Ruth Aylett

Also known as Ruth S. Aylett

Ruth Aylett is a computer scientist in Edinburgh whose research on social agents and robots includes anti-bullying virtual characters, robot companions and robot tutors. After studying mathematical economics at the London School of Economics, she moved into computing and joined Edinburgh's Artificial Intelligence Applications Institute in 1989, then became Professor of Intelligent Virtual Environments at Salford in 2000. As coordinator of the EU project eCIRCUS she extended the FearNot! anti-bullying system, and she took a principal role in the robot projects LIREC (2007–2012) and EMOTE (2012–2016). Her SoCoRo project investigated a mobile robot that trains adults with autism in social interaction, and with Patricia Vargas she wrote a book on robots for MIT Press in 2021. She is Professor Emeritus in Computer Science at Heriot-Watt University.

Now at: Heriot-Watt University
Born: 1951
Works: 441
Citations: 4,818
h-index: 32
Badges: Loyal

Years link to their sources. Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 22 October 2026.

Timeline

1989

Joining Edinburgh's AI institute

After a degree in mathematical economics at the London School of Economics, she works in technical support at International Computers Limited, in computing and robotics at the University of Sheffield, and as a lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University for five years. In 1989, she moves to the University of Edinburgh as part of its Artificial Intelligence Applications Institute.
1992–2004

Professor at Salford

She moves to the University of Salford in 1992, first in the IT Institute and later in the Centre for Virtual Environments, and becomes Professor of Intelligent Virtual Environments in 2000. In 2004, she moves to Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh.
2005–2009

FearNot! against bullying

As project coordinator, she presents FearNot!, a virtual school in which unscripted 3D characters with an emotional model act out bullying episodes; by the end of the EU project VICTEC in 2005, over 1,000 children aged eight to twelve have tested the prototype. In 2006, she is leading the follow-on eCIRCUS work, funded to end in February 2009. In 2009, as eCIRCUS coordinator, she reports two programs, FearNot! and ORIENT, and a trial with close to 1000 students in 30 primary schools across Germany and the UK that finds FearNot! reduces victimisation in the short term.
2007–2016

Robot companions and a robot tutor

She takes a principal role in the EU-funded project LIREC from 2007 to 2012, on robot companions, and in EMOTE from 2012 to 2016, which develops an empathic robot tutor. In an EMOTE school trial led by her and Helen Hastie, 31 pupils aged 12 to 14 do a map-reading exercise on a touch table with the EMYS or NAO robot, and they prefer NAO as a tutor.
2018–2022

SoCoRo and storytelling agents

In January 2018, she leads SoCoRo (Socially Competent Robots), which investigates a mobile robot that trains high-functioning adults with an Autism Spectrum Disorder in social interaction. In September 2022, she gives an invited keynote at the 22nd ACM IVA Conference in Faro, Portugal; a founder of IVA, she has just completed SoCoRo and started a project on a story-telling agent for reminiscence therapy with adults with Alzheimer's.
2021

A popular book on robots

She and Patricia Vargas publish a book on robots with MIT Press in 2021, subtitled What Every Anxious Human Needs to Know, which explains how robots cooperate and examines killer robots, sexbots and robots that might take jobs. It follows her 2002 book Robots: Bringing Intelligent Machines to Life, a history of robotics for high-school readers.
2023–2025

Fiction with Greg Michaelson

With Greg Michaelson, she publishes the science fiction and fantasy novel Equinox with Stairwell Books in 2023 and its sequel Solstice in 2025.
As of October 2026

Professor Emeritus at Heriot-Watt

She is Professor Emeritus in Computer Science at Heriot-Watt University, after more than 35 years as an academic and researcher in AI and robotics. Her recent work covers social robotics, human-robot interaction and the ethical issues of AI systems in public domains, and she is joint author of a 2021 MIT Press book on robots.