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Hannah Pelikan

Postdoc

I am curious about humans, robots and their interaction. Currently, I am particularly interested in the encounters between autonomous robots and people in public spaces. My work combines studies of Social Interaction and Human-Computer Interaction. 

Interacting with mobile autonomous systems

I take an ethnomethodology and conversation analysis (EMCA) perspective on human-robot interaction. I study robots in the world, such as homes, workplaces and public settings, capturing everyday interaction through video recordings.

In the past ten years, I have studied Starship delivery robots, EasyMile and Navya autonomous shuttle buses, the DaVinci Surgical System, Anki’s toy robot Cozmo and Aldebaran’s humanoid Nao. In my PhD, explored sound as a communication resource for robots and I developed interaction design methods for robot sound design.

My research contributes:

  • Video ethnographic studies of human-robot interaction, demonstrating how humans practically support robot autonomy
  • Interaction design methods that can bridge between analysis of social interaction and iterative prototyping
  • Interactional and embodied theories of human sociality and artificial intelligence

Online presence

Google Scholar

My profile on Google Scholar.

Website

Visit my for more information about my research.

Research

Current projects

Responsible AI UK International Partnership project:

I lead the seminar AI in Society

The seminar series offers an interdisciplinary forum for discussing Humanities and Social Science perspectives on artificial intelligence. We trace the historical fascination with building smart machines and discuss implications that machine learning has on our everyday lives, culture and society.

Robot

AI in Society Seminar

An interdisciplinary forum for discussing Humanities and Social Science perspectives on AI. We trace the historical fascination with building smart machines and discuss implications that machine learning has on everyday lives, culture and society.

Research environment

Le mur des je t'aime. Place des Abbesses, Paris. By Britchi Mirela [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], from Wikimedia Commons.

The Language and Culture research environment

The Language and Culture research environment is a meeting place for linguistic and literary research in a cultural context.

Publications

2025

Ilaria Torre, Sarah Schömbs, Katie Winkle, Sara Ljungblad, Erik Lagerstedt, Maria Teresa Parreira, Hannah Pelikan (2025) Proceedings of the 2025 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, p. 1991-1993 (Conference paper)
Hannah Pelikan, Bilge Mutlu, Stuart Reeves (2025) Proceedings of the 2025 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, p. 152-162 (Conference paper)
Hannah Pelikan, Fanjun Bu, Wendy Ju (2025) Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’25)., Article 736 (Conference paper)

2024

Hannah Pelikan, Katie Winkle, David Porfirio (2024) ADJUNCT PROCEEDINGS OF THE 13TH NORDIC CONFERENCE ON HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION, NORDICHI 2024, Article 52 (Conference paper)
Franziska Babel, Sam Thellman, Hannah Pelikan, Hatice Sahin Ippoliti, Tom Ziemke (2024) ADJUNCT PROCEEDINGS OF THE 13TH NORDIC CONFERENCE ON HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION, NORDICHI 2024, Article 45 (Conference paper)

Education

Teaching

During spring 2025, I teach in the following courses:

  • 729G40
  • 729G81
Close-up of four students looking upp at something beyond the camera

Bachelor's Programme in Cognitive Science, 180 credits

This programme is not available in English.

News

Woman with arms crossed.

She wants to make robots behave better

Researcher Hannah Pelikan believes that we will see increased conflicts between humans and robots in the future.  In her research, she films everyday encounters between humans and machines to see what happens.

They examine our interaction in detail

It’s easy to think that communication consists mainly of speech. But much of it takes place through gesture, facial expression and sound. Researchers study how we use much more than words in interaction with other humans as well as with robots.

Organisation

Language books and map.

Division of Language, Culture and Interaction (SKI)

The department includes professional languages, English as well as research and teaching in the field of interaction studies.

Department of Culture and Society (IKOS)

At the Department of Culture and Society (IKOS), social sciences and the humanities gather in environments where research and education work together.
Groups of students at tables in Studenthuset

Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FILFAK)

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences provides education and research in humanities, social- and behavioral sciences, commercial law, art disciplines and thematic science.

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