Elena Brazzoli

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About

Elena Brazzoli is a leading researcher at the intersection of social robotics and neurodevelopmental disorders, with a primary focus on autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Her work centers on developing and evaluating robotic interventions to improve social communication and interaction skills in children with ASD. In her landmark 2023 scoping review, which has garnered 26 citations, Brazzoli provided the largest comprehensive analysis of robotics applications for autism, establishing a critical evidence base for the field. She further advanced this work through her pioneering IOGIOCO project, a pilot study involving interactive mirroring games with a social robot. This study, published in 2024, specifically examined the use of intransitive gestures in Italian preschool children with ASD, demonstrating the feasibility and potential of early robotic interventions. By bridging engineering, psychology, and clinical practice, Brazzoli’s research offers concrete, scalable tools for enhancing traditional therapies. Her contributions are particularly notable for their focus on early childhood, a critical developmental window, and for rigorously testing human-robot interaction paradigms that could transform how social skills are taught to vulnerable populations.