Toni Ferro
Papers
1
Total Citations
58
H-Index
1
About
Toni Ferro’s research sits at the intersection of human-robot interaction (HRI), science fiction studies, and technology ethics, exploring how cultural narratives shape our expectations of and interactions with autonomous systems. Her most cited work, “Fictional robots as a data source in HRI research” (2010, 58 citations), is a foundational contribution that bridges media studies and empirical robotics. In it, Ferro argues that because most adults lack direct experience with robots, their expectations are largely drawn from science fiction—films, literature, and pop culture. By systematically analyzing how fictional robots are portrayed, she provides a novel methodological framework for predicting and interpreting user expectations in real-world HRI experiments. This paper has become a touchstone for researchers seeking to understand the “pre-interactional” beliefs users bring to robot encounters. Ferro’s work is notable for its interdisciplinary rigor and its challenge to the field to take narrative and representation seriously as data. Her scholarship continues to influence how HRI researchers design studies, craft robot personas, and anticipate the social dynamics of human-robot encounters.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
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