Kerstin Dautenhahn facts for kids
Kerstin Dautenhahn (born in 1964) is a German computer scientist who studies how humans and robots interact. She is an expert in a field called social robotics. She works as a professor at the University of Waterloo in Canada. There, she leads a special lab called the Social and Intelligent Robotics Research Laboratory. She also holds an important position called the Canada 150 Research Chair in Intelligent Robotics.
Her main research focuses on how people and robots can work together. She also studies assistive technology, which helps people, and artificial intelligence, which is about making computers smart. Her goal is to learn more about how robots can learn from people, how they can cooperate, and how they can remember things. She is especially interested in using friendly robots to help older people live on their own. She also explores how robots can help children with autism learn and grow.
Education and Career Journey
Kerstin Dautenhahn first studied biology at Bielefeld University in Germany. She earned her first degree in 1990 and then completed her doctorate degree in 1993.
After her studies, she worked as a researcher for a German organization focused on mathematics and data. She also worked at the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory in Brussels, Belgium. In 1997, she became a teacher at the University of Reading in the UK. She then moved to the University of Hertfordshire in 2000 and became a full professor there in 2003.
In 2018, she moved to the University of Waterloo in Canada for her current role as the Canada 150 Research Chair. She is the Director of the Social and Intelligent Robotics Laboratory (SIRRL) there. She also remains a visiting professor at the University of Hertfordshire.
Contributions to Robotics
Kerstin Dautenhahn has made many important contributions to the field of robotics. She helped start and is a co-editor-in-chief of a journal called Interaction Studies: Social Behaviour and Communication in Biological and Artificial Systems. This journal publishes articles about how living things and robots interact.
She also helps guide other important publications. She is on the editorial board for journals like Adaptive Behavior and is an associate editor for the International Journal of Social Robotics. She also helps edit a series of books called Advances in Interaction Studies.
She has also edited several books that bring together ideas from different experts. These include Human Cognition and Social Agent Technology (1999) and New Frontiers in Human Robot Interaction (2011).
Kerstin Dautenhahn is also part of many important groups and committees. She is a lifelong fellow of AISB, which is a society for artificial intelligence and simulation of behavior. She is also on the executive board of the International Foundation for Responsible Robotics. Since 2006, she has been a member of the committee for the IEEE RO-MAN conference, which focuses on human and robot communication.
Awards and Recognition
In 2019, Kerstin Dautenhahn was chosen as an IEEE Fellow. This is a very high honor given to people who have made major contributions to technology. She received this award for her important work in social robotics and how humans and robots interact.
