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About

Bernt Meerbeek is a human-robot interaction researcher whose work sits at the intersection of social robotics, personality design, and user experience. Best known for his foundational contributions to the iCat platform — a desktop robotic interface capable of mechanically rendered facial expressions that has accumulated over 200 citations — Meerbeek has helped establish how personality and expressive behavior can serve as core design principles for interactive robots. His research explores how users perceive, respond to, and prefer different robot personalities, investigating critical questions around user control, trust, and emotional engagement. Meerbeek's work extends beyond laboratory platforms into everyday domestic contexts. His widely cited study on robot vacuum cleaner personality and behavior (85 citations) demonstrates a practical commitment to understanding how robotic appliances can be designed to meet real user expectations in the home. Through iterative design methodologies and structured user evaluations, he has developed frameworks that guide the creation of robots with coherent, expressive, and socially appropriate personalities. With a body of work spanning robotic TV assistants, expressive robot design methods, and domestic robot applications, Meerbeek has made meaningful contributions to the field of social robotics, helping researchers and designers better understand how personality shapes the human experience of living and working alongside robots.