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About

Elena Moltchanova investigates the nuanced dynamics of human-robot interaction (HRI), focusing on how physical and social factors shape our relationships with autonomous systems. Her key research areas include interpersonal distance, nonverbal communication, and the influence of identity markers like ethnicity and professional status in human-agent encounters. In her most cited work, "Stop! That is close enough. How body postures influence human-robot proximity" (58 citations), she demonstrated that a robot's posture—whether sitting or standing—significantly alters the comfortable distance humans maintain, with implications for safe and intuitive robot design. She further explored how agents’ perceived social hierarchies and cultural backgrounds affect user trust and engagement, as seen in her study on professional status and ethnicity. Moltchanova also addresses a critical challenge in HRI: communicating uncertainty. Her work on expressing probability in human-robot contexts highlights the difficulty laypeople face with statistical concepts, urging clearer risk communication in research and policy. By emphasizing individual differences over broad emotional categories in perception studies, she underscores the need for personalized HRI design. Her contributions advance our understanding of how robots can navigate social spaces, making them more acceptable and effective partners.