معرفی
Professor Ute Leonards is a Professor of Neuropsychology at the University of Bristol's School of Psychological Science. Her work focuses on how visual perception, human-robot interaction, and environmental design influence human behavior and cognition. She holds a Diplom in Biology (Dipl.Biol.) and a Dr. rer. nat. from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz.
Research Interests:
- Neuropsychological mechanisms of spatial interaction
- Human-robot collaboration ethics and design
- Visual perception impacts on gait and motion
- Joint attention dynamics in social contexts
- Therapeutic robotics and animal-assisted interventions
Publications Trends: Her recent work explores how environmental patterns (floor designs, fractal properties) affect locomotion, the ethical implications of socially assistive robots, and the cognitive underpinnings of human interaction with artificial agents. She has pioneered studies on how visual discomfort from architectural features impacts movement and decision-making.
Collaborations: Active in multi-disciplinary teams across psychology, robotics, and architecture. Co-developed the 'Couch to 5km' socially assistive robot prototype (2020). Involved in EU-funded projects on human-robot spatial interaction safety (2015-2021).
Labs/Teams: Leads the Human-Robot Spatial Interaction Lab at Bristol, focusing on real-world testing of assistive robots. Collaborates with the Bristol Veterinary School on animal-human-robot interaction studies.
