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About

Safoura Rezapour Lakani is a leading researcher in cognitive robotics, with a primary focus on computational models of affordance—a concept drawn from ecological psychology that describes the action possibilities offered by an environment. Her most influential work, "Computational models of affordance in robotics: a taxonomy and systematic classification" (2017), has garnered 81 citations and provides a foundational framework for understanding how robots can perceive and act upon objects based on their functional properties. Lakani’s research advances robot manipulation by developing part-based approaches that enable machines to detect affordances—such as graspability or poundability—by learning the relationships between object parts and their potential uses. Her 2018 paper on affordance detection for manipulation (32 citations) and related studies demonstrate how robots can decompose objects into semantic components (e.g., handles designed for grasping) to perform complex tasks like hammering a nail. This work bridges the gap between perception and action, offering practical pathways for autonomous systems to interact with unstructured environments. Lakani’s contributions are pivotal for students and researchers exploring embodied AI, human-robot interaction, and the integration of ecological principles into robotic design.