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About

Madeleine E. Hackney is a pioneering researcher at the intersection of rehabilitation science, human-robot interaction, and motor neuroscience, with a particular focus on leveraging dance and movement-based therapies to improve health outcomes in aging populations and individuals with Parkinson's disease. Her work has made significant strides in understanding how physical human-human and human-robot interactions can facilitate rehabilitation, accumulating over 230 citations across her most notable publications. Hackney's most influential contributions explore how robots can serve as partner dance facilitators for older adults, examining both their technical capabilities and user acceptance — a nuanced challenge given the intimate physical contact that partner dance requires. Her 2017 study on older adults' acceptance of dance-based robotic partners (90 citations) broke important ground in this space. Complementing this, her investigations into the subtle haptic forces exchanged during cooperative motor tasks have revealed how even small physical cues can meaningfully communicate movement goals between individuals. More recently, Hackney has expanded into cognitive neuroscience, exploring how creative movement shapes learning, memory, and sensorimotor integration. Her evolving research program positions robotic-assisted exercise as a credible, scalable solution to physical therapy shortages, offering profound implications for clinical rehabilitation practice.