Wan-Ling Chang
Papers
14
Total Citations
1,021
H-Index
11
About
Wan-Ling Chang is a pioneering researcher at the intersection of human-robot interaction, assistive technology, and participatory design, with a particular focus on improving the lives of older adults and individuals with dementia. Her most celebrated work centers on the therapeutic seal-like robot PARO, which she rigorously evaluated across multiple nursing home studies beginning in 2013. Through careful observational and qualitative methodologies, Chang demonstrated how social robots can meaningfully shape interaction modalities in sensory therapy settings, accumulating over 450 citations across her PARO-related publications alone. Beyond evaluating existing technologies, Chang has made significant contributions to how social robots are designed in the first place — her 2017 paper on participatory design methodologies (212 citations) argues compellingly for centering the voices of end users, including vulnerable populations, in the development process. Her 2015 work on independently living older adults with depression further extended this human-centered approach. Across her body of work, Chang employs sociological frameworks such as the "social shaping of technology" to reveal how robots acquire meaning through real-world use, offering students and practitioners alike a richer, more nuanced understanding of human-robot relationships in care environments.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1
- 2Steps Toward Participatory Design of Social Robots212 citations · 2017
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- 5Interaction Expands Function84 citations · 2015
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