William Agnew

Papers

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About

William Agnew is a leading researcher at the intersection of robotics, artificial intelligence, and ethics, whose work critically examines how embodied AI systems perpetuate societal harms. His most influential paper, "Robots Enact Malignant Stereotypes" (2022, 50+ citations), is a landmark study demonstrating that robots—through biases embedded in vision and language models like CLIP—physically act out harmful gender and racial stereotypes, moving the conversation on AI bias from abstract datasets to tangible, physical consequences. This work has been pivotal in shaping the emerging field of robot ethics and responsible AI deployment. In parallel, Agnew contributes to foundational robotics with "Amodal 3D Reconstruction for Robotic Manipulation via Stability and Connectivity" (2020, 9 citations), where he developed novel learning-based methods that prioritize physical interaction constraints over visual fidelity, enabling robots to better grasp and manipulate novel objects. By bridging critical social analysis with technical robotics innovation, Agnew’s research challenges the field to build systems that are not only capable but also just and equitable.