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Mark de Bruijn

Researcher into Social Robotics and Human-Robot Interaction

Lowell, MA, United States · mark@debruijn.ai · debruijn.ai

I am a researcher in human-robot interaction with a strong focus on collaboration and theory of mind in social and psychological robotics. My interest lies at the intersection of technology and human psychology. Pursuing my Doctoral studies at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, I am interested into research how psychology can improve human-robot interaction, aiming to bring together different areas of expertise to make progress in this field.

Education

... University of Massachusetts Lowell

Doctor of Philosophy - Computer Science
August 2024 - currently

... Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Master of Science - Artificial Intelligence
August 2022 - June 2024
Pre-Master- Artificial Intelligence
August 2021 - July 2022

... Windesheim University of Applied Sciences

Bachelor of Science - Major Business IT & Management (HBO)
August 2016 - September 2020
Minor Applied Psychology
August 2019 - January 2020
Minor Entrepreneurship
January 2019 - July 2019
Minor Concept and Creation
September 2018 - January 2019

... ROC van Twente

Software Engineering (MBO)
August 2013 - July 2016

Academia

... University of Massachusetts Lowell

Teaching Assistant
January 2025 - May 2025
Teaching Assistant (TA) for the Bachelor course Mobile Robotics (COMP.4500)*
Teaching Assistant
August 2024 - January 2025
Teaching Assistant (TA) for the Bachelor course Computer Architecture (COMP.3050)

... Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Research Assistant
February 2024 - June 2024
Research Assistant for creating a graduate level educational module covering basic principles and techniques of Human-Interactive Robot Learning (HIRL). Funded by HumanE AI Net.
Teaching Assistant
December 2023 - February 2024
Teaching Assistant (TA) for the Master course Socially Intelligent Robotics Project (XM_0076)
Teaching Assistant
October 2023 - December 2023
Teaching Assistant (TA) for the Master course Socially Intelligent Robotics (X_0074)
Teaching Assistant
September 2023 - October 2023
Teaching Assistant (TA) for the Master course Evolutionary Computing (X_400111)
Research Assistant
July 2023 - September 2023
Designed and developed an explorative data-annotation scheme for gold labels in combination with the RIVM (The National Institute for Public Health and the Environment).
* Awarded with Excellence in Teaching award.

Awards

Excellence in Teaching Award

Awarded on April 30th, 2025 for working as a TA on Mobile Robotics (COMP.4500)
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This award is awarded in recognition of outstanding contributions as an Exemplary Teaching Assistant. The dedication and expertise have significantly enhanced the learning experience of UML students. Awarded by Prof. Holly Yanco, PhD at University of Massachusetts Lowell.

Projects

Exploring Human Gaze and Visual Attention: Implications of Dynamic Stimuli for Multimodal Humanoid Robot Design

MSc Thesis - Awaiting Publication - Uses: Pepper robot
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Gaze estimation for tracking attention to verbal and nonverbal channels

Investigating the added persuasive effect of nonverbal robot communication in an interactive storytelling scenario

Course: Socially Intelligent Robotics - Uses: NAO robot
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Abstract:
Robots play an increasingly important role in society, with the potential to assist humans with behaviour change. Persuasive power plays an role in the effectiveness of robots as ”behaviour-changing coaches”. Research has shown that within human communication, using non-verbal elements can positively affect arguments’ persuasive power. The current research investigates whether the addition of gestures increases the persuasive power of social robots. In the current use case, participants interacted with an interactive storytelling robot. While asking questions to participants, the robot attempted to nudge participants towards a certain decision. The baseline condition only used paralinguistic speech techniques, as opposed to the experimental condition, where the robot additionally used gestures. The proportion of decisions that follow the nudged decision of the robot is measured, complemented with two questionnaires that included participant demographics and measures indicating the participants’ interaction experiences. The research found no significant increase in the persuasive power of the social robot for the addition of gestures. Future research could investigate whether different intensities of robot gestures can increase persuasive effects.

Report can be provided on request.

Industry

... White Lioness Technologies

Dot.net Software Engineer

With White Lioness, I have researched and worked on API possibilities to convert BIM-models (Building Information Models) to Autodesk Revit through Dot.NET and WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation).

March 2022 - August 2022

...Lemerij Verhuur

Dot.net Lead Software Engineer

At de Lemerij, I was responsible for the continuation of development in the IT team. I was mainly focussed on writing C# code for the information flow of the inventory and rental up to the creation of the invoices. This was done with SQL and a Microsoft Access database. Initially solo, but later as the lead developer of 2 other software engineers. Besides this, I assisted in an upgrade from a legacy to a renewed Windows Server.

July 2017 - January 2020
January 2021 - March 2021

...Gemeente/Municipality Almelo

Graduation project IT consultant

For my thesis project, I worked with researching the current and wished situation of the information flow of multiple disciplines from the management to the executors of the unit Uitvoering Fysiek (physical execution) and advising about the possible improvements within a politically driven and complex organisation.

January 2020 - September 2020

...Agri Trader

Graduation project Software Engineering

For my MBO graduation internship, I have worked at Agri Trader on a dashboard for online users of a marketplace for second hand agricultural machines. Because of this dashboard, users gained insight in how they could more efficiently market their advertisements. I created this in a combination of PHP and JavaScript.

January 2016 - June 2016

...A&D Logomat

Internship Software Engineering

For A&D Logomat, I created an C# application that reduced a time-intensive task from a couple hours to a couple minutes. I did this by making an XML-reader with a filtering mechanism that automatically filters messages based on a blacklist.

January 2015 - June 2015

Skills

Programming Languages
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.NET C#
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Python
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PHP 8
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Lua
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JavaScript
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CSS