Xenophon Zabulis

Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas, Hella (Germany)

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About

Xenophon Zabulis is a leading researcher in computational vision and robotics, based at the Institute of Computer Science, Foundation for Research and Technology – Hellas (FORTH). His work spans biologically inspired robotics, assistive technologies, and camera calibration. Zabulis is best known for his pioneering study of octopus arm-swimming locomotion, where he combined high-speed vision-based 3D motion reconstruction with an 8-arm underwater robot to analyze the animal’s escape and foraging behaviors. This work, cited 25 times, revealed how the octopus achieves rapid acceleration through a two-stroke arm motion—opening slowly and closing fast—offering insights for soft robotics and underwater propulsion. In the HOBBIT project, he developed visual competencies for socially assistive robots, integrating multiple vision modules into a layered architecture to enable mobile robots to perceive and interact with humans. His contributions also include a checkerboard detection utility for camera cluster calibration, a practical tool widely used in multi-camera setups. With a focus on translating biological principles into robotic systems, Zabulis continues to advance the fields of computer vision, bio-inspired robotics, and human-robot interaction.