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About

Pierrick Milhorat is a leading researcher in human-robot interaction, specializing in the development of autonomous conversational agents that can engage in natural, socially-aware dialogue. His major contributions center on the creation of the android ERICA, a platform designed to serve as a laboratory guide and counselor. Milhorat’s work addresses the core challenges of building attentive listening systems, including continuous backchanneling, response generation, and flexible turn-taking—technologies that encourage users, particularly the elderly, to speak smoothly to maintain communication skills and mental health. His most influential paper (60 citations) introduces a framework for such systems, while his work on ERICA (48 citations) demonstrates how an autonomous android can follow human dialogue protocols to make interactions comfortable. Milhorat has also advanced the detection of social signals—such as gaze and posture—to recognize user engagement in real time, enabling robots to adapt their dialogue strategies dynamically. His research, published in top venues like the International Conference on Social Robotics, has been instrumental in bridging the gap between human-like appearance and truly responsive, empathetic machine behavior.