S. Gurbuz

Research Organization of Information and Systems

Papers

Total Citations

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About

S. Gurbuz is a pioneering researcher in human-robot interaction, specializing in biologically inspired facial animation and real-time vision systems for humanoid robots. Their work bridges computer vision, biomechanics, and robotics to create more natural, expressive machines. Gurbuz’s most cited paper, “Real-time stereo facial feature tracking: mimicking human mouth movement on a humanoid robot head” (2006, 8 citations), introduces a novel algorithm that robustly tracks facial landmarks like the eyes and mouth under varying geometry and illumination. This system enables a humanoid robot to mimic human mouth movements in real time, a critical step toward believable social interaction. In “Biologically valid jaw movements for talking humanoid robots” (2005, 4 citations), Gurbuz applies learning from demonstration (LFD) to generate phonetically and visually synchronized jaw motions, grounded in human biomechanics. This work addresses the “uncanny valley” by prioritizing naturalness over mere mechanical accuracy. Though early in citation impact, Gurbuz’s contributions are foundational to the field of expressive humanoid robotics, demonstrating that perception of naturalness is key to successful human-robot communication. Their research remains a touchstone for engineers developing talking heads and socially interactive robots.