost in virtual workspaces. By engineering systems that both read and generate affective touch, McLaren is laying the groundwork for more empathetic, embodied human-machine interactions, with profound implications for robotics, telepresence, and assistive technologies.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
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