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About

Massimo Donini is a researcher at the forefront of human-robot interaction (HRI), assistive robotics, and multimodal communication, with a particular focus on applying social robotics to real-world cognitive and educational challenges. His work explores how humanoid robots such as Pepper and NAO can be leveraged to support individuals with Mild Cognitive Impairment and dementia — a global health challenge affecting over 55 million people — through cognitive stimulation and social skills training, as demonstrated in his widely cited "Tom and Pepper Lab" study (8 citations). Donini has made significant contributions to personalized and adaptive robot communication, investigating how dynamic multimedia content tailored to individual user profiles can enhance engagement and relatability in human-robot dialogue. His research on emotion alignment in HRI examines how empathic, emotionally congruent communication influences mental state attribution, persuasion, and user empathy — areas critical to designing trustworthy social robots. Beyond healthcare, Donini extends multimodal interaction principles into educational settings, developing learner-centered robotic systems for teaching abstract STEM concepts. Collectively, his body of work bridges affective computing, cognitive science, and robotics, positioning him as an emerging voice in the design of socially intelligent, human-centered robotic systems.