Jochen Hirth

About

Jochen Hirth is a robotics researcher whose work sits at the intersection of humanoid robotics, human-robot interaction, and emotion-based control systems. He is best known for his sustained contributions to the development of ROMAN, a humanoid robot head designed to bridge the communication gap between humans and machines through expressive, socially aware behavior. Hirth's most influential work — "Control of Facial Expressions of the Humanoid Robot Head ROMAN" (2006, 117 citations) — addresses a fundamental insight driving his research: that over 60% of human communication is nonverbal. By engineering robots capable of replicating facial expressions and gestures, he has pushed the boundaries of natural, intuitive human-robot interaction. His follow-up contributions on emotional architectures and emotion-based control frameworks (earning 64 and 33 citations respectively) further established him as a leading voice in affective robotics, exploring how robots can generate biologically inspired, motive-driven behaviors. Beyond expressive robot heads, Hirth extended his research to full-body humanoid design and autonomous systems, including arm and hand mechanics and behavior-based excavator control. His simulation framework for human-robot interaction scenarios reflects a pragmatic commitment to real-world testing and validation. Across his career, Hirth has helped lay the theoretical and mechanical groundwork for robots that can genuinely participate in human social environments.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   Control of facial expressions of the humanoid robot head ROMAN

   117 citations · 2006
2. 2
   Emotional Architecture for the Humanoid Robot Head ROMAN

   64 citations · 2007
3. 3
   Towards Social Robots: Designing an Emotion-Based Architecture

   33 citations · 2011
4. 4
   Designing Arms and Hands for the Humanoid Robot ROMAN

   12 citations · 2012
5. 5
   Emotion Based Control Architecture for Robotics Applications

   10 citations · 2007
6. 6
   A Simulation Framework for Human-Robot Interaction

   10 citations · 2010
7. 7
   Concept for behavior generation for the humanoid robot head ROMAN based on habits of interaction

   8 citations · 2007
8. 8
   Motives as intrinsic activation for human-robot interaction

   7 citations · 2008
9. 9
   Behavior-based Arm Control for an Autonomous Bucket Excavator

   6 citations · 2012
10. 10
    Realization of natural interaction dialogs in public environments using the humanoid robot ROMAN

    5 citations · 2008

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links