Research Interests
I am an interdisciplinary researcher trained as a social and cognitive psychologist with the main research focus on Moral Psychology and Human-Robot Interaction. In my research, I examine how social norms change, how people learn and follow social norms, and how people evaluate violations of social norms and enforce the norms via verbal communications. In my recent work, I investigate these questions about conventional norms and moral norms in settings where humans and artificially intelligent agents like robots coexist. I have examined how social robots can be used to encourage people to make honest choices and give donations to others in need. I adopt social-cognitive psychological and game-theoretic perspectives and methods to address these questions.
Workshop Announcement
I organized a workshop on Perspectives on Moral Agency in Human-Robot Interaction at the ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) on March 13th. If you are interested in this workshop, please visit https://sites.google.com/view/pma-hri-2023
Publications
Sinclaire, A., Wilkinson, A., Kim, B., & Yanco, H. A. (2025). Comparison of user interface paradigms for assistive robotic manipulators. In Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA).
Kamino, W., Wen-Yi, A. W., Agarwal, D., Hamilton, S., Kang, E. J., Kim, J., Kusumegi, K., Moradi, P., Mwesigwa, D., Tao, Y., Tsai, I.-T., Yang, E., Zhu, S., Han, S.-J., Lee, C.-J., Sack, M. J., Yu, T. C., Khoo, W., Ricci, A. E., ... Jung, M. F. (2025). Million eyes on the “robot umps”: The case for studying sports in HRI through baseball. In Companion Proceedings of the IEEE/ACM International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI).
Kim, B. & Kwon, S. (2024). Balancing Innovation and Regulation: The Impact of Government Policies and Perceived Risk on Public Trust in AI Applications. In Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN).
Kim, B., Wen, R., de Visser, E. J., Tossell, C. C., Zhu, Q., Williams, T., & Phillips, E. (2024). Can robot advisers encourage honesty?: Considering the impact of rule, identity, and role-based moral advice. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 103217.
de Visser, E. J., Phillips, E., Tenhundfeld, N., Donadio, B., Barentine, C., Kim, B., Madison, A., Ries, A., & Tossell, C. C. (2023). Trust in automated parking systems: A mixed methods evaluation. Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour, 96, 185–199.
Kim, B., Wen, R., Zhu, Q., Williams, T. & Phillips, E. (2023). The impact of different ethical frameworks underlying a robot's advice on charitable donations. In Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN).
Kim, B., Winkle, K., & Korman. J. (2023). The delicate dance of unintended offense: Robots as agents of social repair for microaggressions. In Companion of the IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN).
Kim, B. (2023). From creating trustworthy robotic partners to establishing trustworthy US-ROK partnerships in robotics. Issues and Insights.
Kim, B. (2023). Determining Moral Agency of Robots: Consideration of Distributed Accountability and Cultural Differences. Proceedings of the Human Computer Interaction Korea.
Wen, R., Kim, B., Phillips, E., Zhu, Q., & Williams, T. (2022). Comparing norm-based and role-based strategies for robot communication of role-grounded moral norms. Transactions on Human-Robot Interaction.
Korman, J.*, Kim, B.*, Malle, B. F., & Sobel, D. S. (2022). Ambiguity under scrutiny: Moral judgment of microaggressions. Social Cognition. *Denotes shared first-authorship.
Kim, B., de Visser, E., & Phillips, E. (2022). Two Uncanny Valleys: Re-evaluating the Uncanny Valley across the Full Spectrum of Real-world Human-like Robots. Computers in Human Behavior, 107340.
Han, Z., Kim, B., Yanco, H. A., & Williams, T. (2022). Causal Robot Communication Inspired by Observational Learning Insights. AAAI Spring Symposium on Closing the Assessment Loop: Communicating Proficiency and Intent in Human-Robot Teaming.
Kim, B. & Phillips, E. (2021). Humans' Assessment of Robots as Moral Regulators: Importance of Perceived Fairness and Legitimacy. Presented at AI-HRI symposium as part of AAAI-FSS 2021.
