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About

Cristina Sylla is a leading researcher at the intersection of child-computer interaction, tangible interfaces, and learning through play. Her work explores how smart toys, tangibles, and robots can transform children’s educational experiences by embedding digital responses into physical objects. Sylla’s most cited papers, including “Smart Toys, Smart Tangibles, Robots and other Smart Things for Children” (2020, 7 citations) and its 2022 follow-up, provide foundational frameworks for understanding how these technologies support entertainment, education, and social connectedness. She is also known for “Play and Learn: Exploring CodeCubes” (2020, 4 citations), which demonstrates how tangible programming tools can make coding accessible and engaging for young learners. Her research emphasizes the social and collaborative aspects of play, as seen in “Smart Toys++: Exploiting the Social Connectedness for Playing and Learning” (2021, 2 citations). Sylla’s contributions have helped shape the design of interactive systems that blend physical and digital worlds, with applications ranging from sustainability education to social-emotional learning. Her work is widely cited by researchers in human-computer interaction and educational technology, and she continues to influence the development of smart, child-friendly interfaces that foster creativity, collaboration, and meaningful learning.