George S. Kanakis

Centre for Research and Technology Hellas, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Papers

Total Citations

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About

George S. Kanakis is a researcher advancing the safety and adaptability of collaborative robotic systems. His work centers on compliant robotics, focusing on how robots can interact with uncertain environments and humans without sacrificing precision. Kanakis’s most cited paper, “Prescribed contact establishment of a robot with a planar surface under position and stiffness uncertainties” (2018, 17 citations), tackles a foundational challenge: enabling robots to make reliable physical contact even when their position or stiffness is not perfectly known. This contribution is critical for tasks like assembly or human-robot collaboration. In his more recent work, “Enforcing Constraints for Dynamic Obstacle Avoidance by Compliant Robots” (2023, 3 citations), Kanakis proposes a control scheme that enforces obstacle avoidance constraints across a robot’s full body, arguing that true safety in collaborative systems requires both compliance and accuracy—not just obstacle avoidance alone. By addressing the interplay between uncertainty, constraint enforcement, and physical interaction, Kanakis is helping to build robots that can work safely alongside people in dynamic, real-world settings.