Papers
108
Total Citations
2,748
H-Index
27
About
Emilia Barakova is a pioneering researcher whose work spans social robotics, human-robot interaction, autism therapy, and explainable artificial intelligence. She has made transformative contributions to the field of robot-assisted interventions for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), demonstrating that robots can be equally or more effective than human trainers in applied behaviour analysis settings. Her landmark studies on LEGO therapy with humanoid robots — amassing over 100 citations each — established enduring frameworks for long-term therapeutic robot deployment in clinical and educational contexts. Barakova has also shaped our understanding of persuasive robotics, investigating how robot facial characteristics, gender, and social cues influence compliance and psychological responses in humans — work that has collectively garnered over 300 citations. Her earlier contributions to emotional movement analysis and Laban Movement Analysis frameworks provided foundational tools for emotionally intelligent robot-human interaction. More recently, her co-authored survey on explainable AI (191 citations) signals her expanding influence into deep learning and interpretable machine intelligence. With a portfolio spanning assistive humanoid teleoperation to persuasion modeling, Barakova's research consistently bridges cutting-edge technology with real-world human benefit, making her a distinctive and impactful voice across multiple disciplines.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
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- 3Expressing and interpreting emotional movements in social games with robots121 citations · 2010
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- 7Long‐term LEGO therapy with humanoid robot for children with ASD105 citations · 2014
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- 10Teleoperation and Beyond for Assistive Humanoid Robots81 citations · 2013