The winners of the international "World Press Photo 2026" competition have been announced. One of them is Paula Hornickel from the Master's Photography study program at Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts. With her picture "Emma The Social Robot", she addresses the current situation in German care homes.
The 27-year-old student's contribution focuses on two specific challenges: the lack of staff in care facilities and the increasing loneliness of older people. Against this backdrop, social robots such as "Emma", developed by a Munich start-up, are increasingly being tested.
The award-winning recording was made in a care home in Albershausen, a municipality in Baden-Württemberg. Resident Waltraud can be seen talking to "Emma". The robot can recognize faces, analyse non-verbal signals and remember conversations. "Emma" responds with both speech and gestures. "Although she was skeptical at first, Waltraud built up a close bond with Emma over time," reports Paula Hornickel. The senior likes it when "Emma" tells jokes, which is just the right kind of humor. However, Waltraud would always prefer human contact.
Potential for a better quality of life
The care home spent a year gathering experience with machine person "Emma" for a study. "The evaluation showed that staff see potential in social robots to improve residents' quality of life, even though there are limitations," says Paula Hornickel. For example, "Emma" cannot move independently and conversations are not always fully coherent. One employee described the electric helper as "a very expensive entertainment device".
"Robots and artificial intelligence are penetrating further and further into society, which raises questions about autonomy, privacy and the limits of technology," explains Paula Hornickel, who dealt with the encounter between humans and robots in her bachelor's thesis. For the photographer, whose mother works with robots in a hospital, this project developed out of personal interest into a nationwide documentation of how robots are changing work and everyday life in Germany.
The traveling exhibition "World Press Photo" will also be making another stop in Dortmund this year: from September 25 to October 25, 2026, all award-winning entries will be shown at the Depot cultural venue on Immermannstraße.
About the person
Paula Hornickel, born in Cottbus in Brandenburg, is a portrait and documentary photographer who lives and works in Dortmund and Berlin. For her works, she considers themes such as visions of the future, pop culture and social issues, often in connection with current events.
Parallel to her studies at Fachhochschule Dortmund, Paula Hornickel is currently completing a Master's degree in Visual Communication at the Berlin University of the Arts. She works freelance for editorial offices and cooperation projects. Her productions have appeared in the Süddeutsche Zeitung and "manager magazin", among others.
Supervisors of the Bachelor thesis
- Prof. Kai Jünemann(Opens in a new tab) (Fachhochschule Dortmund)
- Prof. Barbara Kotte (Berlin University of the Arts)
- Prof. Dr. Dr. Daniel D. Hromada (Berlin University of the Arts)