Max Robotics — Global Service Robot Directory + US Certification

About

Khanh Nguyen-Trong is a leading researcher at the intersection of social robotics, service innovation, and healthcare, with a primary focus on improving the quality of life for vulnerable populations. Her work centers on designing and deploying socially assistive robots for dementia and autism care, demonstrating how human-robot interaction can be personalized to meet individual needs. Her most influential study, “Service innovation through social robot engagement to improve dementia care quality” (113 citations), provides foundational evidence that robot engagement in residential care facilities can meaningfully enhance care quality for people with dementia. In a landmark nine-month, 191-hour home-based trial, Nguyen-Trong investigated service personalization for young people with autism, showing how adaptive robot design—such as altering interaction modalities—improves engagement and reciprocity. She has also pioneered frameworks for autonomous service personalization based on emotion feedback, enabling robots to learn user preferences over time for elderly care. Her work is notable for its long-term, real-world deployments and its emphasis on co-designing services that are both technically innovative and deeply human-centered, making her a key voice in the field of assistive robotics.