Max Robotics — Global Service Robot Directory + US Certification

About

Ehsan Saffari is a pioneering roboticist whose work sits at the intersection of social robotics, human-robot interaction, and creative industries. His research focuses on designing robots that communicate naturally with humans, with a particular emphasis on non-verbal cues and social presence. Saffari’s major contributions include the development of **RoMa**, a hi-tech robotic mannequin for the fashion industry, which reimagines visual merchandising through autonomous, socially engaging displays. His work on **Ava**, a social robot with a robotic hearing apparatus, demonstrated how head-turning toward speakers enhances communicative attention—a subtle but critical aspect of natural interaction. Saffari has also explored the cultural roots of robotics, surveying fictional robots in sci-fi movies to extract design principles that inform real-world engineering. With over 90 citations across his most-cited works, his research bridges engineering and art, showing how robots can be both functional and expressive. His notable achievement includes bringing robotics into the fashion world, challenging traditional boundaries of where and how robots can serve society.