Max Robotics — Global Service Robot Directory + US Certification

About

This researcher investigates the cognitive and perceptual mechanisms underlying human-robot interaction, with a focus on how we interpret and predict the actions of artificial agents. Their work bridges social cognition and robotics, exploring whether people ascribe intentions to humanoid robots in the same way they do to humans. A key contribution is demonstrating that human gaze facilitates action prediction more effectively than robotic gaze, revealing a fundamental difference in how we process biological versus artificial cues. Their studies on body form and action prediction show that a robot’s machine-like appearance can modulate our ability to anticipate its behavior, with implications for collaborative robotics. With over 50 citations across their most-cited works, including a meta-analysis on robotic surgery, their research has practical relevance for surgical training and human-robot teaming. Notable recent work challenges assumptions about anthropomorphism, asking whether humanoid robots are perceived as mindless mannequins. Their findings help define the perceptual boundaries between human and non-human agents, informing the design of more intuitive and trustworthy robotic systems for real-world applications.