Stina Nylander

Swedish Institute, Kista Photonics Research Center

Papers

Total Citations

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About

Stina Nylander’s research lies at the intersection of human-robot interaction (HRI), ethics, and long-term user studies, with a particular focus on care robotics and companion technologies. Her major contribution is pioneering a grounded, empirical approach to robot ethics—moving beyond speculative, theory-driven debates to identify real ethical issues arising from practical, long-term use. In her highly cited work, “A complementing approach for identifying ethical issues in care robotics” (16 citations), she uses a study of a robotic eating-aid for disabled users to reveal overlooked ethical dilemmas, such as autonomy and dignity in daily care. Similarly, “Revive!” (16 citations) explores the design challenges of migrating a robotic pet between embodiments, offering insights into children’s perceptions of robotic characters. Nylander’s “Beyond speculative ethics in HRI?” (8 citations) further argues for grounding ethics in empirical data, challenging the field to consider robots as diverse, context-dependent technologies. She also developed the “Always-On + Adoption” method for longitudinal studies of companionship technologies, emphasizing deep, qualitative insights into human-robot relationships. Her work is essential for researchers designing ethical, user-centered robotic systems.