Francesco Vigni
Papers
8
Total Citations
54
H-Index
4
About
Francesco Vigni is a human-robot interaction (HRI) researcher whose work centers on making social robots more intuitive, emotionally aware, and acceptable to humans. His research spans haptic communication, acoustic signaling, emotional transparency, and proxemics—the study of interpersonal distance. Vigni’s most cited work (28 citations) investigates the role of closed-loop haptic feedback in human-robot handshaking, revealing how force control balances intrinsic and extrinsic contributions to create natural interactions. He has also pioneered the use of familiar acoustic cues for legible service robots (7 citations), showing that sound can improve coordination and acceptance in shared spaces. His studies on non-verbal strategies for initiating HRI and emotional transparency in non-humanoid robots (5–6 citations each) demonstrate how robot behavior—from cheerful expressions to emotion-adapted proxemics—can boost user performance and comfort. Notably, his 2024 work on emotion-adapted proxemics explores how robots can dynamically adjust their distance based on human emotional states, a key step toward socially aware navigation. Vigni’s contributions are shaping the future of socially intelligent robots that communicate naturally, respond to human affect, and earn trust through subtle, legible behaviors.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1The Role of Closed-Loop Hand Control in Handshaking Interactions28 citations · 2019
- 2Familiar Acoustic Cues for Legible Service Robots7 citations · 2022
- 3Exploring Non-verbal Strategies for Initiating an HRI6 citations · 2022
- 4On the Emotional Transparency of a Non-humanoid Social Robot5 citations · 2022
- 5
- 6Too Close to You? A Study on Emotion-Adapted Proxemics Behaviours2 citations · 2024
- 7A Rosbag Tool to Improve Dataset Reliability2 citations · 2024
- 8