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About

Eva Hornecker is a human-computer interaction researcher whose work spans tangible interfaces, care robotics, and the social dimensions of human-robot interaction. She has made significant contributions to understanding how technology integrates into complex, real-world care environments — particularly for elderly residents in care homes. Her research challenges the dominant dyadic frameworks in HRI, arguing that robotic agency and functionality are socially and situationally constructed, often involving multiple people simultaneously rather than a single user. This perspective has led to innovative design explorations, including zoomorphic robots that blend functional utility with social character, and "distributed agency" concepts that reimagine robots as ensembles rather than unified actors. Hornecker's technical creativity is equally notable: her work on "pneumatibles" — pneumatically driven, soft-robotic tangible interfaces — opened new possibilities for tactile interaction design, earning 24 citations and influencing the field of shape-changing interfaces. Her most-cited work (34 citations) critically examines how care technologies are enacted in practice, highlighting gaps between technological promise and gerontological reality. Through ethnographic fieldwork, speculative design, and interdisciplinary collaboration, Hornecker consistently bridges engineering, sociology, and design to produce research with genuine human relevance and growing scholarly impact.