Svenja Capitain

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About

Svenja Capitain is a pioneering researcher in animal-robot interaction, exploring how social behaviors translate across species and artificial agents. Her most cited work, "Influence of reward and location on dogs’ behaviour toward an interactive artificial agent" (2023), investigates whether dogs modify their responses to a cooperative, unidentified moving object (UMO) based on direct reward delivery. This study bridges ethology and robotics, revealing how tangible reinforcement shapes interspecies engagement with non-living social partners. With 3 citations to date, Capitain’s research offers foundational insights into the principles governing social interactions—critical for designing more effective animal-robot interfaces and advancing our understanding of cross-species communication. Her work stands out for its innovative use of dogs as a model system, providing a unique window into the cognitive and behavioral mechanisms that underpin cooperation with artificial entities. By demonstrating that reward location influences canine behavior toward an interactive agent, Capitain contributes to the growing field of human-animal-robot interaction, with implications for animal welfare, assistive technology, and the study of social cognition. Her findings are a compelling step toward unraveling how living beings perceive and respond to non-biological social actors.