Papers
9
Total Citations
192
H-Index
5
About
Marco Manca is a leading researcher at the intersection of humanoid robotics, human-computer interaction, and cognitive health. His work focuses on designing and personalizing social robots to support older adults, particularly those with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). Manca’s major contributions include pioneering the use of serious games delivered by humanoid robots for cognitive training, demonstrating through his most-cited work (92 citations) that these interactive systems can significantly impact user engagement and cognitive stimulation. He has also advanced end-user programming by applying Trigger-Action rules to robot behavior, enabling non-experts to customize robot actions in IoT environments—a concept explored in his highly cited 2019 paper (73 citations). His research further investigates how robot personality traits, such as introversion and extraversion, affect user experience and engagement, with multiple studies on this topic. Manca’s innovative approach combines personal memory integration, adaptive behavior through reinforcement learning, and practical game design (e.g., a cooking game for cognitive training). His work is pivotal in making assistive robotics more accessible, engaging, and effective for aging populations.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
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- 2Trigger-Action Programming for Personalising Humanoid Robot Behaviour73 citations · 2019
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- 8End User Personalization of Social Humanoid Robots.2 citations · 2019
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