Franz Steinmetz

About

Franz Steinmetz is a leading researcher in human-robot interaction (HRI) and intuitive robot programming, whose work is pivotal to democratizing automation for small and medium-sized enterprises. His core research focuses on task-level programming, programming by demonstration (PbD), and skill parameterization—enabling non-experts to program complex robotic tasks without specialized knowledge. Steinmetz’s major contributions include developing RAZER, a visual HRI system for intuitive skill parameterization (62 citations), and RAFCON, a graphical tool for engineering complex robotic tasks (61 citations). He pioneered simultaneous kinesthetic teaching of positional and force requirements for in-contact tasks (52 citations), allowing robots to learn dynamic skills like wood planing directly from human demonstration (29 citations). His work on semantic skill recognition (60 citations) bridges the gap between intuitive PbD and flexible task-level programming. Steinmetz also advanced ontological representations for flexible robotic assembly (12 citations) and shared control templates for users with motor impairments (7 citations). With over 300 total citations, his research directly addresses the industrial need for cost-effective, flexible automation, making him a key figure in the future of accessible robotics.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   RAZER—A HRI for Visual Task-Level Programming and Intuitive Skill Parameterization

   62 citations · 2018
2. 2
   RAFCON: A graphical tool for engineering complex, robotic tasks

   61 citations · 2016
3. 3
   Intuitive Task-Level Programming by Demonstration Through Semantic Skill Recognition

   60 citations · 2019
4. 4
   Simultaneous kinesthetic teaching of positional and force requirements for sequential in-contact tasks

   52 citations · 2015
5. 5
   Skill parametrization approaches and skill architecture for human-robot interaction

   33 citations · 2016
6. 6
   On handing down our tools to robots: Single-phase kinesthetic teaching for dynamic in-contact tasks

   29 citations · 2015
7. 7
   Flexible Robotic Assembly Based on Ontological Representation of Tasks, Skills, and Resources

   12 citations · 2021
8. 8
   Learning and Interactive Design of Shared Control Templates

   7 citations · 2021
9. 9
   Soziotechnisches Assistenzsystem zur lernförderlichen Arbeitsgestaltung in der robotergestützten Montage

   6 citations · 2023
10. 10
    Friction Estimation for Tendon-Driven Robotic Hands

    5 citations · 2021

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links