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About

Bilge Mutlu is a leading researcher in human-robot interaction (HRI), whose work has fundamentally shaped how robots communicate, collaborate, and coexist with humans in social and professional environments. Best known for his pioneering investigations into robot gaze behavior, proxemics, and conversational dynamics, Mutlu has consistently bridged social-scientific theory with robotics engineering to produce robots that feel genuinely natural to interact with. His early work on storytelling robots and gaze modeling (354 citations) established foundational principles for expressive robot behavior, while his studies on conversational footing (385 citations) and proxemics (447 citations) demonstrated how robots can navigate the subtle, unspoken rules of human social life. Mutlu has extended this work into organizational settings, examining how robots reshape workplace dynamics (359 citations) and how collaborative manufacturing robots affect human workers (218 citations). His research on persuasive robots, embodiment, and anticipatory robot control reflects a consistent commitment to making robots effective partners across education, industry, and everyday life. With multiple papers exceeding 200 citations and a body of work spanning over a decade, Mutlu stands as one of the most influential voices in socially intelligent robotics today.