Papers
12
Total Citations
569
H-Index
9
About
Marco Nalin is a leading researcher in child-robot interaction, with his work fundamentally shaping how robots can serve as social companions for young users, particularly in healthcare settings. His research focuses on designing adaptive, long-term social bonds between children and robots, with major contributions to the ALIZ-E project, which pioneered strategies for sustainable human-robot interaction. Nalin’s most cited work, "Multimodal Child-Robot Interaction: Building Social Bonds" (206 citations), established frameworks for robots to respond to social context in real time. His influential studies on child-robot interaction "in the wild" (103 citations) provided critical insights for implementing social HRI systems in real-world environments like hospital paediatric departments. Notably, Nalin explored how robotic companions could motivate children to eat fruits and vegetables, and support diabetic children in self-managing their condition—work that bridges robotics, psychology, and pediatric care. His research on the "Huggable" robot and children’s adaptation across multiple sessions further demonstrates his commitment to creating robots that are not just functional, but genuinely supportive and engaging for young users.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1Multimodal Child-Robot Interaction: Building Social Bonds206 citations · 2013
- 2Child-robot interaction in the wild103 citations · 2011
- 3The huggable51 citations · 2009
- 4Children's adaptation in multi-session interaction with a humanoid robot46 citations · 2012
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- 7What a robotic companion could do for a diabetic child29 citations · 2014
- 8Robotic companion for diabetic children26 citations · 2012
- 9Emergence of turn-taking in unstructured child-robot social interactions19 citations · 2013
- 10Adapting robot behavior to user's capabilities5 citations · 2011