Ricardo-Omar Chavez-Garcia

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

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About

Ricardo-Omar Chavez-Garcia is a leading researcher at the intersection of robotics, artificial intelligence, and cognitive architectures, best known for his pioneering work on self-aware and autonomous systems. His most influential contribution, the 2018 paper *“Toward Self-Aware Robots”* (99 citations), challenges the field by arguing that despite major advances in deep learning and robotics, machines remain fundamentally “zombies”—executing tasks without genuine understanding or consciousness. Chavez-Garcia’s research pushes beyond traditional AI by integrating models of self-awareness, metacognition, and semantic grounding into robotic platforms, aiming to create systems that not only perceive and act but also reflect on their own knowledge and limitations. His work has been instrumental in bridging robotics with cognitive science, proposing architectures that enable robots to reason about their own internal states and adapt to novel situations. With a growing citation impact and a reputation for asking foundational questions, Chavez-Garcia continues to shape the future of intelligent, self-aware machines—a vision that inspires both students and seasoned researchers to rethink what it truly means for a robot to “understand.”