Kristof Goris
Papers
13
Total Citations
484
H-Index
9
About
Kristof Goris is a pioneering robotics researcher whose work has fundamentally shaped the field of social and therapeutic human-robot interaction, with a particular focus on designing robots for vulnerable populations such as hospitalized children. He is best known as a principal architect of Probo, a huggable social robot developed to serve as a tele-interface for entertainment, communication, and medical assistance in hospital environments. His contributions span the full spectrum of robot development — from early conceptual design and mechanical engineering to expressive emotion systems and motion control — demonstrating rare interdisciplinary breadth across mechanical design, artificial intelligence, and human-robot interaction (HRI). Goris's most-cited work, "Expressing Emotions with the Social Robot Probo" (2010), has accumulated 156 citations, reflecting the significant influence his research has had on the affective robotics community. His earlier foundational paper on Probo's design (2008, 84 citations) established the framework for huggable robots as legitimate therapeutic tools. Before Probo, Goris contributed to ANTY, an intelligent huggable robot that laid important groundwork for child-centered robot design. Collectively, his publications have helped define best practices for robot-assisted therapy and demonstrated that thoughtfully designed social robots can meaningfully improve children's hospital experiences.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1Expressing Emotions with the Social Robot Probo156 citations · 2010
- 2On the design of the huggable robot Probo84 citations · 2008
- 3MECHANICAL DESIGN OF THE HUGGABLE ROBOT PROBO51 citations · 2011
- 4A Motion System for Social and Animated Robots34 citations · 2014
- 5The Huggable Robot Probo, a Multi-disciplinary Research Platform33 citations · 2009
- 6
- 7
- 8Probo25 citations · 2009
- 9Probo, an Intelligent Huggable Robot for HRI Studies with Children17 citations · 2010
- 10