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About

Nahum A. Torres is a pioneering researcher whose work bridges two seemingly distinct domains: socially assistive robotics for autism therapy and the precise manipulation of untethered microrobots. His most impactful contributions center on developing interactive robotic systems that help children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) learn social communication through human-robot interaction. Torres’s landmark paper “RoDiCA” (21 citations) introduced a virtual environment where robots teach body language, while his subsequent work on the humanoid robot Zeno (19 citations) demonstrated real-time arm and torso mimicking behaviors for clinical treatment. These efforts, together with his analysis of upper-body gesture imitation (20 citations), have laid groundwork for robot-assisted behavioral therapy. In parallel, Torres has advanced microrobotics with novel actuation methods. His 2015 paper on cooperative control of multiple untethered magnetic microrobots using a single conical magnet (15 citations) and his earlier work with a focused permanent magnet wand (8 citations) enable precise, scalable manipulation of sub-millimeter agents—a breakthrough for targeted drug delivery and microsurgery. By combining social robotics with micro-engineering, Torres exemplifies interdisciplinary innovation, earning recognition for both therapeutic impact and technical ingenuity.