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About

Alap Kshirsagar is a researcher at the forefront of human-robot interaction, with a particular focus on the critical task of object handovers. His work systematically addresses the challenges of making robot-to-human and human-to-robot handovers safe, predictable, and socially acceptable. A key contribution is the development of controllers synthesized from high-level specifications in Signal Temporal Logic, which provide formal guarantees on the timing of handover phases—a significant advance over prior heuristic approaches. Kshirsagar has also conducted extensive studies on the role of robot gaze behavior during handovers, demonstrating its importance as a nonverbal cue for coordination and user comfort. His research extends to safe reinforcement learning frameworks for human-robot coexistence and the economics of human-robot competition. With over 150 citations across his most-cited papers, his work is foundational for collaborative robots that must operate seamlessly alongside people. Notable achievements include his multi-sensor dataset of bimanual handovers, which provides a valuable resource for the community, and his exploration of active tactile sensing for texture recognition. Kshirsagar’s research elegantly bridges formal methods, machine learning, and empirical human studies to build robots that are both capable and considerate interaction partners.