Barry Brown

University of Copenhagen, Stockholm University

Papers

Total Citations

H-Index

About

Barry Brown is a leading researcher at the intersection of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), robotics, and ethnomethodology. His work primarily investigates how people naturally coordinate movement and interaction in public spaces, and how these insights can inform the design of autonomous systems—from robotic trashcans to self-driving cars. A major contribution is his pioneering use of video-based interaction analysis to study emergent, real-world encounters between humans and robots, moving beyond lab studies. His highly cited paper, "Trash in Motion: Emergent Interactions with a Robotic Trashcan" (2024, 23 citations), exemplifies this approach, revealing how people develop novel movement-based practices around a robot in a busy city square. Similarly, his cross-cultural study "Designing Motion: Lessons for Self-driving and Robotic Motion from Human Traffic Interaction" (2022, 11 citations) analyzes traffic coordination across five countries to extract design lessons for autonomous vehicle motion. Notably, Brown also tackles critical ethical dimensions of his field, as seen in his provocative essay "Designing for War? Ethical and Practical Challenges to a Military HCI" (2025), which challenges the HCI community to confront the military applications of their work.