Antonio Andriella

Dr. Antonio Andriella is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Institut de Robòtica i Informàtica Industrial (IRII), a joint research center of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and Technical University of Catalonia (UPC). He is an incoming Tenured Scientist at IRII expected to start by the beginning of 2026. Previously, he was a Research Scientist at Pal Robotics awarded with a Marie Skłodowska-Curie cofund fellowship in the H2020 project PRO-CARED (no.801342), and a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Artificial Intelligence Research Institute (IIIA) working on the Value-Aware Artificial Intelligence (VALAWAI) project.

His educational background includes:

• PhD in Control, Robotics and Vision (2022) from Institut de Robotica i Informatica Industrial, CSIC-UPC
• MEng in Artificial Intelligence (2009) from Sapienza, University of Rome
• BSc in Computer Engineering (2006) from Sapienza, University of Rome

Dr. Andriella's research focuses on creating proactive, personalized robots that can tailor their behavior to individual needs and preferences. His work spans Human-Centered Robotics, Socially Assistive Robotics, Robot Personalisation, Proactive Behaviour, and Explainable Robotics. He investigates how robots can explain their decisions to help users build clearer mental models of these systems, ultimately making robots more transparent and understandable. His research has significant applications in healthcare, particularly for elderly care and cognitive training.

His recent publications demonstrate a strong focus on applying robotics to healthcare challenges, particularly in cognitive training for elderly patients with cognitive impairments. His work bridges theoretical AI approaches with practical applications in real-world environments, emphasizing user experience, personalization, and explainability across various contexts including frailty assessment, customer service interactions, and therapeutic applications.

His scientific achievements have been recognized with prestigious awards:

• Georges Giralt award for the best European PhD thesis from euRobotics
• AIHUB.CSIC prize for the best AI PhD Thesis from the AI Hub of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)

Dr. Andriella has been actively involved in multiple research projects including SWEET (Social aWareness for sErvicE roboTs), ROSPIA, FRAILWATCH, and DEMETER 5.0. He has organized workshops on trust, AI, ethics and personalization at major conferences including HRI, RO-MAN and ICSR, and has served as guest editor for journals such as International Journal of Social Robotics, Frontiers in Robotics and AI, and Paladyn Journal of Behaviour and Interaction Studies.

His research group focuses on developing the CARESSER framework (aCtive leARning agEnt aSsiStive bEhaviouR) for in situ learning of robot social assistance, with applications in cognitive training therapy and elderly care. Current projects are exploring robot-assisted frailty assessment systems, dataset reliability for HRI research, and multilingual intent recognition on social robots, demonstrating his commitment to both theoretical advancements and practical implementations in the field.