Valentina De Tommasi
Papers
2
Total Citations
15
H-Index
2
About
Valentina De Tommasi is a pioneering researcher at the intersection of human-robot interaction (HRI) and pediatric healthcare. Her primary research areas focus on deploying humanoid social robots as non-pharmacological interventions for children, particularly in clinical and therapeutic settings. Her most significant contribution is a landmark 2019 observational study, which preliminarily investigated the potential of humanoid robots to entertain young patients through voice, gestures, and animations, thereby reducing their negative emotional states during medical procedures. This work, which has garnered 13 citations, lays critical groundwork for integrating social robots into child life programs. De Tommasi also co-organized the influential "Workshop on Social Robots in Therapy," which addressed the pressing autonomy and ethical challenges in robot-assisted therapy (RAT). By exploring how robots can engage children on both social and emotional dimensions, her research bridges engineering, psychology, and pediatric medicine. Her findings are increasingly vital as healthcare systems seek scalable, non-pharmacological tools to improve patient experience, positioning her as a key voice in the ethical and practical deployment of socially assistive robots.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
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