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About

Jacqueline Urakami is a researcher at the forefront of human-robot interaction (HRI) and human-AI interaction, with a particular focus on nonverbal communication, trust, and relationship-building between humans and artificial agents. Her influential 2022 review on nonverbal cues in HRI (93 citations) established foundational guidelines for designing robots that communicate more naturally and accessibly, drawing meaningfully from communication studies. Complementing this, her equally impactful work on trust in human-AI interaction (77 citations) systematically mapped the models, measures, and methods used across diverse AI systems — from robots to autonomous vehicles — helping to standardize a fragmented field. Urakami has also explored how verbal and nonverbal exchanges shape collaborative bonds between humans and robots, and whether emotionally expressive robots elicit greater cooperation from human partners. Her research on social robots as public speakers further demonstrates her interest in expanding robots' real-world communicative roles, particularly in educational contexts. Across her body of work, Urakami consistently bridges communication theory and robotics engineering, offering researchers and designers practical frameworks for creating AI agents that people can genuinely trust, relate to, and collaborate with effectively.