Andreea Peca
Papers
11
Total Citations
945
H-Index
9
About
Andreea Peca is a pioneering researcher in human-robot interaction (HRI), with a focused expertise on robot-assisted therapy for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Her work explores how social robots—such as Nao, Probo, and Keepon—can enhance social engagement, communication, and ethical acceptability in therapeutic settings. Her most influential study, "Children with autism social engagement in interaction with Nao, an imitative robot" (264 citations), demonstrated that children with ASD show increased social engagement when interacting with a robot that imitates their movements in real-time, compared to a human partner. This finding, replicated in a series of single-case experiments (211 citations), has shaped the design of robot-mediated interventions. Peca also led a widely-cited survey (207 citations) on ethical expectations, trust, and sociability in robot-assisted therapy, addressing critical questions about attachment and appearance. Her work with Probo, the social robot, showed children with ASD successfully completing collaborative tasks like making a fruit salad (107 citations). With over 900 total citations, Peca’s research bridges robotics, developmental psychology, and ethics, offering practical insights for designing robots that support social skill development in vulnerable populations.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
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- 8Do infants perceive the social robot Keepon as a communicative partner?14 citations · 2015
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