Louis Legrand

Papers

Total Citations

560

H-Index

About

Louis Legrand’s research lies at the intersection of human-computer interaction, personal sensing, and autonomous robotic manipulation. His most influential work, the 2008 paper “Flowers or a robot army?” (400 citations), pioneered the use of personal mobile displays for self-monitoring of physical activity, demonstrating how ubiquitous devices could enhance daily life awareness—a foundational contribution to the quantified self movement. Legrand also made significant strides in robotics: his “Gambit” system (71 citations) is a custom 6-DoF manipulator that plays physical board games against humans in unstructured environments, advancing non-idealized robotic interaction. In “An Electric Field Pretouch system” (70 citations), he introduced a novel sensing modality bridging vision and contact, improving grasping reliability through short-range electric field feedback. Notably, his work “Robot, feed thyself” (19 citations) achieved autonomous plugging into unmodified electrical outlets by sensing AC fields, eliminating the need for infrastructure modifications. Legrand’s contributions have shaped both personal informatics and practical robotic autonomy, earning him recognition for blending theoretical innovation with real-world applicability.