Max Robotics — Global Service Robot Directory + US Certification

About

Kyler Smith is pioneering the emerging field of socially therapeutic assistive robotics (STAR), with a focus on developing interactive technologies for mental healthcare. Their most notable contribution is the creation of **Therabot™**, a stuffed-dog-shaped STAR designed to supplement therapist-directed interventions. Smith’s work addresses the critical gap in design standards for therapeutic robots, as detailed in their 2023 paper *"From Components to Caring"* (4 citations), which outlines Therabot’s development trajectory. They further advanced the field with **Emotibot** (2024, 2 citations), a multi-sensory tool enabling dynamic emotional communication between users and robots. Smith also introduced a **modular sensor collar** for Therabot (2024, 1 citation), enabling real-time contextual data collection in home environments. By integrating affect communication, modular sensing, and ethical design, Smith’s research lays the groundwork for robots that can genuinely support mental health—a domain where human-robot interaction meets clinical empathy. Their work is already shaping how researchers approach the design of emotionally intelligent, therapeutic machines.