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Dr Christopher Wallbridge
(he/him)
BSc (Hons) MSc PhD FHEA
Teams and roles for Christopher Wallbridge
Overview
I am a roboticist specialised in Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) working as a Lecturer in the School of Computer Science and Informatics as part of the Human-Centered Computing group. Previously I worked as an associate in the Centre for Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Human Machine Systems (IROHMS) at Cardiff.
During my PhD at Plymouth University I worked on natural communication between robots and people culminating in my thesis on "Dynamic generation of spatial referring expressions for social robots".
My work continues to focus on natural communication, especially in safety critical or accident scenarios.
Publication
2025
- He, Y. et al. 2025. Few-shot transfer learning for deep reinforcement learning on robotic manipulation tasks. Presented at: 25th Annual Conference Towards Autonomous Robotic Systems (TAROS 2024) London, UK 21-23 August 2024. Published in: Huda, M. N. , Wang, M. and Kalganova, T. eds. Towards Autonomous Robotic Systems: Proceedings, Part ll. Vol. 15052.Lecture Notes in Computer Science Springer. (10.1007/978-3-031-72062-8_8)
- McGregor, C. et al. 2025. Supporting autistic children’s participation in research studies: A mixed-methods study of familiarizing autistic children with a humanoid robot. Autism & Developmental Language Impairments 10 (10.1177/23969415251332486)
2024
- Wallbridge, C. D. et al. 2024. "Warning!" Benefits and pitfalls of anthropomorphising autonomous vehicle informational assistants in the case of an accident. Multimodal Technologies and Interaction 8 (12) 110. (10.3390/mti8120110)
- Zhang, Q. et al. 2024. Public perception of autonomous vehicle capability determines judgment of blame and trust in road traffic accidents. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice 179 103887. (10.1016/j.tra.2023.103887)
2023
- Morgan, P. L. et al. 2023. An optimized paradigm to measure effects of anthropomorphized self-driving cars on trust and blame following an accident. Presented at: IEEE Ro-Man 2023 - SCRTIA – Trust, Acceptance and Social Cues in Human-Robot Interaction 28 August 2023 - 31 August 2023.
- Wallbridge, C. D. et al. 2023. A systematic review of familiarisation methods used in human-robot interactions for autistic participants. International Journal of Social Robotics (10.1007/s12369-023-01015-y)
2022
- Marcinkiewicz, V. et al. 2022. Integrating humanoid robots into simulation software generated animations to explore judgments on self-driving car Accidents. Presented at: IEEE Ro-Man 2022 Conference Naples, Italy 29 August - 2 September 2022.
- Wallbridge, C. D. et al. 2022. Towards anthropomorphising autonomous vehicles: speech and embodiment on trust and blame after an accident. Presented at: Robot Trust for Symbiotic Societies (RTSS) at IROS 2022 Kyoto, Japan 23-27 October 2022.
