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About

Paul Bremner is a leading researcher in socially assistive robotics and human-robot interaction (HRI), whose work focuses on designing robots that can engage, persuade, and ethically support people in real-world settings. His major contributions include demonstrating how social robots can enhance patient engagement in rehabilitative therapies—a finding from his highly cited 2018 study (110 citations) that has shaped the use of socially assistive robots (SARs) in clinical contexts. Bremner has also pioneered the study of persuasive strategies for robots, showing that displays of goodwill and similarity significantly boost robot persuasiveness (71 citations). His research on cooperative gestures (70+ citations) established foundational principles for how humanoid robots can use non-verbal cues to improve interaction. Notably, Bremner has addressed the uncanny valley problem by empirically showing that emotional displays reduce eeriness in humanlike robots (37 citations), and he has advanced ethical machine reasoning by proposing systems that are proactive, transparent, and verifiable (78 citations). His work on mutual shaping in robot design (77 citations) offers a generalizable methodology for creating user-centered SARs. With over 600 total citations across his top papers, Bremner’s research is essential reading for anyone interested in building robots that are not only functional but also socially intelligent and ethically responsible.