Takayama was awarded a $10 million National Science Foundation grant for her Expeditions in Computing.[6] She studied the social aspects of human–robot conflicts, and found that people preferred robots that disagreed when the voice did not come from its body but a separate control box, whereas if the robot was agreeing with them they preferred the voice to originate from their body.[7] She demonstrated that setting low expectations for human–robot interactions resulted in less disappointment and a more positive review of a robot's competence.[8]