Papers
22
Total Citations
383
H-Index
11
About
Minja Axelsson is a leading researcher at the intersection of social robotics, participatory design, and mental well-being technology. Her work centers on developing human-centered frameworks for creating robots that can serve as coaches and companions in sensitive contexts, particularly workplace mental health support and assistive technology for children with autism. Axelsson’s most significant contribution is the "Social Robot Co-Design Canvases" (79 citations), a pioneering participatory design framework that enables multidisciplinary teams to collaboratively shape robotic systems. She has also advanced the field of robotic mental well-being coaching, with multiple highly cited papers (46+ citations each) exploring how robots can deliver mindfulness practices, group meditation, and personalized coaching in real-world settings like public cafes and workplaces. Her research uniquely combines ethical considerations with technical innovation, as seen in her work on continual learning for affective robotics and LLM-equipped coaching systems. Notably, Axelsson has explored humor-robot interaction and assistive sign language tutoring for children with ASD, demonstrating the breadth of her impact. With over 300 total citations and a growing portfolio of design and ethical recommendations, she is shaping how socially assistive robots can be responsibly integrated into human-centered environments.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1Social Robot Co-Design Canvases: A Participatory Design Framework79 citations · 2021
- 2Robotic Mental Well-being Coaches for the Workplace46 citations · 2023
- 3
- 4
- 5Robots as Mental Well-being Coaches: Design and Ethical Recommendations26 citations · 2024
- 6Participatory Design of a Robotic Mental Well-being Coach20 citations · 2021
- 7Robotic Coaches Delivering Group Mindfulness Practice at a Public Cafe18 citations · 2023
- 8Continual Learning for Affective Robotics: A Proof of Concept for Wellbeing17 citations · 2022
- 9
- 10