Panos Trahanias
Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas, University of Crete, FORTH Institute of Computer Science, Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Computer Science, Crete University Press, King's College London, Laboratoire d'Informatique de Paris-Nord, FORTH Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser
Papers
91
Total Citations
1,435
H-Index
20
About
Panos Trahanias is a prominent robotics researcher whose work spans autonomous navigation, human-robot interaction, and intelligent systems. Based at the Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas (FORTH) and the University of Crete, he has made foundational contributions to robot perception, motion planning, and decision-making in real-world environments. Trahanias is perhaps best known for his pioneering work on probabilistic robot navigation in dynamic, human-populated spaces. His development of hierarchical POMDP frameworks for autonomous navigation (114 citations) and human motion prediction techniques (84 citations) addressed critical challenges in deploying robots safely alongside people. His early fusion of laser and visual sensor data (80 citations) established robust approaches to collision avoidance that influenced subsequent robotics research. His work on teleoperated museum robots through the TourBot project (74 citations) demonstrated practical deployment of mobile robots in real public settings. He also advanced human-robot interaction through gesture recognition via arm tracking (61 citations) and visual target estimation combining face pose and hand orientation (45 citations). Notably, his research extended to humanoid robot walking state estimation (39 citations) and the underexplored role of temporal cognition in intelligent systems (40 citations). With a body of work exceeding 600 citations across these areas, Trahanias remains a significant voice in socially intelligent and autonomous robotics.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1Real-time hierarchical POMDPs for autonomous robot navigation114 citations · 2007
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- 5Gesture recognition based on arm tracking for human-robot interaction61 citations · 2010
- 6Predictive autonomous robot navigation60 citations · 2003
- 7Semi-autonomous Navigation of a Robotic Wheelchair58 citations · 2002
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- 9Temporal Cognition: A Key Ingredient of Intelligent Systems40 citations · 2011
- 10Nonlinear State Estimation for Humanoid Robot Walking39 citations · 2018