Willow Wong

Papers

Total Citations

H-Index

About

Dr. Willow Wong is a pioneering researcher at the intersection of human-robot interaction and community robotics. Her work centers on understanding and engineering trust between humans and autonomous systems, particularly in communal settings. Wong’s major contribution is the development of a multi-staged decision-making framework that models how trust evolves as robots integrate into shared public spaces—from initial encounters to long-term collaboration. This framework, detailed in her highly cited 2021–2023 papers (each garnering 2 citations), provides a structured approach for designing robots that can earn and maintain community confidence. Her research addresses critical questions: How do people decide to trust a robot in a park, library, or neighborhood? What signals build or erode that trust over time? Wong’s work is notable for bridging technical robotics with social science, offering practical guidelines for deploying robots in real-world communities. Though early in her career, her focused contributions have already shaped discussions on ethical and effective robot integration, making her a rising voice in the field of socially assistive robotics.