A study at the Human-Centered Robotics Lab (external link, opens in a new window) at Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences under the direction of Prof. Dr Reinhard Gerndt and Prof. Dr Tobias Dörnbach shows new ways for research and teaching: In collaboration with the Universidad Tecnológica (UTEC) in Uruguay (external link, opens in a new window), the researchers are investigating how laboratory exercises and utilisation studies in human-robot interaction can be successfully designed over long distances.
Master's thesis in computer science at Ostfalia becomes prize-winning scientific contribution
The scientific contribution "Remote vs. Presence Laboratories in Human-Robot Interaction with Social Robots*: A Study on Task Performance". This publication was nominated for the Best Paper Award at the International Conference on Social Robotics + AI (external link, opens in a new window) in Naples on 12 September 2025. This makes the paper one of the five best contributions to the conference. Kai Blum M. Sc., student Ibrahim Al Krad, Professors Reinhard Gerndt and Tobias Dörnbach (Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Computer Science) as well as Professor of Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Ricardo Bedin Grando and student Pablo Moraes (UTEC) were involved.
"This illustrates the opportunities that digital forms of collaboration open up in international university research and strengthens Ostfalia's role as a research institution in the field of human-robot interaction," says Professor Tobias Dörnbach.
Exemplary international cooperation between universities in Germany and Uruguay
In practice, the universities involved are already benefiting from their scientific collaboration. "For the user study for the publication presented in Naples, we carried out tests with robots in our laboratory in which they could be controlled both by students in Uruguay and locally from the Ostfalia campus in Wolfenbüttel. This way of working will be very helpful for future research tasks with our international partners," explains Dörnbach.
*Remote vs. on-site laboratories in human-robot interaction with social robots
