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About

Florian Lingenfelser is a pioneering researcher at the intersection of social robotics, human-robot interaction, and affective computing. His work focuses on endowing robots with the ability to perceive, interpret, and adapt to human social signals, particularly through the complex lens of humor. Lingenfelser’s major contributions lie in developing real-time, reinforcement learning-based systems that allow robots to personalize their behavior—specifically their comedic timing and joke delivery—based on a user’s laughter, smiles, and other paralinguistic cues. His seminal 2018 paper, "How to Shape the Humor of a Robot," which has garnered 81 citations, demonstrates how a robot can unobtrusively learn a human’s sense of humor to foster bonding and positive affect. This work, along with his subsequent studies on adaptive joke-telling and multimodal joke generation, has established him as a leading voice in creating socially-aware, engaging robotic companions. By proving that machines can dynamically tailor their social behavior to individual preferences, Lingenfelser is helping to transform robots from mere tools into empathetic, relatable partners in everyday life.