Theodora Kastritsi
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Italian Institute of Technology
Papers
20
Total Citations
288
H-Index
11
About
Theodora Kastritsi is a leading researcher in physical human-robot interaction (pHRI), with a focus on developing safe, intuitive, and progressively autonomous robotic systems for surgical and collaborative applications. Her work centers on three key areas: progressive automation, where robots gradually learn tasks from human demonstration; passive control strategies that guarantee safety during human-robot collaboration; and constraint enforcement for surgical robotics. Kastritsi’s most impactful contributions include pioneering a method that combines Dynamic Movement Primitives (DMP) with variable stiffness control for progressive automation (37 citations), and developing a passive pHRI controller that uses point cloud data to enforce active constraints on sensitive tissues during surgery (34 citations). She has also advanced hands-on surgical robotics by creating controllers that impose a Remote Center of Motion (RCM) at the incision point, preventing tissue damage. With over 200 total citations across her top ten papers, Kastritsi has demonstrated consistent impact in enhancing human-robot collaboration, including work on obstacle-aware vibrotactile warnings and variable admittance control for large inertia objects. Her research is notable for its direct translational potential to minimally invasive surgery and industrial cooperative tasks.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
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- 3A Passive pHRI Controller for Assisting the User in Partially Known Tasks26 citations · 2020
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