Kim, B. & Phillips, E. (2021). Theoretical Considerations for Social Learning between a Human Observer and a Robot Model. Proceedings of the International Annual Meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.
Kim, B., Wen, R., de Visser, E. J., Zhu, Q., Williams, T., & Phillips, E. (2021). Investigating Robot Moral Advice to Deter Cheating Behavior. RO-MAN 2021 Workshop on Robot Behavior Adaptation to Human Social Norms (TSAR).
Wen, R., Kim, B., Phillips, E., Zhu, Q., & Williams, T. (2021, March). Comparing Strategies for Robot Communication of Role-Grounded Moral Norms. In Companion of the 2021 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (pp. 323-327).
Kim, B., Wen, R., Zhu, Q., Williams, T., & Phillips, E. (2021, March). Robots as Moral Advisors: The Effects of Deontological, Virtue, and Confucian Role Ethics on Encouraging Honest Behavior. In Companion of the 2021 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (pp. 10-18).
Tossell, C. C., Kim, B., Donadio, B., de Visser, E. J., Holec, R., & Phillips, E. (2020, July). Appropriately Representing Military Tasks for Human-Machine Teaming Research. In International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (pp. 245-265). Springer, Cham.
Schellin, H., Oberley, T., Patterson, K., Kim, B., Haring, K. S., Tossell, C. C., ... & de Visser, E. J. (2020, April). Man’s new best friend? Strengthening human-robot dog bonding by enhancing the doglikeness of Sony’s Aibo. In 2020 Systems and Information Engineering Design Symposium (SIEDS) (pp. 1-6). IEEE.
Kim, B., Bruce, M., Brown, L., de Visser, E., & Phillips, E. (2020, April). A comprehensive approach to validating the uncanny valley using the Anthropomorphic RoBOT (ABOT) database. In 2020 Systems and Information Engineering Design Symposium (SIEDS) (pp. 1-6). IEEE.
Hetrick, R., Amerson, N., Kim, B., Rosen, E., de Visser, E. J., & Phillips, E. (2020, April). Comparing Virtual Reality Interfaces for the Teleoperation of Robots. In 2020 Systems and Information Engineering Design Symposium (SIEDS) (pp. 1-7). IEEE.
Kim, B., Haring, K. S., Schellin, H. J., Oberley, T. N., Patterson, K. M., Phillips, E., de Visser, E. J., Tossell, C. C. (2020, March). How Early Task Success Affects Attitudes Toward Social Robots. Proceedings of the 15th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI '20). Cambridge, UK.
Kim, B., Voiklis, J., & Malle, B. F. (in prep). Modern moral judgments show traces of both ancient and culturally recent sanctioning systems. Preprint
Kim, B., Ullrich, J., & Krueger, J. I. (2018, July). The effects of greed and fear in symmetric and asymmetric volunteer’s dilemmas. Proceedings of the 40th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Madison, WI: Cognitive Science Society.
Voiklis, J., Kim, B., Cusimano, C., & Malle, B. F. (2016, August). Moral judgments of human vs. robot agents. Proceedings of the IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN 2016). Piscataway, NJ: IEEE.
Malle, B. F., Voiklis, J., & Kim, B. (2018). Understanding contempt against the background of blame. In M. Mason (Ed.), The Moral Psychology of Contempt (pp. 79-105). London: Rowman & Littlefield International.
Manuscripts in Preparation
Banks, G. C., Foy, D., Kim, B., Korman, J., Makel, M. C., Schrodt, P., & Thapa, S. The meta machine: using automation to catalyze leaps forward in meta-analytic reviews. Preprint
*Submitted to the Technical Exchange on Complex Social Systems (TECSS) supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and hosted by the Center for Open Science.
Kim, B., Voiklis, J., & Malle, B. F. Norms of expressing moral criticism: People have a stronger norm against over-blaming than under-blaming.
Kim, B., Ullrich, J., & Krueger, J. I. The effects of egocentrism in the volunteer’s dilemma.