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About

Henriette Cramer is a prominent researcher in human-robot interaction (HRI) and human-computer interaction, whose work has fundamentally shaped our understanding of how people perceive, respond to, and form attitudes toward robots and autonomous systems. Her research spans empathic robot behavior, physical touch in HRI, telepresence robotics, and the deployment of robots in real-world environments. Among her most influential contributions is her investigation into robot empathy, exploring how accurate versus inaccurate empathic responses affect user attitudes — a paper that has garnered over 90 citations. Her studies on robotic touch and proactive behavior revealed nuanced dynamics in how physical contact shapes human perceptions of social agents, while her hospital robot field study provided rare, grounded insight into how staff genuinely respond to autonomous robots in semi-public workplaces. Cramer also made methodological contributions by critically evaluating and adapting the widely-used Negative Attitude toward Robots Scale (NARS) for telepresence contexts. Her PhD thesis further synthesized findings on human interaction with adaptive and autonomous systems more broadly. With research spanning laboratory experiments, field deployments, and scale development, Cramer's body of work — accumulating hundreds of citations — remains essential reading for anyone studying social robotics and human-agent interaction.