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About

Martina Wiltschko is a leading figure in the study of human-robot interaction, with a particular focus on the nuanced dynamics of miscommunication and repair. Her research bridges linguistics, robotics, and conversation analysis to understand how humans and machines navigate troubles and failures in dialogue. In her highly cited 2023 workshop report, "Working with troubles and failures in conversation between humans and robots," she brought together an interdisciplinary group of roboticists, HRI researchers, and dialogue system experts to explore complementary perspectives on communication breakdowns. This work has already garnered 6 citations, reflecting its timely importance in the field. Wiltschko’s major contribution lies in systematically analyzing how conversational failures—often seen as obstacles—can be leveraged to improve robot design and interaction protocols. By integrating insights from human conversation analysis into robotics, she has helped pioneer frameworks for more resilient and adaptive human-robot communication. Her research is essential reading for students and researchers interested in building socially intelligent machines that can gracefully handle the inevitable imperfections of real-world interaction.