Steffi Paepcke
Booz Allen Hamilton (United States), Willow Wood (United States)
Papers
5
Total Citations
307
H-Index
4
About
Steffi Paepcke is a robotics researcher whose work spans human-robot interaction, user experience design, and robot simulation, with a particular focus on bridging the gap between complex robotic systems and everyday users. She is perhaps best known for her influential research on expectation setting for personal robots, explored across her "Judging a Bot by Its Cover" series (2010), which collectively has garnered over 150 citations. These studies tackled a deceptively simple yet critical challenge: how do you communicate a robot's capabilities to non-technical users who simply want to know what a machine can do for them? Her findings have shaped how designers and developers think about robot transparency and user trust. Paepcke also made significant contributions to large-scale robotic simulation, co-authoring a highly cited 2015 paper (155 citations) documenting the software framework behind DARPA's Virtual Robotics Challenge, a landmark cloud-hosted competition simulating real-time disaster response. More recently, her 2024 chapter on older adult needs reflects an evolving commitment to socially meaningful robotics, applying user-centered methodologies to inform assistive technology development for aging populations. Across her career, Paepcke has consistently championed the human side of robotics, ensuring that technological capability translates into genuine usability.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1
- 2Judging a bot by its cover60 citations · 2010
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