People

Verena Hafner

Principal Investigator

Developmental Robotics

HU Berlin

 

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Photo: SCIoI

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Verena Hafner

Verena Hafner

Photo: SCIoI

Verena Hafner is Professor of Adaptive Systems at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Head of the Adaptive Systems Group at the Department of Computer Science. For SCIoI, she represents the synthetic discipline of robotics. She focuses on sensorimotor interaction and development. She has investigated open-ended development and social interaction in artificial agents that attracted high interest in the cognitive and developmental robotics community and she has substantial experience in interdisciplinary cooperation.

Projects

Verena Hafner is member of:

• Project 06: From understanding learners’ adaptive motivation and emotion to designing social learning companions
• Project 09: Multimodal Interaction and Communication
• Project 10: Anticipation, prediction, and behavioral reliability in social interactions
• Project 45: Modeling neurogenesis for continuous learning
• Project 50: Adaptivity in learner-teacher interaction
• Project 59: Observational learning developing humans and artificial agents
• Project B2:
Ackermann, H., Henke, A., Chevalère, J., Yun, H. S., Hafner, V. V., Pinkwart, N., & Lazarides, R. (2025). Physical embodiment and anthropomorphism of AI tutors and their role in student enjoyment and performance. Npj Science of Learning, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-024-00293-z
Ackermann, H., Lange, A. L., Hafner, V. V., & Lazarides, R. (2025). How adaptive social robots influence cognitive, emotional, and self-regulated learning. Scientific Reports, 15(6581). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-91236-0
Yordanova, M., & Hafner, V. V. (2024). Memory-Feedback Controllers for Lifelong Sensorimotor Learning in Humanoid Robots. From Animals to Animats: 17th International Conference on the Simulation of Adaptive Behavior (SAB 2024), 14993, 275–286. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-71533-4_21
Musiolek, L., Bierbach, D., Weimar, N., Hamon, M., Krause, J., & Hafner, V. V. (2024). Evolving Artificial Neural Networks for Simulating Fish Social Interactions. EvoStar2024. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-56852-7_10
Yun, H. S., Hübert, H., Pinkwart, N., & Hafner, Verena. V. (2024). Design Based Research on Multimodal Robotic Learning Companion. 25th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-64312-5_12
Mellmann, H., Arbuzova, P., Kontogiorgos, D., Yordanova, M., Haensel, J. X., Hafner, V. V., & Bryson, J. J. (2024). Effects of Transparency in Humanoid Robots - A Pilot Study. HRI ’24 Companion. https://doi.org/10.1145/3610978.3640613
Eiserbeck, A., Wudarczyk, O., Kuhlen, A., Hafner, V. V., Haynes, J.-D., & Abdel Rahman, R. (2024). Communicative context enhances emotional word processing with human speakers but not with robots. ASSC27.
Henke, A., Chevalère, J., Omarchevska, Y., Yun, H. S., Pinkwart, N., Hafner, V., & Lazarides, R. (2024). Behavioral Profiles, Motivation and Emotions in an Intelligent Tutoring System. International Conference on Motivation (ICM) 2024.
Henke, A., Chevalère, J., Westphal, A., Yun, H. S., Pinkwart, N., Hafner, V., & Lazarides, R. (2024). Gender-related perceptions of robotic tutoring agents in human-robot interaction. Gender & STEM 2024.
Henke, A., Chevalère, J., Yun, H. S., Pinkwart, N., Hafner, V., & Lazarides, R. (2024). Lernen mit sozialen Robotern und intelligenten tutoriellen Systemen - Welche Rolle spielen wahrgenommenes soziales Interaktionsverhalten des Roboters, Lernfreude und kognitive Belastung für den Lernfortschritt? GEBF 2024.
Kirtay, M., Hafner, V. V., Asada, M., & Oztop, E. (2023). Interplay Between Neural Computational Energy and Multimodal Processing in Robot-Robot Interaction. 2023 IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning (ICDL), 15–21. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICDL55364.2023.10364527
Yun, H. S., Hübert, H., Chevalere, J., Pinkwart, N., Hafner, V., & Lazarides, R. (2023). Analyzing Learners’ Emotion from an HRI experiment using Facial Expression Recognition Systems. 25th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-34550-0_29
Pischedda, D., Kaufmann, V., Wudarczyk, O., Abdel Rahman, R., Hafner, V. V., Kuhlen, A., & Haynes, J.-D. (2023). Human or AI? The brain knows it! A brain-based Turing Test to discriminate between human and artificial agents. RO-MAN 2023. https://doi.org/10.1109/RO-MAN57019.2023.10309541
Taliaronak, V., Lange, A. L., Kirtay, M., Oztop, E., & Hafner, V. V. (2023). Advancing Humanoid Robots for Social Integration: Evaluating Trustworthiness through a Social Cognitive Framework. 2023 32nd IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN), 2112–2119. https://doi.org/10.1109/RO-MAN57019.2023.10309519
Kirtay, M., Hafner, V. V., Asada, M., & Oztop, E. (2023). Trust in robot-robot scaffolding. IEEE Transactions on Cognitive and Developmental Systems. https://doi.org/10.1109/TCDS.2023.3235974
Chevalère, J., Lazarides, R., Yun, H. S., Henke, A., Lazarides, C., Pinkwart, N., & Hafner, V. (2023). Do instructional strategies considering activity emotions reduce students’ boredom in a computerized open-ended learning environment? Computers & Education, 196. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2023.104741
Yun, H. S., Hübert, H., Sardogan, A., Pinkwart, N., Hafner, V., & Lazarides, R. (2023). Humanoid Robot as a Debate Partner. 25th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-36004-6_74
