Max Robotics — Global Service Robot Directory + US Certification

About

Benjamin Balas is a cognitive scientist whose research lies at the intersection of visual perception, social cognition, and human-robot interaction. His work investigates how the human brain processes faces—particularly when those faces blur the line between human and machine. Balas has made major contributions to understanding the “uncanny valley” phenomenon, showing that robot faces elicit neural responses intermediate to those triggered by human faces and inanimate objects. In his most-cited paper (2021, 12 citations), he demonstrated that face-sensitive ERP components like the P100 and N170 respond differently to robotic versus human faces, revealing the brain’s sensitivity to subtle variations in humanness. His follow-up work (2021, 4 citations) showed that uncanny appearance directly impacts face memorability, linking perceptual processing to memory. Balas’s research has important implications for robotics design, social neuroscience, and our understanding of how the brain categorizes social agents. By probing the boundaries of face perception, he helps illuminate what makes a face feel truly human—and what happens when it doesn’t.