Maja Matarić pioneered socially assistive robotics in 2005 developing robots that deliver personalized therapy through social interaction at the University of Southern California.

Matarić serves as professor of computer science neuroscience and pediatrics at USC. Her systems conduct conversations play games and respond to emotions to support cognitive behavioral therapy for anxiety and depression according to IEEE Spectrum. She received the 2025 Robotics Medal from MassRobotics (MassRobotics award announcement 2025). Her MIT oral history details early behavior-based robotics under Rodney Brooks (IEEE History Center 2010).

Matarić created Toto the first navigating behavior-based robot using sonar and distributed mapping at MIT (Matarić The Robotics Primer MIT Press 2007). Her doctoral work produced distributed algorithms for teams of up to 20 robots performing search and exploration tasks (Matarić Ph.D. thesis 1994).

USC lab research applies these methods to communication skills in children with autism spectrum disorder (NSF News release). Related studies include Matarić et al. on robot interventions during COVID-19 published in Science Robotics (Science Robotics vol. 5 2020) and a 2022 JAMA Pediatrics trial on robot-assisted CBT showing adherence rates of 78 percent aligning with caregiver shortages projected by United Nations World Population Ageing Report 2022.