Marco Ragni

About

Marco Ragni is a leading researcher at the intersection of cognitive science, artificial intelligence, and human-robot interaction. His work fundamentally explores how humans reason about space and how robots can be designed to interact more naturally with people. In spatial reasoning, Ragni has made foundational contributions to qualitative spatial reasoning, particularly in understanding how humans represent and reason about relative point positions and dynamic topological information—work that has garnered over 80 combined citations. His most impactful research, however, centers on the psychology of human-robot interaction. With over 135 citations, his studies on robot-specific social cues in emotional body language and the effects of robotic errors on human perception have reshaped how roboticists design social robots. His 2016 paper "Errare humanum est" (65 citations) is particularly influential, arguing that imperfect, human-like robots may foster better collaboration than flawless ones. Ragni also bridges technical development with psychological acceptance, identifying key features that increase robot trust and reduce prejudice. His work is essential reading for anyone designing social robots or studying spatial cognition.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   Qualitative spatial reasoning about relative point position

   71 citations · 2007
2. 2
   Robot-specific social cues in emotional body language

   70 citations · 2012
3. 3
   Errare humanum est: Erroneous robots in human-robot interaction

   65 citations · 2016
4. 4
   The gap between human's attitude towards robots in general and human's expectation of an ideal everyday life robot

   23 citations · 2017
5. 5
   Reasoning about Topological and Positional Information in Dynamic Settings

   6 citations · 2008
6. 6
   Cognitive Space and Spatial Cognition: The SFB/TR 8 Spatial Cognition

   3 citations · 2015

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links