Simon Robinson
Associate Professor, Computational Foundry

I’m a member of the Computational Foundry at Swansea University. My current research focuses primarily on devices and interactions designed with and for emergent users – people in rural or developing regions where connectivity and technology availability are often low.
My ongoing research is funded by the EPSRC grants UnMute and Rethinking public technology, along with a range of smaller projects. I've previously been part of the PV interfaces, Breaking the glass, Reshaping the expected future, Scaling the rural enterprise, Community-generated media for the next billion and Multimodal, negotiated interaction in mobile scenarios projects.
I lead the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) research group – the FIT Lab, and am also Director of the MSc year of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Enhancing Human Interactions and Collaborations with Data and Intelligence Driven Systems and a MASI Research Entrepreneur. I currently teach the modules Human-Centred Perspectives and Methods and Introduction to Human-Computer Interaction.
I maintain a collection of resources and a set of open-source tools that Swansea University staff and students may find useful.
Selected publications
Book: There’s Not An App for That – find out more, or buy nowMy research publications and further information such as open-source toolkits, apps, videos and supporting materials are available below. See also my ACM, Scopus, DBLP, Google Scholar or GitHub profiles. Details of other work, such as news, public engagement, impact and grants are available on my news and additional work page.
Jump to books, conference papers, journal articles or other publications.
Books
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There’s Not An App for That: Mobile User Experience Design for Life
Simon Robinson, Gary Marsden and Matt Jones.
Available to order from Amazon, or via ScienceDirect. Find out more at changetheworldux.com
Conference papers
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Modelling Human Trust in Robots During Repeated Interactions
M. Ahmad, A. Alzahrani, A. Rahat, S. Robinson. Accepted to appear in Proceedings of HAI 2023, Gothenburg, December 2023.- Full version available soon.
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Situating Automatic Speech Recognition Development within Communities of Under-heard Language Speakers
T. Reitmaier, E. Wallington, O. Klejch, N. Markl, L. Lam-Yee-Mui, J. Pearson, M. Jones, P. Bell, S. Robinson. In Proceedings of CHI 2023 (Article 406), Hamburg, April 2023.- Paper (PDF) |
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Exploring Factors Affecting User Trust Across Different Human-Robot Interaction Settings and Cultures
A. Alzahrani, S. Robinson, M. Ahmad. In Proceedings of HAI 2022 (pages 123–131), Christchurch, December 2022.- Paper (PDF) |
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Can’t Touch This: Rethinking Public Technology in a COVID-19 Era
J. Pearson, G. Bailey, S. Robinson, M. Jones, T. Owen, C. Zhang, T. Reitmaier, C. Steer, A. Carter, D. Sahoo, D. Raju. In Proceedings of CHI 2022 (Article 401), New Orleans, April 2022. Awarded honourable mention.- Paper (PDF) |
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- Video (MP4)
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Opportunities and Challenges of Automatic Speech Recognition Systems for Low-Resource Language Speakers
T. Reitmaier, E. Wallington, D. Raju, O. Klejch, J. Pearson, M. Jones, P. Bell, S. Robinson. In Proceedings of CHI 2022 (Article 299), New Orleans, April 2022.- Paper (PDF) |
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Light-In-Light-Out (Li-Lo) Displays: Harvesting and Manipulating Light to Provide Novel Forms of Communication
K. Seunarine, D. Raju, G. Thomas, S. Thomas, A. Pockett, T. Reitmaier, C. Steer, T. Owen, Y. Meena, S. Robinson, J. Pearson, M. Carnie, D. Sahoo, M. Jones. In Proceedings of CHI 2022 (Article 46), New Orleans, April 2022.- Paper (PDF) |
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- Video (MOV)
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PV-Pix: Slum Community Co-design of Self-Powered Deformable Smart Messaging Materials
D. Raju, K. Seunarine, T. Reitmaier, G. Thomas, Y. Meena, C. Zhang, A. Pockett, J. Pearson, S. Robinson, M. Carnie, D. Sahoo, M. Jones. In Proceedings of CHI 2021 (Article 304), Yokohama (virtual), May 2021.- Paper (PDF) |
