Paulo Gomes

University of Lisbon, University of California, Santa Cruz

Papers

Total Citations

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About

Paulo Gomes explores the fascinating intersection of human-robot interaction and character design, with a primary focus on the concept of "embodiment migration" in artificial pets. His research investigates how robotic characters can maintain their identity and social bonds while transitioning between different physical forms—a challenge he addresses through both technical implementation and user perception studies. His most influential work, "Revive!" (2012, 16 citations), examines children's perceptions of a dinosaur character crossing boundaries between robotic embodiments, revealing critical design challenges for maintaining character continuity. Building on this, his 2014 paper "Migration Between Two Embodiments of an Artificial Pet" (12 citations) develops an autonomous system where an artificial pet actively exists in only one embodiment at a time, drawing inspiration from literary and cinematic characters that traverse dimensions. Though his citation counts are modest, Gomes' work is pioneering in addressing the psychological and design implications of robotic identity persistence—a concept increasingly relevant as robots become more integrated into social contexts, particularly for child-robot interaction and long-term companionship applications.