Francesca Lunardini
Papers
14
Total Citations
340
H-Index
8
About
Francesca Lunardini is a leading researcher at the intersection of human-robot interaction, assistive robotics, and gerontechnology. Her work centers on understanding and overcoming the barriers to deploying socially assistive robots (SARs) in real-world, at-home settings for older adults. She made a significant contribution to the Uncanny Valley effect, demonstrating through a multisite study (90 citations) that perceptual category confusion between “robot” and “human” is not the primary driver of the eerie sensation. This finding reshaped the theoretical landscape of humanoid robot design. Lunardini is also the architect of the MoveCare Project, an integrated platform combining SARs, IoT sensors, virtual communities, and smart objects to monitor frailty and promote independent living for elders. Her work on synergy-based myocontrol (63 citations) advanced the robustness of multi-DOF robotic arm control for assistive applications. With over 300 total citations, Lunardini’s research is pivotal in making assistive robots acceptable, autonomous, and clinically viable for long-term home-based cognitive and physical monitoring.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5The MOVECARE Project: Home-based Monitoring of Frailty24 citations · 2019
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10