Arcadi Santamaria

Iberdrola (Spain), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas

Papers

Total Citations

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About

Arcadi Santamaria is a pioneering roboticist whose career bridges high-stakes industrial applications and socially-aware urban automation. He is best known for his foundational work in teleoperated robotics for live power line maintenance, a domain where his 1997 paper "Teleoperated robots for live power lines maintenance (ROBTET)" has garnered 26 citations and remains a touchstone for outage-free maintenance techniques. This work, developed over 25 years in Spain, established him as a key figure in field robotics for critical infrastructure. More recently, Santamaria has pivoted to the emerging challenge of Human-Robot Interaction in public spaces, as evidenced by his 2023 study on "Human acceptance in the Human-Robot Interaction scenario for last-mile goods delivery" (13 citations). This work critically analyzes how diverse urban stakeholders—from pedestrians to delivery recipients—perceive and accept autonomous robots, moving beyond technical feasibility to address societal integration. His career trajectory demonstrates a rare versatility: from mastering the precise, high-risk teleoperation of robots on power lines to navigating the nuanced social dynamics of autonomous delivery in crowded cities. Santamaria’s research thus provides a vital bridge between industrial robotics and the human-centered design essential for robots to thrive in our everyday environments.