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About

Domenico Guastella is a leading voice in educational robotics, exploring how tangible, playful technologies can transform learning and development. His research centers on three key areas: using robotics to teach STEM concepts like physics and geography, leveraging robotic construction kits for cognitive stimulation in children with special educational needs, and pioneering the use of robots in social-emotional learning. His most cited work, “A Playful Experiential Learning System With Educational Robotics” (2020, 18 citations), demonstrates through controlled studies how hands-on robotics can make abstract scientific principles intuitive for secondary school students. Guastella’s influential RE4BES protocol (2019, 15 citations) provides a structured framework for using robotics to strengthen social skills and cognitive abilities in children with autism spectrum disorder. Perhaps most notably, his 2018 paper “Robotics Construction Kits: From ‘Objects to Think with’ to ‘Objects to Think and to Emote with’” (8 citations) redefines the role of educational robots, arguing they can help children understand basic human emotions and emotional functioning. By bridging cognitive science, special education, and human-robot interaction, Guastella is shaping a future where robots are not just tools for learning facts, but partners in developing the whole child.