Sara Incao

Papers

Total Citations

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About

Sara Incao is a pioneering researcher at the intersection of social robotics, human-robot interaction (HRI), and cognitive architecture. Her work focuses on making robots emotionally intelligent—capable of sensing, interpreting, and responding to human comfort and discomfort during live interactions. In her most-cited study, "Comfortability Analysis Under a Human–Robot Interaction Perspective" (2023, 10 citations), she demonstrates how robots can detect subtle emotional cues to adapt their behavior, enhancing communication quality. Her earlier work, "Can Robots Impact Human Comfortability During a Live Interview?" (2021, 4 citations), explores how robots can repair interaction failures, much like humans do, by sensing unease and adjusting their responses. More recently, in "Robodiment, Self and Temporality" (2025, 2 citations), Incao integrates phenomenological insights into cognitive architectures, arguing that a sense of time and self is essential for robots to achieve context-aware, adaptive autonomy. Her research is notable for bridging psychology, philosophy, and engineering, offering a human-centered vision for socially adept robots. With growing citation impact and a forward-looking agenda, Incao is shaping how robots learn to interact with empathy and awareness.