James Wen

Papers

Total Citations

H-Index

About

James Wen explores the psychological and ethical dimensions of human-robot teamwork, focusing on how people form emotional bonds with autonomous machines. His research challenges conventional assumptions about team cohesion, arguing that strong attachments to inherently expendable robots may hinder performance rather than enhance it. In his most cited work, “He who hesitates is lost (...in thoughts over a robot)” (2018, 14 citations), Wen suggests that hesitation driven by concern for a robot teammate can disrupt decision-making in high-stakes environments. His follow-up study, “Band of Brothers and Bolts: Caring About Your Robot Teammate” (2018, 5 citations), investigates whether empathic responses to suffering robots are fleeting or lead to lasting behavioral changes. By bridging robotics, psychology, and ethics, Wen’s work has implications for military, medical, and industrial teams where humans and robots collaborate. Though his citation counts are modest, his provocative insights are gaining traction among scholars studying human-robot interaction, prompting critical discussions about the costs of caring for machines.