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Morphino: A Nature-Inspired Tool for the Design of Shape-Changing Interfaces
I. Qamar, K. Stawarz, S. Robinson, A. Goguey, C. Coutrix, A. Roudaut. In Proceedings of DIS 2020 (pages 1943–1958), Eindhoven (virtual), July 2020.- Paper (PDF) |
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Sustainabot – Exploring the Use of Everyday Foodstuffs as Output and Input for and with Emergent Users
S. Robinson, J. Pearson, M. Holton, S. Ahire, M. Jones. In Proceedings of CHI 2019 (Paper 226), Glasgow, May 2019. Awarded honourable mention.- Paper (PDF) |
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- Video (MP4) (YouTube)
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StreetWise: Smart Speakers vs Human Help in Public Slum Settings
J. Pearson, S. Robinson, T. Reitmaier, M. Jones, S. Ahire, A. Joshi, D. Sahoo, N. Maravi, B. Bhikne. In Proceedings of CHI 2019 (Paper 96), Glasgow, May 2019.- Paper (PDF) |
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PickCells: A Physically Reconfigurable Cell-composed Touchscreen
A. Goguey, C. Steer, A. Lucero, L. Nigay, D. Sahoo, C. Coutrix, A. Roudaut, S. Subramanian, Y. Tokuda, T. Neate, J. Pearson, S. Robinson, M. Jones. In Proceedings of CHI 2019 (Paper 273), Glasgow, May 2019.- Paper (PDF) |
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- Video (MP4)
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Make Yourself at Phone: Reimagining Mobile Interaction Architectures With Emergent Users
S. Robinson, J. Pearson, T. Reitmaier, S. Ahire, M. Jones. In Proceedings of CHI 2018 (Paper 407), Montreal, April 2018.- Paper (PDF) |
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- Slides (PDF),
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Better Together: Disaggregating Mobile Services for Emergent Users
S. Robinson, J. Pearson, M. Jones, A. Joshi, S. Ahire. In Proceedings of MobileHCI 2017 (Article 44), Vienna, September 2017. -
Chameleon Devices: Investigating More Secure and Discreet Mobile Interactions via Active Camouflaging
J. Pearson, S. Robinson, M. Jones, A. Joshi, S. Ahire, D. Sahoo, S. Subramanian. In Proceedings of CHI 2017 (pages 5184–5196), Denver, May 2017. Awarded honourable mention.- Paper (PDF) |
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- Video (MP4) (YouTube)
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Emergeables: Deformable Displays for Continuous Eyes-Free Mobile Interaction
S. Robinson, C. Coutrix, J. Pearson, J. Rosso, M. Torquato, L. Nigay, M. Jones. In Proceedings of CHI 2016 (pages 3793–3805), San Jose, May 2016. Awarded honourable mention.- Paper (PDF) |
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- Slides (PDF),
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- Hardware resources |
- BBC Click TV and World Service |
- BBC Radio Wales |
- Reuters |
- Conference talk
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It’s About Time: Smartwatches as Public Displays
J. Pearson, S. Robinson, M. Jones. In Proceedings of CHI 2015 (pages 1257–1266), Seoul, April 2015.- Paper (PDF) |
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- Slides (PDF),
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Creative Cameraphone Use in Rural Developing Regions
D. Frohlich, S. Robinson, K. Eglinton, M. Jones, E. Vartiainen. In Proceedings of MobileHCI 2012 (pages 181–190), San Francisco, September 2012.- Paper (PDF) |
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- Video (MOV) (YouTube)
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TapBack: Towards Richer Mobile Interfaces in Impoverished Contexts
S. Robinson, N. Rajput, M. Jones, A. Jain, S. Sahay, A. Nanavati. In Proceedings of CHI 2011 (pages 2733–2736), Vancouver, May 2011.- Paper (PDF) |
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- Slides (PDF),
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‘I Did It My Way’: Moving Away from the Tyranny of Turn-by-Turn Pedestrian Navigation
S. Robinson, M. Jones, P. Eslambolchilar, R. Murray-Smith, M. Lindborg. In Proceedings of MobileHCI 2010 (pages 341–344), Lisbon, Sept. 2010. Nominated for best paper.- Paper (PDF) |
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- Slides (PDF),
