Short bio
Last updated September 2021
Tony Belpaeme is Professor at Ghent University and Visiting Professor in Robotics and Cognitive Systems at the University of Plymouth, UK. He received his PhD in Computer Science from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and currently leads a team studying cognitive robotics and human-robot interaction. Starting from the premise that intelligence is rooted in social interaction, Belpaeme and his research team try to further the science and technology behind artificial intelligence and social human-robot interaction. This results in a spectrum of results, from theoretical insights to practical applications.
He coordinated the H2020 L2TOR project, studying how robots can be used to support children with learning a second language, and coordinated the FP7 ALIZ-E project, which studied long-term human-robot interaction and its use in paediatric applications. He worked on the FP7 DREAM project, studying how robots can be used to support Autism Spectrum Disorder therapy.
Long bio
Last updated September 2021
Tony Belpaeme is Professor at the University of Ghent and Visiting Professor in Robotics and Cognitive Systems at Plymouth University, UK. He received his PhD in Computer Science from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) in 2002 under the supervision of Luc Steels. At Ghent and Plymouth he leads a team studying the science and technology of cognitive robotics and human-robot interaction. He received over 9 million EUR in external research funding as Principal Investigator or co-Principal Investigator. He coordinated the H2020 L2TOR project, a large-scale European project bringing 7 partners together to study how robots can be used to support the learning of a second language to children. He coordinated the FP7 ALIZ-E project, which studied long-term human-robot interaction and its use in paediatric applications. And he is PI in the FP7 DREAM project, studying how robots can be used to support Autism Spectrum Disorder therapy.
Starting from the premise that intelligence is rooted in social interaction, Belpaeme and his research team try to further the science and technology behind artificial intelligence and social robots. This results in a spectrum of results, from theoretical insights to practical applications. The theoretical insights, in which he argues that interaction is central to natural and artificial cognition and that robots and machines should be sensitive to language and paralinguistic social mechanisms used by people, has drawn considerable academic attention. He complements this work by applying these insights in the design and implementation of robots and robotic applications. This work has been picked up by industry and has been taken up in clinical and educational practice, where robots are used to support and tutor children.
His research is used as a showcase of research success by various funding agencies, such as the Research Councils UK, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the European Commission. The combination of both theoretical cognitive systems research applied to topics with societal relevance has gained him an international reputation. Belpaeme’s research was exhibited at the Wellcome Trust, the London Science Museum, the Natural History Museum and the UK National Space Centre. His work often features in the international press (Le Monde, the Guardian, Sunday Times, Scientific American …) and media. In 2013, Research Councils UK chose his work as one of “ten life changing ideas under research at UK universities”, and in 2014 the Big Ideas for the Future report of RC UK and Universities UK mentioned his research as “20 new ideas from UK universities that will change the world”.
Curriculum vitae
A recent CV can be downloaded here.
Tony Belpaeme 