Frauke Zeller

About

Frauke Zeller is a pioneering researcher at the intersection of social robotics, human-robot interaction, and artificial intelligence, whose work has fundamentally shaped how we understand the relationship between humans and machines. She is perhaps best known internationally for her central role in the hitchBOT project — a hitchhiking robot that traveled across Canada and parts of Europe before meeting its dramatic end on a Philadelphia park bench in 2015. This experiment, documented in her highly cited 2016 paper (40 citations), captivated global media attention and opened profound questions about human empathy toward robots, including how people emotionally respond to a robot's "death" on social media platforms (23 citations). Beyond this landmark project, Zeller has made substantial contributions to healthcare robotics, leading co-design research to develop AI-enhanced social robots that help children manage pain and distress during medical procedures in pediatric emergency departments — work that brings together healthcare providers, children, and caregivers in the design process. Her interdisciplinary approach, reflected in her research on collaboration challenges across AI and social robotics (20 citations), underscores her commitment to bridging technical, humanistic, and clinical perspectives. With roots in linguistics dating back to 2005, Zeller's career exemplifies a rich, evolving scholarly journey toward more compassionate human-machine futures.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   The Death and Lives of hitchBOT: The Design and Implementation of a Hitchhiking Robot

   40 citations · 2016
2. 2
   Using AI-Enhanced Social Robots to Improve Children’s Healthcare Experiences

   24 citations · 2020
3. 3
   How do we feel when a robot dies? Emotions expressed on Twitter before and after hitch

   23 citations · 2019
4. 4
   Systems of collaboration: challenges and solutions for interdisciplinary research in AI and social robotics

   20 citations · 2022
5. 5
   Perspectives of Healthcare Providers to Inform the Design of an AI-Enhanced Social Robot in the Pediatric Emergency Department

   19 citations · 2023
6. 6
   Co-design of a Social Robot for Distraction in the Paediatric Emergency Department

   17 citations · 2023
7. 7
   Social Media in Human–Robot Interaction

   14 citations · 2019
8. 8
   Exploring the needs of children and caregivers to inform design of an artificial intelligence-enhanced social robot in the pediatric emergency department

   14 citations · 2023
9. 9
   hitchBOT: The Risks and Rewards of a Hitchhiking Robot

   10 citations · 2017
10. 10
    Mensch-Roboter-Interaktion: eine sprachwissenschaftliche Perspektive.

    6 citations · 2005

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links