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About

Joonhwan Lee is a leading researcher in human-robot interaction (HRI), with a focus on how social robots and conversational agents can enhance human communication and well-being. His work spans robot personality, humor, and telepresence, blending experimental design with real-world applications. Lee’s most cited study, “The Effect of Robot's Ice-breaking Humor on Likeability and Future Contact Intentions” (2020, 21 citations), demonstrates that strategic use of jokes during greetings and topic transitions can significantly boost robot likeability and reduce awkwardness, offering practical insights for designing more engaging social robots. In his 2024 paper “I feel being there, they feel being together” (16 citations), he explores how telepresence robots facilitate long-distance family communication, revealing that these tools can foster a sense of co-presence and shared experience, bridging emotional gaps in geographically separated families. Lee also investigates user expectations for robot personality based on task context (2018) and the gender dynamics of chatbots (2021). His innovative “Apprentice of Oz” system (2019) reduces cognitive load for human operators in Wizard of Oz studies, advancing experimental methods in HRI. With a growing citation impact, Lee’s work is shaping the future of socially intelligent robots that connect people across distances.