Kendall Youngstrom

Papers

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About

Kendall Youngstrom is a pioneering researcher in social robotics and human-robot interaction, with a particular focus on using autonomous systems to study early childhood development. Their most cited work, "Home Alone: Social Robots for Digital Ethnography of Toddler Behavior" (2013, 21 citations), introduces a groundbreaking field study where the social robot RUBI-5 was left alone for 28 days to interact autonomously with 16 toddlers at an Early Childhood Education Center. This study, part of the long-running RUBI project initiated in 2004, demonstrates how robots can serve as non-intrusive tools for digital ethnography, capturing naturalistic toddler behavior without human observer bias. Youngstrom's contributions lie at the intersection of robotics, developmental psychology, and human-centered design, showing how autonomous social agents can collect rich behavioral data in real-world settings. Their work has influenced both the design of child-robot interaction protocols and the methodological approaches to studying early social and cognitive development. Though citation counts remain modest, the research represents a foundational step in leveraging robots as research instruments, opening new avenues for understanding how young children engage with technology and their environment.