Carles Garriga

About

Carles Garriga is a leading researcher in human-robot interaction, with a focus on designing robotic systems for children in educational, therapeutic, and healthcare settings. His work explores how robots can foster social presence, engagement, and cognitive development in young users. In his highly cited 2012 field study (46 citations), Garriga investigated how primary school children perceive and interact with a pet robot, using both subjective and objective measures to assess social presence and interactive behavior. He further demonstrated that customizing a non-social platform like LEGO Robotics significantly increases children’s long-term engagement, as shown in his 2014 study. Garriga also pioneered the use of cloud robotics architectures to support individual child partnerships in medical facilities, and developed robotic therapy programs for children with traumatic brain injury (TBI), comparing cognitive rehabilitation outcomes with parent counseling approaches. His work bridges developmental psychology, robotics engineering, and clinical intervention, making him a key figure in child-robot interaction. With over 90 total citations, Garriga’s research continues to shape how robots are designed to support learning, play, and recovery in vulnerable populations.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   A field study with primary school children on perception of social presence and interactive behavior with a pet robot

   46 citations · 2012
2. 2
   Engagement based on a customization of an iPod-LEGO robot for a long-term interaction for an educational purpose

   14 citations · 2014
3. 3
   A Cloud robotics architecture to foster individual child partnership in medical facilities

   12 citations · 2013
4. 4
   A robotic therapy for children with TBI

   9 citations · 2013
5. 5
   A robotic therapy for children with TBI

   8 citations · 2013

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links