Kathrin Pollmann

About

Kathrin Pollmann is a human-robot interaction (HRI) researcher whose work sits at the intersection of user experience design, social robotics, and AI ethics. Her research primarily investigates how social and assistive robots can be designed to be both accepted and trusted by everyday users, with particular emphasis on entertainment applications, personalization, and behavioral design. Pollmann's most influential contributions include her early exploration of robots' entertainment value in game-playing scenarios (63 citations) and her widely recognized work examining the ethical tensions between optimizing user experience and preserving user autonomy in human-robot interaction (62 citations). These studies established her as a leading voice on responsible robot design, a theme she has continued to develop through investigations into how personalization strategies can risk manipulation while simultaneously boosting acceptance (35 citations). A distinctive thread running through her portfolio is the development of practical design tools for HRI practitioners. Her behavioral design pattern frameworks and co-design methodologies — including participatory work with older adults — translate academic insights into actionable guidelines for robot developers. Her research on voice assistants versus physical robots further demonstrates her rigorous empirical approach to understanding what makes robotic interaction meaningful. With nearly 230 cumulative citations, Pollmann's work meaningfully shapes how researchers and designers think about ethical, human-centered social robotics.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   Exploring the Entertainment Value of Playing Games with a Humanoid Robot

   63 citations · 2015
2. 2
   Should my robot know what's best for me? Human–robot interaction between user experience and ethical design

   62 citations · 2021
3. 3
   Entertainment vs. manipulation: Personalized human-robot interaction between user experience and ethical design

   35 citations · 2023
4. 4
   Robot vs. Voice Assistant

   24 citations · 2020
5. 5
   The Modality Card Deck: Co-Creating Multi-Modal Behavioral Expressions for Social Robots with Older Adults

   15 citations · 2021
6. 6
   It's in Your Eyes

   9 citations · 2019
7. 7
   A Pattern Approach to Comprehensible and Pleasant Human–Robot Interaction

   9 citations · 2021
8. 8
   Personal quizmaster

   5 citations · 2020
9. 9
   Behavioral Design Patterns for Social, Assistive Robots - Insights from the NIKA Research Project

   4 citations · 2019
10. 10
    I'm Your Partner - I'm Your Boss

    4 citations · 2020

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links