Sep 26 2014
Séverin Lemaignan’s PhD thesis was selected as the best of 2012 by GDR Robotique.
© 2014 EPFL
Séverin Lemaignan is being rewarded for his PhD thesis entitled "Grounding the Interaction: Knowledge Representation for Interactive Robots". His research has been designated as the best thesis of 2012 by GDR Robotique.
Séverin Lemaignan is a postdoctoral researcher working in the Computer-Human Interaction Laboratory for Learning & Instruction under the direction of Professor Pierre Dillenbourg. He is in charge of coordinating the robotic group and developing research in robotic-based learning technologies.
Séverin Lemaignan’s research focuses on human-to-robot interaction in learning environments and the cognitive capabilities it requires: How to enable a robot to build mental models of the humans it interacts with? What behaviors favor the long-term acceptance of the robot? Which human psychological determinants that influence our relationships with robots? How to assess the cognitive skills of our robots?
Séverin Lemaignan approaches these questions in both fundamental and practical ways, conducting regular field experiments in schools and actively contributing to the open-source software ecosystem in robotics.
The GDR is an open national Research Group in Robotics established by France’s CNRS. The GDR’s activities center on the enhancement of synergies between national laboratories as well as fostering the dynamics of the field. It comprises 60 teams from the CNRS, universities, INRIA, and associated R&D institutions (CEA, ONERA, CEMAGREF…), amounting to more than 800 researchers, of which more than half are PhD students.
The GDR covers four generic research topics:
- sensory motor control, perception, action and movement,
- cognition, decision, autonomy, learning,
- interaction and cooperation,
- robotics system design.