Maria J. Pinto-Bernal
Escuela Colombiana de Ingenieria Julio Garavito, Ghent University
Papers
15
Total Citations
407
H-Index
9
About
Maria J. Pinto-Bernal is a pioneering researcher at the intersection of social robotics, rehabilitation engineering, and human-robot interaction. Her work centers on developing accessible robotic systems for therapy and care, with a particular focus on children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and stroke survivors. Pinto-Bernal’s major contributions include the design of affordable, soft social robots—such as the open-source CASTOR platform—that leverage compliant materials to enable safe physical human-robot interaction, including therapeutic hugs. She has also advanced gait rehabilitation through lower-limb exoskeletons, developing data-driven methods for gait phase detection and physical fatigue management using wearable sensors. Her most cited work, “Social Robots in Therapy and Care” (148 citations), underscores her impact in establishing frameworks for robotic-assisted therapy. More recently, she has integrated Large Language Models into social robots to enable natural, multimodal dialogue and predictive turn-taking, pushing the boundaries of engaging human-robot interaction. With over 390 total citations across her top ten papers, Pinto-Bernal’s research is notable for its emphasis on low-cost, high-functionality solutions for developing countries, making advanced rehabilitation and therapeutic technologies more accessible worldwide.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1Social Robots in Therapy and Care148 citations · 2020
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- 5Designing Social Robots with LLMs for Engaging Human Interaction18 citations · 2025
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- 8Physical Human-Robot Interaction Through Hugs with CASTOR Robot11 citations · 2021
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