Stefan Escaida Navarro
Centre Inria de l'Université de Lille, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Centre de Recherche en Informatique, University of O'Higgins, Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies du numérique, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, École Centrale de Lille
Papers
24
Total Citations
710
H-Index
14
About
Stefan Escaida Navarro is a robotics researcher whose work spans the interconnected domains of proximity perception, tactile sensing, haptic recognition, and soft robotics — fields critical to the development of safe, intelligent robotic systems capable of operating alongside humans. His landmark 2021 survey on proximity perception in human-centered robotics, now cited over 140 times, established a comprehensive foundation for understanding how sensing technologies can enable autonomous systems across industrial, domestic, and extreme environments such as space and underwater contexts. Navarro's early contributions to haptic object recognition demonstrated how anthropomorphic robot hands equipped with passive joints and tactile key features could reliably identify objects through touch, work that has since accumulated over 150 combined citations across multiple publications. His research into capacitive tactile proximity sensors produced versatile, modular hardware solutions enabling safe human-robot interaction and sophisticated 6D proximity servoing for grasping and exploration tasks. More recently, he has advanced soft robotics sensing through model-based sensor fusion approaches and highly stretchable 3D-printed capacitive sensors, addressing fundamental challenges in force estimation and deformation tracking. Across more than a decade of research, Navarro has consistently bridged hardware innovation with practical robotic applications, cementing his reputation as a leading voice in embodied robotic perception.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1
- 2Haptic object recognition using passive joints and haptic key features103 citations · 2010
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- 5Haptic object recognition for multi-fingered robot hands48 citations · 2012
- 6
- 7A versatile and modular capacitive tactile proximity sensor35 citations · 2016
- 8
- 9Modeling Novel Soft Mechanosensors Based on Air-Flow Measurements24 citations · 2019
- 10