Yun, H. S., Taliaronak, V., Kirtay, M., Chevelère, J., Hübert, H., Hafner, V. V., Pinkwart, N., & Lazarides, R. (2022). Challenges in Designing Teacher Robots with Motivation Based Gestures. 17th Annual ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI 2022). https://arxiv.org/abs/2302.03942
Chevalère, J., Kirtay, M., Hafner, V., & Lazarides, R. (2022). Who to Observe and Imitate in Humans and Robots: The Importance of Motivational Factors. International Journal of Social Robotics. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12369-022-00923-9
Kirtay, M., Oztop, E., Kuhlen, A. K., Asada, M., & Hafner, V. V. (2022). Forming robot trust in heterogeneous agents during a multimodal interactive game. 2022 IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning (ICDL), 307–313. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICDL53763.2022.9962212
Kirtay, M., Oztop, E., Kuhlen, A. K., Asada, M., & Hafner, V. V. (2022). Trustworthiness assessment in multimodal human-robot interaction based on cognitive load. 2022 31st IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN), 469–476. https://doi.org/10.1109/RO-MAN53752.2022.9900730
Bierbach, D., Gómez-Nava, L., Francisco, F. A., Lukas, J., Musiolek, L., Hafner, V. V., Landgraf, T., Romanczuk, P., & Krause, J. (2022). Live fish learn to anticipate the movement of a fish-like robot. Bioinspiration & Biomimetics. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-3190/ac8e3e
Yun, H. S., Hübert, H., Taliaronak, V., Mayet, R., Kirtay, M., Hafner, V. V., & Pinkwart, N. (2022). AI-based Open-Source Gesture Retargeting to a Humanoid Teaching Robot. AIED 2022: The 23rd International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-11647-6_51
Bierbach, D., Francisco, F., Lukas, J., Landgraf, T., Maxeiner, M., Romanczuk, P., Musiolek, L., Hafner, V. V., & Krause, J. (2021). Biomimetic robots promote the 3Rs Principle in animal testing. ALIFE 2021: The 2021 Conference on Artificial Life. https://doi.org/10.1162/isal_a_00375
Kirtay, M., Chevalère, J., Lazarides, R., & Hafner, V. V. (2021). Learning in Social Interaction: Perspectives from Psychology and Robotics. 2021 IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning (ICDL), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICDL49984.2021.9515648
Wudarczyk, O. A., Kirtay, M., Kuhlen, A. K., Abdel Rahman, R., Haynes, J.-D., Hafner, V. V., & Pischedda, D. (2021). Bringing Together Robotics, Neuroscience, and Psychology: Lessons Learned From an Interdisciplinary Project. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 15. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2021.630789
Kirtay, M., Oztop, E., Asada, M., & Hafner, V. V. (2021). Trust me! I am a robot: an affective computational account of scaffolding in robot-robot interaction. 2021 30th IEEE International Conference on Robot & Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN), 189–196. https://doi.org/10.1109/RO-MAN50785.2021.9515494
Kirtay, M., Oztop, E., Asada, M., & Hafner, V. V. (2021). Modeling robot trust based on emergent emotion in an interactive task. 2021 IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning (ICDL), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICDL49984.2021.9515645
Wudarczyk, O. A., Kirtay, M., Pischedda, D., Hafner, V. V., Haynes, J.-D., Kuhlen, A. K., & Abdel Rahman, R. (2021). Robots facilitate human language production. Scientific Reports, 11(1), 16737. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-95645-9
Pischedda, D., Lange, A., Kirtay, M., Wudarczyk, O. A., Abdel Rahman, R., Hafner, V. V., Kuhlen, A. K., & Haynes, J.-D. (2021). Who is my interlocutor? Partner-specific neural representations during communicative interactions with human or artificial task partners. 5th Virtual Social Interactions (VSI) Conference.
Pischedda, D., Lange, A., Kirtay, M., Wudarczyk, O. A., Abdel Rahman, R., Hafner, V. V., Kuhlen, A. K., & Haynes, J.-D. (2021). Am I speaking to a human, a robot, or a computer? Neural representations of task partners in communicative interactions with humans or artificial agents. Neuroscience 2021.
Musiolek, L., Hafner, V. V., Krause, J., Landgraf, T., & Bierbach, D. (2020). Robofish as Social Partner for Live Guppies. Biomimetic and Biohybrid Systems, 270–274. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64313-3_26
Mellmann, H., Schlotter, B., Musiolek, L., & Hafner, V. V. (2020). Anticipation as a Mechanism for Complex Behavior in Artificial Agents. Artificial Life Conference Proceedings, 32, 157–159. https://doi.org/10.1162/isal_a_00314
Kirtay, M., Wudarczyk, O. A., Pischedda, D., Kuhlen, A. K., Abdel Rahman, R., Haynes, J.-D., & Hafner, V. V. (2020). Modeling robot co-representation: state-of-the-art, open issues, and predictive learning as a possible framework. 2020 Joint IEEE 10th International Conference on Development and Learning and Epigenetic Robotics (ICDL-EpiRob), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICDL-EpiRob48136.2020.9278031
Landgraf, T., Gebhardt, G. H. W., Bierbach, D., Romanczuk, P., Musiolek, L., Hafner, V. V., & Krause, J. (2020). Animal-in-the-Loop: Using Interactive Robotic Conspecifics to Study Social Behavior in Animal Groups. Annual Review of Control, Robotics, and Autonomous Systems. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-control-061920-103228

ARTE - July 2024 - 42 - Die Antwort auf fast alles

WIR SIND HUMBOLDT – September 2020 - Was ist intelligenz?

Adlershof Science at Work Journal – March 2019 - Kommunikation will gelernt sein

Der Tagesspiegel – February 2019 - Von der Natur zum Roboter und zurück

Research

An overview of our scientific work

See our Research Projects