- Wallbridge, C. D. et al. 2022. The effectiveness of dynamically processed incremental descriptions in human robot interaction. ACM Transactions on Human-Robot Interaction 11 (1) 7. (10.1145/3481628)
- Zhang, Q. et al. 2022. Using simulation-software-generated animations to investigate attitudes towards autonomous vehicles accidents. Procedia Computer Science 207 , pp.3516-3525. (10.1016/j.procs.2022.09.410)
2021
- Zhang, Q. et al. 2021. The blame game: double standards apply to autonomous vehicle accidents. Presented at: AHFE 2021 Virtual Conference on Human Aspects of Transportation Virtual 25-29 July 2021. Advances in Human Aspects of Transportation. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems Springer, Cham. , pp.308-314. (10.1007/978-3-030-80012-3_36)
Articles
- McGregor, C. et al. 2025. Supporting autistic children’s participation in research studies: A mixed-methods study of familiarizing autistic children with a humanoid robot. Autism & Developmental Language Impairments 10 (10.1177/23969415251332486)
- Wallbridge, C. D. et al. 2023. A systematic review of familiarisation methods used in human-robot interactions for autistic participants. International Journal of Social Robotics (10.1007/s12369-023-01015-y)
- Wallbridge, C. D. et al. 2022. The effectiveness of dynamically processed incremental descriptions in human robot interaction. ACM Transactions on Human-Robot Interaction 11 (1) 7. (10.1145/3481628)
- Wallbridge, C. D. et al. 2024. "Warning!" Benefits and pitfalls of anthropomorphising autonomous vehicle informational assistants in the case of an accident. Multimodal Technologies and Interaction 8 (12) 110. (10.3390/mti8120110)
- Zhang, Q. et al. 2022. Using simulation-software-generated animations to investigate attitudes towards autonomous vehicles accidents. Procedia Computer Science 207 , pp.3516-3525. (10.1016/j.procs.2022.09.410)
- Zhang, Q. et al. 2024. Public perception of autonomous vehicle capability determines judgment of blame and trust in road traffic accidents. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice 179 103887. (10.1016/j.tra.2023.103887)
Conferences
- He, Y. et al. 2025. Few-shot transfer learning for deep reinforcement learning on robotic manipulation tasks. Presented at: 25th Annual Conference Towards Autonomous Robotic Systems (TAROS 2024) London, UK 21-23 August 2024. Published in: Huda, M. N. , Wang, M. and Kalganova, T. eds. Towards Autonomous Robotic Systems: Proceedings, Part ll. Vol. 15052.Lecture Notes in Computer Science Springer. (10.1007/978-3-031-72062-8_8)
- Marcinkiewicz, V. et al. 2022. Integrating humanoid robots into simulation software generated animations to explore judgments on self-driving car Accidents. Presented at: IEEE Ro-Man 2022 Conference Naples, Italy 29 August - 2 September 2022.
- Morgan, P. L. et al. 2023. An optimized paradigm to measure effects of anthropomorphized self-driving cars on trust and blame following an accident. Presented at: IEEE Ro-Man 2023 - SCRTIA – Trust, Acceptance and Social Cues in Human-Robot Interaction 28 August 2023 - 31 August 2023.
- Wallbridge, C. D. et al. 2022. Towards anthropomorphising autonomous vehicles: speech and embodiment on trust and blame after an accident. Presented at: Robot Trust for Symbiotic Societies (RTSS) at IROS 2022 Kyoto, Japan 23-27 October 2022.
- Zhang, Q. et al. 2021. The blame game: double standards apply to autonomous vehicle accidents. Presented at: AHFE 2021 Virtual Conference on Human Aspects of Transportation Virtual 25-29 July 2021. Advances in Human Aspects of Transportation. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems Springer, Cham. , pp.308-314. (10.1007/978-3-030-80012-3_36)
Research
My work focuses on natural social communication between humans and robots to enhance collaboration. My work encompasses a wide range of purposes, such as developing methods to help autistic children, improve communication in safety critical scenarios, or even how to trust new technology.
My full list of publications can be found on my Google Scholar Profile.
Teaching
Lecturer CM1101 - Computational Thinking
Module Leader CM2102 - Database Systems
I am currently developing a new module in Human-Robot Interaction, with a start date to be determined.
Biography
I studied at the University of Nottingham for a BSc in Computer Science with Robotics, graduating in 2010. After spending several years working on software for warehouse management I decided to return to academia. At the University of Plymouth I studied for an MSc in Robotics. Upon graduating in 2016 I immediately started a PhD in Human Robot Interaction with supervisors Tony Belpaeme, Séverin Lemaignan and Angelo Cangelosi. My Thesis titled 'Dynamic Generation of Spatial Referring Expressions for Social Robots' was accepted in January 2021.
I came to Cardiff University initially as a research associate at the Centre for Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Human-Machine Systems (IROHMS) in February 2020. In November 2022 I started as a lecturer for the School of Computer Science and Robotics.
Contact Details
Research themes
Specialisms
- Human-robot interaction
- Human-centred computing
- Explainable AI