Andrea Thomaz

Georgia Institute of Technology, Diligent Consulting (United States)

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About

Andrea Thomaz is a pioneering roboticist whose research lies at the intersection of social robotics, human-robot interaction, and autonomous manipulation. She is best known for her foundational work on enabling robots to engage in natural, human-like turn-taking during social interactions—a critical challenge for seamless human-robot collaboration. Her influential paper on "Controlling Social Dynamics with a Parametrized Model of Floor Regulation" (2013, 26 citations) introduced a computational framework for managing conversational flow, directly addressing the awkwardness that plagues human-robot dialogue. Beyond academia, Thomaz has made a profound real-world impact as the co-founder and CEO of Diligent Robotics. There, she led the development of Moxi, a mobile manipulation robot deployed in hospitals to assist clinical staff with non-patient-facing tasks like delivering supplies and lab samples. Her 2023 talk "Robots in Real Life" (7 citations) highlights the unique challenges of deploying such systems in dynamic, human-centric environments. Thomaz’s work bridges rigorous social science theory with practical, life-improving technology, demonstrating that robots can be both socially fluent and clinically useful.