Melinda W. Pilkinton

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About

Melinda W. Pilkinton is a pioneering researcher at the intersection of human-robot interaction and child psychology, with a primary focus on leveraging social robots as sensitive information-gathering tools. Her most impactful work, "Using robots to interview children about bullying" (52 citations), demonstrates how robotic interviewers can elicit more candid disclosures from children aged 8-12 compared to human interviewers—a breakthrough with profound implications for forensic psychology and child welfare. In "He can read your mind" (9 citations), she explored children's perceptions of robot cognition, revealing how young participants anthropomorphize robotic guessers during interactive games. Her third major contribution, "Moving toward an intelligent interactive social engagement framework" (6 citations), proposes a novel multidisciplinary architecture for using robots as intermediaries in sensitive data collection. Pilkinton's work uniquely bridges robotics, developmental psychology, and ethical interviewing practices, showing that robots can reduce social desirability bias in children's responses. Her research has direct applications in bullying prevention, trauma-informed interviewing, and educational technology, positioning her as a key figure in designing child-centered robotic systems that prioritize emotional safety while gathering critical information.