Turning years of human-robot interaction research into design people can trust
Persuasive Robotics
Our most extensive line of research examines how robots can influence human decisions and behaviour, from adaptive persuasion strategies to the effects of authority, directness, and competition on trust and compliance.
Human-Centered Systems & Applications
We study how robots communicate nonverbally, learn cooperative behaviours from demonstration, and apply human-centered research methods to real systems, from social robots to patient experience.
Overview
At the RAP Lab, our research explores the intersection of technology and human behavior, with a focus on how robotics, AI, and interactive systems can be designed to enhance human experience. Our work spans experimental studies, system design, and applied applications—blending technical innovation with human-centered inquiry. For a more detailed list of publications, feel free to explore the Director’s Google Scholar profile.
Persuasion & Trust
"Our core research strand examines how robots can ethically influence human decisions and behaviour. We study adaptive persuasion strategies, the role of authority and directness, and how competition and framing affect trust and compliance in human-robot interaction."
Communication & Behaviour
"We investigate how robots communicate nonverbally through gesture, gaze, and expression, and how these cues shape the way people interpret and respond to social robots, drawing on a broad survey of nonverbal communication research."
Robot Learning
"Our lab develops learning methods that let robots acquire cooperative behaviours from demonstration and adapt to their environment using sensor and actuator data, grounding our human-centered research in real robotic systems."
Human-Centered Design
"Beyond the lab, we apply ethnographic and human-centered methods to real-world systems and patient experiences, keeping our research on artificial persons connected to how people actually live with technology."
Publications
Stay up to date with our latest academic contributions. This section is regularly updated with new peer-reviewed papers, conference proceedings, and collaborative works from our team.
Saunderson, S., & Nejat, G. (2022). Hybrid hierarchical learning for adaptive persuasion in human-robot interaction. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 7(2), 5520-5527. https://doi.org/10.1109/LRA.2022.3140813
Saunderson, S., & Nejat, G. (2022). Investigating strategies for robot persuasion in social human–robot interaction. IEEE Transactions on Cybernetics, 52(1), 641-653. https://doi.org/10.1109/TCYB.2020.2987463
Saunderson, S. P., & Nejat, G. (2021). Persuasive robots should avoid authority: the effects of formal and real authority on persuasion in human-robot interaction. Science Robotics, 6(58). https://doi.org/10.1126/scirobotics.abd5186
Saunderson, S., & Nejat, G. (2021). Robots asking for favors: the effects of directness and familiarity on persuasive hri. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 6(2), 1793-1800. https://doi.org/10.1109/LRA.2021.3060369
Saunderson, S., & Nejat, G. (2019). How robots influence humans: a survey of nonverbal communication in social human–robot interaction. International Journal of Social Robotics, 11(4), 575-608. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12369-019-00523-
Saunderson, S., & Nejat, G. (2019). It would make me happy if you used my guess: comparing robot persuasive strategies in social human–robot interaction. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 4(2), 1707-1714. https://doi.org/10.1109/LRA.2019.2897143
Lafleche, J., Saunderson, S., & Nejat, G. (2019). Robot cooperative behavior learning using single-shot learning from demonstration and parallel hidden markov models. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 4(2), 193-200. https://doi.org/10.1109/LRA.2018.2885584
(2018). Competitive persuasive strategies for social human-robot interactions. IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) Workshop on Robotic Co-workers 4.0: Human Safety and Comfort in Human-Robot Interactive Social Environments
Schiff, M., Saunderson, S., Mountian, I., & Hartley, P. (2017). Chronic disease and self-injection: ethnographic investigations into the patient experience during treatment. Rheumatology and Therapy, 4(2), 445-463. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40744-017-0080-4
Schiff, M., Aris, M., Saunderson, S., Mountian, I., & Hartley, P. (2016). Sat0631-hpr chronic disease and self-injection: ethnographic investigations into the patient experience during treatment. Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, 75, 1291-1292. https://doi.org/10.1136/annrheumdis-2016-eular.1799