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About

David Fischinger is a robotics researcher whose work sits at the intersection of assistive technology, human-robot interaction, and robotic manipulation. He is best known as a central figure in the development of **Hobbit**, a socially assistive service robot designed to support independent living among older adults in their own homes. His research addresses one of society's most pressing challenges — enabling elderly individuals to age in place safely — through robots capable of fall detection, object retrieval, and intuitive social interaction. The Hobbit platform, introduced in a 2014 paper that has since garnered over 350 citations, culminated in rigorous real-world field trials across 16 private households, yielding rich insights into usability, safety perception, and practical deployment challenges. Alongside his work in assistive robotics, Fischinger has made significant contributions to robotic grasping, developing innovative shape-based learning methods — including the influential Symmetry Height Accumulated Features (SHAF) framework — that allow robots to grasp unknown objects in cluttered, unstructured environments without relying on predefined object models. His research on RGB-D sensor navigation in real domestic settings further reflects his commitment to translating laboratory advances into genuine real-world impact. With nearly 700 cumulative citations, his body of work offers an invaluable foundation for researchers working on socially assistive and autonomous robotic systems.