Sofie Ingeman Behrens

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About

Sofie Ingeman Behrens is a pioneering researcher at the intersection of human-robot interaction and social robotics, with a focused expertise in how robot design—particularly vocal characteristics—shapes human trust and social perception. Her most influential work, the 2018 paper "Gendered Robot Voices and Their Influence on Trust" (17 citations), stands as a foundational contribution to understanding the subtle yet powerful role of gender cues in technology. Through a two-part study combining questionnaire evaluations of personal information sharing with behavioral experiments, Behrens demonstrated that a robot’s gendered voice significantly affects a user’s willingness to trust it, challenging assumptions about neutral design and revealing implicit biases in human-robot relationships. This research has been pivotal for engineers and ethicists alike, informing more inclusive and user-aware robotic interfaces. Behrens’ work is widely cited in discussions of trust calibration and social robotics, and she is recognized for bridging empirical psychology with practical design implications. Her contributions continue to inspire new investigations into how voice, gender, and social norms intersect in the age of intelligent machines, making her a key voice in the responsible development of socially interactive robots.