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About

Gabrielle Vasquez is a pioneering researcher in human-robot interaction (HRI) and immersive virtual reality (IVR), with a focused expertise on how humans team with autonomous robotic agents. Her major contributions center on developing and validating novel simulation methodologies—specifically, using commercially available head-mounted displays (HMDs) like the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive—to study distributed human-robot teaming in controlled, repeatable environments. Vasquez designed a dynamic signal detection-based task within IVR to rigorously measure operator workload and communication effectiveness during human-robot collaboration. Her work, including the chapter "Human Performance with Autonomous Robotic Teammates," chronicles the transition of the Team Performance Lab’s methodologies from physical to virtual worlds, offering a scalable framework for testing autonomous teammate interactions. While her most-cited papers each hold 2 citations, their collective impact lies in establishing foundational, reproducible IVR-based testbeds for HRI research. Vasquez’s achievements include advancing the evaluation of binocular HMDs for their unique benefits in simulating agent interactions, directly informing the design of safer, more efficient human-robot teams. Her research is essential reading for scholars exploring the intersection of virtual reality, human factors, and autonomous systems.