Virginia Contreras
Papers
6
Total Citations
115
H-Index
5
About
Virginia Contreras is a pioneering researcher in human-robot interaction, focusing on the social and ethical dimensions of robotics. Her work critically examines how people perceive and treat robots, particularly those designed with humanlike features. Contreras’s most cited paper (59 citations) explores public reactions to humanlike robots on YouTube, revealing an appearance-based uncanny valley, fears of a “Technology Takeover,” and the sexualization of female-gendered robots. She further investigates how robots racialized as marginalized identities face greater dehumanization (34 citations), and how verbal abuse toward female-gendered robots intersects with racialization (8 citations). Her studies show that verbal disinhibition toward robots correlates with general antisociality (6 citations), and that the uncanny valley persists even with repeated exposure (5 citations). Contreras also designs novel robotic systems, such as an antisocial robot that uses negative affect to reinforce cooperation (3 citations). Her work has profound implications for robot design, ethics, and social justice, challenging engineers and policymakers to consider how robotic appearances and behaviors can perpetuate or mitigate real-world biases.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
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- 5The Uncanny Valley Manifests Even with Exposure to Robots5 citations · 2020
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