معرفی
Robin Welsch is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Aalto University, specializing in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) with strong interdisciplinary connections to psychology. Their work bridges computer science and cognitive/clinical psychology, focusing on virtual reality, social robotics, and human augmentation technologies. Affiliated with both the Engineering Psychology (ENGPSYCH) and Human-Computer Interaction and Design (HCID) research areas, Welsch maintains an active international research profile with publications in top-tier venues including CHI, IEEE Transactions, and PLOS One.
Research interests center on the psychological and behavioral aspects of emerging technologies. Key areas include interpersonal distance regulation in virtual environments, social dynamics in VR/AR, cognitive and placebo effects of AI augmentation, and ethical considerations in human-robot interaction. Their work frequently examines how psychological factors (social anxiety, psychopathy traits, aging) influence technology interaction, with strong emphasis on experimental methodologies combining physiological sensing, behavioral observation, and computational analysis.
Recent publications (2023-2025) reveal three dominant trends: 1) Social VR research exploring proxemics, privacy, and gaze behavior; 2) Investigations into placebo effects and performance expectations in human-AI interaction; 3) Methodological contributions to bias detection in ML annotation and AR social media applications. This work consistently applies rigorous experimental psychology frameworks to HCI problems.
Award highlights:
- CHI PLAY 2023 Honorable Mention for VR locomotion research
Welsch actively collaborates across institutions (Germany, Finland, Australia) and disciplines, with notable partnerships in psychology departments and HCI labs. While specific grant details aren't provided, the volume and venue quality of publications suggest sustained research funding. Current work shows increasing focus on generative AI's impact on design processes and ethical implications of emerging interaction paradigms.
Research occurs within Aalto University's Engineering Psychology and HCID groups, with emphasis on experimental VR/AR setups and physiological measurement systems. Recent projects involve social VR scenarios, location-based AR applications, and human-robot interaction studies in public spaces.
