Papers
2
Total Citations
9
H-Index
2
About
Johannes Fonfara’s research lies at the intersection of human-robot interaction, dialog systems, and autonomous service robotics, with a particular focus on developing socially adept robots that can operate in dynamic, public environments. His most cited work, “Wizard of Oz revisited: Researching on a tour guide robot while being faced with the public” (2012, 6 citations), introduces a pioneering methodology for prototyping tour-guide robots in real-world settings. By employing a Wizard of Oz approach, Fonfara demonstrated how to balance the need for basic robotic competencies—such as navigation and speech—with the unpredictable demands of interacting with diverse, untrained users in public spaces. This work laid essential groundwork for deploying robots in museums, airports, and other crowded venues. In a subsequent study, “Imitating Dialog Strategies Under Uncertainty” (2014, 3 citations), Fonfara tackled the challenge of learning robust dialog policies for service robots. Rather than relying on complex reinforcement learning, he proposed a practical imitation-based framework that enables robots to handle changing user goals and act effectively under uncertainty. Together, these contributions highlight Fonfara’s commitment to bridging the gap between controlled laboratory experiments and the messy realities of public interaction, offering a pragmatic path toward more capable, user-friendly service robots.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1
- 2Imitating Dialog Strategies Under Uncertainty3 citations · 2014