Thesis Announcements

Handshaking as a synchronous haptic interaction that takes place between humans. A person’s characteristics and mood can additionally be displayed through this sense of touch. To enable a natural interaction with a robot, it is important for a robot to be able to sense the partner during handshaking and respond adequately in a synchronous manner. The aim of this thesis would be to explore and develop haptic emotional behaviours for Human-Robot Handshaking.

As service robots are predicted to have a profound impact on the service context, moral HRI and moral psychology investigate the conscientious and responsible interaction between robots and humans. The thesis should scan the existing literature to get an overview over current literature that investigates the moral and ethical perspective of HRI regarding embodied service robots in the service encounter.

Robotic psychology examines emotional, cognitive, social, and physical human responses to human-robot interactions (HRI). The thesis should scan the existing literature to get an overview over current literature that investigates embodied service robots in service encounters. Additionally, effects of customers’ characteristics on the HRI experience and outcome (e.g., robot perception, user behavior) should be investigated.

One way to alleviate the need for teaching different robots individually is by using teleoperation. Typically, human demonstrations can be captured by skeleton tracking with VR or motion capture, which requires special hardware. Can the use of simple videos combined with deep learning and AI achieve similar results which can be generalized?

Digitalization and AI offer extensive opportunities for companies' marketing activities. However, these new algorithms are also associated with a number of challenges. The suggested topics in the attached PDF are intended to shed light on these aspects.

The arrival of social robots in work teams is only a matter of time. But such robots – like any new team member – must be integrated into their teams to ensure their successful and sustainable use. Exemplary research questions are: What do we already know about the integration of new team members in all-human work teams? What are important factors for the integration of robotic team members in mixed human-robot teams (HRTs)? And what are fruitful areas for future research on robot integration in work teams?

We want to scan the existing literature to get an overview over potential roles and effects of social robots entering Human Resources departments. Exemplary research questions are: How will robots shape Human Resources departments of the future? Which roles are suitable for robots concerning their introduction into the department? Which effects on employees and other actors can be expected?

Robots will most likely enter our work teams in the near future. To make such a robot an accepted and authentic member of a team, we need to first assess the (relational) competencies that the robot ought to have. We want to scan the existing literature to get an overview over important competencies and tasks.

Before field experiments can deliver valid data, it is crucial to specify the research design and important aspects that need to be considered for maximum success – especially in a business context where several stake-holders are involved. In this thesis, concrete recommendations will be developed to conduct a real-life field experiment involving humanoid and android robots in business teams.

With advancing digitization also comes a greater responsibility that not only involves technical performance and safety but also social aspects and more concrete ethics. In order to shed more light on this important topic, this thesis should aim at providing insights that can help to answer a number of research questions, including

- What do we already know about ethical aspects of placing technology, such as robots, in teams?

- How do ethics for all-human teams and ethics for human-robot teams fit together?

- What are important ethical considerations for future research on and deployment of human-robot teams?

Many jobs are experiencing a major shift in the skills and core capabilities required for the future. This change does not stop at “classic” office jobs such as team assistance and PMO. We want to take a closer look at how the jobs of a team assistant and a PMO in large corporations are changing, what today’s core competencies are, and which competencies will be needed in the future.

Selecting suitable instruments and methods to measure causal effects is a challenge for many researchers across scientific fields. It is an important prerequisite for any further decisions regarding any study design. We want to take a closer look at various methods that are currently used to assess causality in (field) experiments in business contexts, compare them and derive specific recommendations.

Digitalization and COVID-19 led to a major shift on how we actually work and will work in the future. The suggested topics in the attached PDF are intended to shed light on these aspects. The topics cover all exciting areas of HR work of the future: from AI-based recruiting and leadership to digital work opportunities.