Mara Brandt
Papers
3
Total Citations
13
H-Index
3
About
Mara Brandt investigates the cognitive and architectural foundations of human–robot interaction (HRI), focusing on how people perceive, trust, and collaborate with autonomous systems. Her work bridges robotics, cognitive science, and human factors to make robot behavior more transparent and intuitive. In her highly cited 2024 paper, “What you need to know about a learning robot,” Brandt identifies the enabling architecture of complex systems, addressing how lay users form misconceptions about robot errors—misunderstandings that can lead to misuse and rejection. She further explores the subtle dynamics of interaction in her 2023 study on EEG correlates of distractions and hesitations, revealing that a robot’s hesitant speech can paradoxically improve human comprehension, a finding with implications for designing more effective communication strategies. Brandt is also the lead architect of RISE, an open-source, interdisciplinary platform for reproducible HRI research, enabling researchers to design and share complex interaction studies with greater transparency and rigor. With over a dozen citations already for her early-career work, Brandt is establishing herself as a key voice in making human–robot collaboration more understandable, trustworthy, and scientifically reproducible.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
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