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Journal articles and book chapters
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El Codiseño de la Aplicación Orígenes Como Forma De Resistencia: Un Proyecto Para “Reconectar a Las Personas Y Sanar Antiguas Heridas”
G. Lublin, S. Robinson, M. Rodriguez.- Translation: The Co-Design of the Orígenes Application as a Form of Resistance: A Project To “Reconnect People and Heal Old Wounds”
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Diversifying Future-making Through Itinerative Design
J. Pearson, S. Robinson, T. Reitmaier, M. Jones, A. Joshi. TOCHI 26(5), Article 33, 2019. -
BookMark: Appropriating Existing Infrastructure to Facilitate Scalable Indoor Navigation
J. Pearson, S. Robinson, M. Jones. IJHCS 103(3): 22–34, 2017. -
Beyond “Yesterday’s Tomorrow”: Future-Focused Mobile Interaction Design By and For Emergent Users
M. Jones, S. Robinson, J. Pearson, M. Joshi, D. Raju, C. Mbogo, S. Wangari, A. Joshi, E. Cutrell, R. Harper. Personal and Ubiquitous Computing 21(1): 157–171, 2017.- Paper (PDF) |
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Case studies, magazine articles, other publications
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Automatic transcription and (de)standardisation
N. Markl, E. Wallington, O. Klejch, T. Reitmaier, G. Bailey, J. Pearson, S. Robinson, M. Jones and P. Bell. In 2nd Annual Meeting of the Special Interest Group on Under-resourced Languages, Dublin, August 2023. -
Back in Place: Renewing Ourselves and Our Places Post-Pandemic
R. Harper, M. Jones, J. Pearson, J. Hollinshead, R. Marshall, S. Robinson. Technical Report, Future Places Centre, Lancaster University, November 2022. -
Improving Railway Safety: Human-in-the-loop Invariant Finding
B. Lloyd-Roberts, P. James, M. Edwards, T. Werner, S. Robinson. In CHI 2023 Case Studies (Article 389), Hamburg, April 2022. -
Designing and Embedding a Tangible Public Interface in the COVID Era
A. Carter, G. Bailey, J. Pearson, M. Jones, S. Robinson, D. Raju, S. Winter, J. Hicks. In CHI 2022 Case Studies (Article 26), New Orleans, April 2022. -
Day in the Lab: Computational Foundry
S. Robinson, J. Pearson, A. Dix. In interactions 26(4):16–19, 2019. -
Exploring the use of the Physical Web with Resource-Constrained Communities
J. Pearson, S. Robinson, T. Reitmaier, M. Jones, A. Joshi, C. Parab, F. Mogoi, S. Jenson. In CHI 2017 Case Studies (pages 1117–1125), Denver, May 2017. Awarded best case study.- Paper (PDF) |
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- Open-source toolkit |
- Press: The Times of India, Business Standard and The Hindu, amongst others
Workshop items, works-in-progress, late-breaking work, demos
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Speech Technologies Development With and for Minority Language Communities: Case Study of isiXhosa
N. Markl, P. Bell, E. Wallington, O. Klejch, S. Robinson, T. Reitmaier, M. Jones, J. Pearson. In XIX International Conference on Minority Languages, Carmarthen, June 2023. -
Exploring Clinicians’ Use and Perceptions of Patient-reported Outcome Measures at a Tertiary Cancer Centre in Wales
M. Hall, S. Robinson, M. Roach, A. Dix. In ISOQOL 2022 Posters, Prague, October 2022. -
Photovoltaic Materials for the Design of Self-Powered Interfaces and Interactions using Shadow Detection
K. Seunarine, Y. Meena, D. Sahoo, S. Robinson, J. Pearson, S. Thomas, A. Pockett, G. Thomas, M. Carnie, M. Jones. In SelfSustainableCHI: Workshop on Self-Powered Sustainable Interfaces and Interactions, Honolulu (virtual), May 2020. -
JDLED: Towards Visio-Tactile Displays based on Electrochemical Locomotion of Liquid-Metal Janus Droplets
D. Sahoo, T. Neate, Y. Tokuda, J. Pearson, S. Robinson, S. Subramanian, M. Jones. In UIST 2017 Demos, Quebec City, October 2017- Paper (PDF) |
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Com-Me: Community Media Toolkit
S. Robinson, D. Frohlich, K. Eglinton, M. Jones, J. Marshall, A. Stringer, K. Langhein. In Digital Futures 2012 demos, Aberdeen, October 2012.- Paper (PDF) |
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- Video (MOV) (YouTube)
Contact

- Email: s . n . w . robinson – swansea . ac . uk
- Telephone: +44 (0) 1792 602699 (internal: 2699)
- Office: Computational Foundry room 116
- Address: Computer Science, Computational Foundry, Swansea University Bay Campus, Fabian Way, Swansea, SA1 8EN, UK