Rúbia R. Guerra

Hi, I'm Rúbia, a Researcher in Human-Computer Interaction & AI, based in Vancouver, BC.

I am currently pursuing a PhD in Computer Science at the University of British Columbia, supervised by Prof. Karon MacLean and Prof. Margo Seltzer. My research sits at the intersection of HCI, haptics, affective computing, and AI. I have a B.Sc. in Systems Engineering from UFMG, where I conducted undergraduate research under Prof. Frederico Gadelha and Prof. Gisele Pappa. I'm open to collaborations and always happy to chat about research, cats, music, or anything else. Feel free to reach out!

Projects My CV

Featured Work:

Publication · IEEE Transactions on Affective Computing

TouchTales: Recognizing Naturalistic Emotions Through Touch in Storytelling

2026

Rúbia Guerra, Laura Cang, et al. (2026)

A care-centered protocol combining autobiographical storytelling with a touch-sensitive object to elicit and label authentic emotions, with ML results reaching accuracy comparable to physiological models. I co-led this work with Laura, designing the session structure, developing the touch data analysis protocol, and co-writing the ethical and methodological framing for sustainable affective data collection.

affective-computing haptics human-emotion annotation-methods protocol-design research-ethics

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Publication · ACM REP

Raising the Reproducibility Bar

2025

Joseph Wonsil, Rúbia Guerra, et al. (2025)

Examines challenges in computational reproducibility and proposes a taxonomy and workflow for creating artifacts that support not only re-execution but also comprehension and scrutiny, including integration with tooling and UX studies. I contributed to defining the conceptual space, shaping the design of artifact structures, and analysing how documentation and tool choices affect researchers trying to understand and reuse computational experiments.

reproducibility interaction-design research-ethics user-study

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Publication · IEEE ACII

Modeling the 'Kiss my Ass'-Smile: Appearance and Functions of Smiles in Negative Social Situations

2024

Mirella Hladký, Rúbia Guerra, et al. (2024)

Builds a corpus of smiles in negative social situations, proposes a functional category system, and trains models that classify smile functions from morphological signals at above-chance performance. Mirella was the primary researcher; I contributed beyond data collection, modelling smile functions from visual features and interpreting how mismatches between expression and internal emotion challenge automatic emotion recognition.

affective-computing human-emotion social-emotion dataset-design ml-modeling

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Publication · IEEE Transactions on Haptics

Feeling (key)Pressed: Comparing The Ways in Which Force and Self-Reports Reveal Emotion

2023

Laura Cang, Rúbia Guerra, et al. (2023)

Explores how keyboard typing force during stressful videogame play reflects emotional state, comparing force measurements to self-reported affect and EEG to propose a passive, unobtrusive sensing approach to emotion recognition. I led the ML modelling and statistical analyses comparing force and EEG against multi-pass labels, and helped interpret how these results connect haptic interaction, affective computing, and behaviour-aware systems. Published in IEEE Transactions on Haptics; invited for presentation at the World Haptics Conference 2025.

affective-computing haptics behavioural-sensing ml-modeling time-series

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