Max Robotics — Global Service Robot Directory + US Certification

About

Poornima Kaniarasu is a leading researcher in human-robot interaction, specializing in the dynamics of trust between humans and autonomous systems. Her pioneering work focuses on understanding how robot failures, feedback, and user perceptions shape real-time trust during shared control scenarios. Kaniarasu’s most influential contribution is her 2013 study on the impact of robot failures and feedback on real-time trust, which has garnered over 220 citations. This research challenged traditional post-run trust measurements by revealing that the timing of reliability drops significantly affects trust and control allocation, introducing critical concepts like trust inertia. She further explored how blame attribution influences trust in human-robot interaction (2014, 53 citations) and developed methods for aligning robot confidence with user trust to improve system efficiency (2013, 32 citations). Kaniarasu also advanced quantitative measures for detecting trust changes without invasive surveys (2012, 31 citations), offering practical tools for real-time trust assessment. Her work has profound implications for designing more reliable and trustworthy autonomous systems in applications ranging from collaborative robotics to autonomous vehicles, making her a key figure in the field of human-automation trust.