Kerstin Dautenhahn

Kerstin Dautenhahn pioneered research in robot social learning and imitation, and the study of robots in autism therapy. She has published more than 200 research articles and has been involved in several European research projects as Principal Investigator of her research team.

She is Professor of Artificial Intelligence in the School of Computer Science at University of Hertfordshire, where she is coordinator of the Adaptive Systems Research Group. Her main areas of research are Human-Robot Interaction, Social Robotics, Socially Intelligent Agents and Artificial Life.

Kerstin has authored and edited several books and frequently organizes international research workshops and conferences. She is Editor in Chief of the journal Interaction Studies, and Associate Editor of the journals Adaptive Behavior, the International Journal of Social Robotics, and IEEE Transactions on Autonomous Mental Development. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA).

Kerstin Dautenhahn will present the following keynote lecture on Thursday 26 August (9.00 - 10.00 am):

Measuring behaviour in Human-Robot Interaction Studies

Speaker
Prof. Dr. Kerstin Dautenhahn, School of Computer Science, University of Hertfordshire, Adaptive Systems Research Group
http://homepages.feis.herts.ac.uk/~comqkd/

Abstract

For more than 10 years I have been involved in human-robot interaction (HRI) studies in a variety of application contexts ranging from assistive technology for children with autism to robots as assistive home companions. In addition to questionnaires, interviews, focus groups and other measures, behavioural analysis of human-robot interaction plays an important part in this research. Such analysis illuminates how people behave in the presence of and in interaction with robots, which may or may not be consistent with participants’ subjective evaluation (e.g. the user experience).

The ultimate goal of such evaluations is to improve a robot’s performance and social skills. Methodologically, we also investigated and developed new approaches towards user studies in HRI including the use of theatre. I will provide examples of such research and point out particular challenges for behavioural analysis and behaviour design for social robots in these domains.