I am a tenured research scientist (chargé de recherche – CR) in INRIA Nancy Grand-Est and LORIA since 2014, working in the project-team LARSEN, directed by Francois Charpillet. Before joining Inria, I was a postdoc in the Intelligent Autonomous Systems Lab of TU Darmstadt (Germany), with Jan Peters, and in the Institute of Intelligent Systems and Robotics (ISIR) in Paris (France), with Olivier Sigaud and Vincent Padois. I obtained my PhD at the Italian Institute of Technology in Genoa (Italy) with Francesco Nori and Giorgio Metta in 2011.
My research is currently focused on robots collaborating with humans. I am interested into combining machine learning with control to improve the prediction, adaptation and interaction skills of robots. I strongly believe in user evaluation, i.e., making potential end-user evaluate our technologies, to improve usability, trust, acceptance.
I have been serving as Editor in Chief of the International Journal of Social Robotics since March 2021.
I have served as Associate Editor for IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (2017-2021), for which I received the IEEE RA-L Distinguished Service Award as Outstanding Associate Editor. I have been regularly serving as Associate Editor for IEEE/RAS robotics conferences. I was Program Chair of IEEE/RAS Humanoids 2019.
I recently joined the steering committee of Robotics for Infectious Diseases. Since 2021 I am co-leading the GT7 Humanoid Robotics of GDR Robotique (the French Robotics society).
I recently obtained the Suzanne Zivi Award 2020 for excellence in research.
I am one of the Judges of the ANA Avatar Xprize competition.
I am currently involved in the following projects:
- AnDy (EU, H2020, PI): collaboration between humans and humanoids, exoskeletons and cobots
- HEAP (EU, CHIST-ERA, PI): machine learning techniques and human-in-the-loop approach to grasp irregular objects in a heap
- C-Shift (FR, LUE, PI): to investigate adaptation with cobots and exoskeletons
- TELEMOVTOP (FR, AMI Numerique Grand Est, PI): to apply our knowledge in teleoperation to robots for asbestos removal
- EXOTURN (FR, Inria-COVID19, PI): to provide exoskeletons for doctors engaged in the COVID-19 fight in the ICU
- The_Flying_Coworker (FR, ANR): collaboration between humans and flying robots with manipulators for objects handover
- ASMOA (FR, DGA): prediction and anticipatory control for exoskeletons
Past projects:
- CoDyCo (EU, FP7, PI): learning and control for physical human-robot interaction
Recent / Upcoming events:
- ICRA 2020 Workshop on Shared Autonomy: Learning and Control
- ICRA 2020 Workshop on Multidisciplinary Approaches for pHRI
- Invited talk at ICRA 2020 Workshop on Human-Robot Handovers
- Invited talk at RSS 2020 Workshop on Closing the academia to real-world gap in service robotics
- ROMAN 2020 Workshop on Cognitive Robotics for Interaction
- Invited talk at IROS 2020 Workshop on Ergonomic Physical Human-Robot Collaboration
- Invited talk at Journée GT5 Perception et interaction homme-robot 2020
- IEEE RA-L Special issue on Shared Autonomy for Physical Human-Robot Interaction
- Panelist at the HRI Pioneers Workshop 2021 – Academic Panel
- Invited seminar at Queen Mary University (UK)
- Panelist at Cercle Entreprise et Santé – 6eme UX Forum Exosquelettes
- Speaking at European Robotics Forum 2021
- Speaker at the IEEE Women In Engineering International Leadership Conference
- Invited lecture at University of Naples Federico II
- Invited seminar at GV lab at University of Tokyo
- Invited talk at ICRA 2021 Workshop on Bridging the Gap between Data-driven and Analytical Physics-based Grasping and Manipulation II
- ICRA 2021 Workshop on Multidisciplinary approaches for physical human-robot interaction
- ICRA 2021 Workshop on Teleoperation of Dynamic Legged Robots in Real Scenarios
- Plenary lecture at Journée FéDéV 2021 – Université Paris Saclay
- Invited talk at HUMANOIDS 202o Workshop Towards Physical-social human-robot interaction
- Invited talk at HUMANOIDS 202o Workshop on Talos
- Invited talk at IROS 2021 Workshop on Human-like Behavior and Cognition in Robots