Fabrizio Ladu

SUNY Polytechnic Institute, New York University

Papers

Total Citations

212

H-Index

About

Fabrizio Ladu is a pioneering researcher at the intersection of ethology and bioengineering, whose work has fundamentally advanced our understanding of animal behavior through innovative robotic interfaces. His primary research areas include animal-robot interactions, behavioral neuroscience, and the use of zebrafish as model organisms for studying emotional disturbances and drug effects. Ladu’s major contributions lie in demonstrating that live predators, robots, and computer-animated images elicit distinct avoidance responses in zebrafish, a finding with 77 citations that has reshaped experimental paradigms in behavioral biology. He has also pioneered the quantification of information flow in animal-robot interactions (68 citations), revealing how nonverbal social cues drive collective behavior. Notably, his work on acute caffeine administration (67 citations) showed how psychoactive substances alter zebrafish responses to robotic stimuli, bridging neuropharmacology and robotics. These studies have collectively established new methodologies for screening therapeutic strategies for emotional disorders, earning Ladu recognition as a leader in biomimetic robotics and comparative cognition. His research continues to inspire interdisciplinary approaches to studying the biological determinants of behavior.