Kenna Baugus Henkel
Papers
8
Total Citations
40
H-Index
4
About
Kenna Baugus Henkel is a pioneering researcher at the intersection of human-robot interaction and mental healthcare, whose work focuses on designing socially assistive robots as therapeutic tools. Her primary research areas include socially therapeutic assistive robots (STARs), digital health systems, and affective communication technologies for mental health interventions. Henkel’s most significant contribution is the development of Therabot™, a robotic support companion designed as a stuffed animal dog to address depression symptoms and supplement therapist-directed interventions. Her highly cited paper, “Conceptualizing socially-assistive robots as a digital therapeutic tool in healthcare” (16 citations), establishes the foundational framework for integrating AI-driven robots into clinical care, while “What Skin Is Your Robot In?” (8 citations) explores the critical role of robot personalization in treating depression. Through user-centered design workshops with individuals living with depression and clinicians, she has developed evidence-based design guidelines for therapeutic robots, as detailed in her 2024 publication. Henkel’s work on the Emotibot tool for multi-sensory affect communication and her privacy model for socially assistive robots further demonstrates her comprehensive approach to ethical, effective robot design. Her research, though early in its citation trajectory, is shaping the future of digital mental health interventions.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1
- 2What Skin Is Your Robot In?8 citations · 2023
- 3
- 4The Evolving Design of a Socially Therapeutic Robotic Dog*4 citations · 2023
- 5
- 6Emotibot: An Interactive Tool for Multi-Sensory Affect Communication2 citations · 2024
- 7
- 8