Vladimir Estivill‐Castro

About

Vladimir Estivill-Castro is a multifaceted researcher whose work spans human-robot interaction, autonomous robotics, educational technology, and AI-driven decision-making. Best known for his investigations into socially assistive robotics, his 2015 pilot study on the CuDDler robot's emotional impact on older adults with dementia has garnered 87 citations, highlighting the real-world therapeutic potential of companion robots. His early inquiry into children's perceptions of robotic pets versus biological animals (2004) helped lay conceptual groundwork for understanding how humans form relationships with intelligent machines. Estivill-Castro has made substantial contributions to competitive autonomous robotics through the RoboCup platform, developing fully neural object detection pipelines and real-time deep learning scene understanding systems that have advanced the state of the art in robot soccer and beyond. His work on trust-building through robotic explanations in human-humanoid collaboration addresses a critical frontier in making robots effective teammates. Beyond technical systems, he has explored planning under uncertainty, non-monotonic reasoning for robot localization, and hybrid robotic architectures. His 2019 work inviting teachers to incorporate educational robotics into mathematical problem-solving reflects a commitment to translating robotics research into meaningful learning outcomes, demonstrating the broad societal reach of his scholarship.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   What Effect Does an Animal Robot Called CuDDler Have on the Engagement and Emotional Response of Older People with Dementia? A Pilot Feasibility Study

   87 citations · 2015
2. 2
   Dogs or robots: why do children see them as robotic pets rather than canine machines?

   32 citations · 2004
3. 3
   High Performance Relaying of C++11 Objects across Processes and Logic-Labeled Finite-State Machines

   19 citations · 2014
4. 4
   Fully neural object detection solutions for robot soccer

   14 citations · 2021
5. 5
   Architecture for Hybrid Robotic Behavior

   14 citations · 2009
6. 6
   Explanations from a Robotic Partner Build Trust on the Robot’s Decisions for Collaborative Human-Humanoid Interaction

   13 citations · 2021
7. 7
   Real-Time Scene Understanding Using Deep Neural Networks for RoboCup SPL

   13 citations · 2019
8. 8
   Non-monotonic Reasoning for Localisation in RoboCup

   13 citations · 2005
9. 9
   Inviting Teachers to Use Educational Robotics to Foster Mathematical Problem-Solving

   11 citations · 2019
10. 10
    Path-finding in dynamic environments with PDDL-planners

    11 citations · 2013

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links