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About

Sophie Rosset is a leading researcher at the intersection of human-robot interaction, natural language processing, and multimodal communication. Her work fundamentally explores how robots can engage in more natural, socially aware interactions with humans—moving beyond simple commands to genuine, emotionally resonant exchanges. Rosset’s major contributions center on designing systems that understand and produce laughter, humor, and storytelling, key social markers that foster rapport and positive atmospheres. Her highly cited 2013 paper, "Natural Interaction with Robots, Knowbots and Smartphones" (45 citations), lays the groundwork for seamless, intuitive human-machine dialogue. She further advanced this field through the Joker project, where her 2015 paper on multimodal data collection of humorous interactions (36 citations) provided critical insights into how laughter can be elicited and recognized in robotic systems. Her earlier work, "Towards a storytelling humanoid robot" (2010, 30 citations), established foundational techniques for narrative engagement. With over 100 citations across her most influential works, Rosset’s research is pivotal for creating robots that are not just functional, but genuinely companionable—capable of sharing a laugh and telling a tale.