Anaís Garrell Zulueta

Anaís Garrell Zulueta is an Associate Professor at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) and a Robotics Researcher at the Institut de Robòtica i Informàtica Industrial (CSIC-UPC). She serves as Vice-Director of the Mobile Robotics and Intelligent Systems subline and supervises the RAIG - Mobile Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Group.

• PhD (2013): European Doctorate with highest honors from UPC
• B.S. in Mathematics (2006) from University of Barcelona
• Diploma d'Estudis Avançats (DEA) in Control, Vision, and Robotics from UPC

Her research focuses on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) and robot cooperation, particularly in urban environments. Key themes include:

• Explainable AI for robot transparency
• Human motion behavior prediction
• Socially aware navigation systems
• Collaborative transport robotics
• Autonomous last-mile delivery systems
• Cybernetic avatars and societal implications

Recent projects (2023-2025) include:

• TORNADO: Foundation models for robots handling deformable objects
• HandIA: AI-based rehabilitation tools
• LENA: Lifelong navigation learning
• TRIFFID: First responder assistance robotics
• SOCIAL PIA: Cybernetic avatar modeling

Scientific recognition includes:

• Second Prize for Best Spanish Robotics Thesis
• Best Paper Award Nomination (IEEE/RSJ IROS, 2009)

As an advisor, she supervises:

• PhD students: Ferran Gebelli Guinjoan, Lavinia Hriscu, Edison Bejarano
• Final year projects: 8 students on topics like LLM-enhanced interaction and LiDAR SLAM systems

She operates within the Institut de Robòtica i Informàtica Industrial (IRI) and collaborates with Carnegie Mellon University.