Ilaria Torre

I am a Postdoctoral Researcher at KTH Royal Institute of Technology since February 2020. I am part of the division of Robotics, Perception and Learning, as well as the WASP Expedition Project on Correct-by-design and Socially Acceptable Autonomy (CorSA).

I'm interested in studying how different characteristics of an artificial agent (e.g. voice, emotional expression, human-likeness, behaviour) affect human behaviour, specifically in terms of trust. To this end, I have conducted several experiments using paradigms derived from Psychology and Behavioural Economics. For example, in the CorSA project I applied the game-theoretic 'game of chicken' to model socially acceptable robot trajectories. You can read more about this project here.

I have a background in Speech, Psychology, and Human-Agent Interaction. I obtained a PhD from the University of Plymouth, in the EU-funded CogNovo doctoral training centre, in 2017, where I investigated vocal predictors of behavioural trust in Human-Agent Interaction. Then I spent 2.5 years as a Marie Skłodowska-Curie postdoctoral researcher at Trinity College Dublin, School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, where I studied how mismatching vocal and facial emotional expressions influence cooperation in Human-Agent Interaction.

I am happy to provide advice regarding experimental design and data analysis, and to collaborate in projects involving artificial agents' voices, emotions, and trust.