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About

Floriana Esposito is a pioneering researcher at the intersection of artificial intelligence, human-robot interaction, and clinical psychology, with a primary focus on developing robotic systems for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) treatment. Her most impactful work introduces a multimodal, multilevel robotic system that uses humanoid social robots to deliver customized therapeutic interventions for children with ASD. This system, detailed in her highly cited 2016 paper (35 citations), targets core deficits such as eye contact, joint attention, and symbolic play through a structured, multilevel protocol. Esposito’s subsequent 2017 work (19 citations) further integrates artificial intelligence to adapt robot behavior in real time, enhancing treatment efficacy. Her contributions extend to classifying agent behavior via relational sequential patterns (2010, 6 citations) and designing multimodal interfaces for robot-child interaction (2017, 3 citations). Notably, she also edited the proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Industrial and Engineering Applications of AI (2005), showcasing her leadership in applied AI. With a career dedicated to translating AI innovations into compassionate, evidence-based therapies, Esposito’s work has profound implications for improving social communication and quality of life in children with autism.