Alice Geminiani

About

Alice Geminiani is a robotics researcher whose work sits at the intersection of human-robot interaction, socially assistive robotics, and neurodevelopmental disorders. She is best known for her extensive contributions to the development and evaluation of robotic therapies for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), a field she has helped advance through both foundational reviews and innovative system design. Her 2023 scoping review on robotics applications for ASD, cited 26 times, stands as one of the most comprehensive surveys of the field, while her 2021 robotic coaching platform paper (34 citations) introduced rigorous, quantitative frameworks for assessing social and cognitive skill development in therapeutic settings. Her most-cited work (90 citations) probes the psychological phenomenon of the Uncanny Valley through a multisite perceptual study, demonstrating her range beyond applied robotics into fundamental questions of human perception. Across her portfolio, Geminiani has pioneered gesture recognition algorithms, attention classifiers, and embodied mirroring games using humanoid robots such as NAO, translating computational tools into clinically meaningful interventions. Her forays into neuromorphic computing, including a spiking neural network controller for a robotic whisker system, further reveal a researcher driven by brain-inspired approaches to machine intelligence.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   Uncanny but not confusing: Multisite study of perceptual category confusion in the Uncanny Valley

   90 citations · 2019
2. 2
   Design of a Robotic Coach for Motor, Social and Cognitive Skills Training Toward Applications With ASD Children

   34 citations · 2021
3. 3
   A gesture recognition algorithm in a robot therapy for ASD children

   28 citations · 2022
4. 4
   Applications of Robotics for Autism Spectrum Disorder: a Scoping Review

   26 citations · 2023
5. 5
   Design and validation of two embodied mirroring setups for interactive games with autistic children using the NAO humanoid robot

   15 citations · 2019
6. 6
   Attention Analysis in Robotic-Assistive Therapy for Children With Autism

   11 citations · 2024
7. 7
   Brain-Inspired Spiking Neural Network Controller for a Neurorobotic Whisker System

   10 citations · 2022
8. 8
   Interactive mirrOring Games wIth sOCial rObot (IOGIOCO): a pilot study on the use of intransitive gestures in a sample of Italian preschool children with autism spectrum disorder

   7 citations · 2024
9. 9
   Sharing Worlds: Design of a Real-Time Attention Classifier for Robotic Therapy of ASD Children

   6 citations · 2022
10. 10
    CopyRobot: Interactive Mirroring Robotics Game for ASD Children

    6 citations · 2019

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links