Kyrarini, Maria

Maria Kyrarini is an Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and David Packard Jr. Faculty Fellow at Santa Clara University (SCU). She also leads the Human-Machine Interaction & Innovation (HMI^2) research group which has been supported by federal (NSF) and SCU internal grants. Prior to SCU, she was a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Texas at Arlington and the assistant director of the Heracleia Human-Centered Computing Lab. In 2019, Maria received her Ph.D. in Engineering from the University of Bremen under the supervision of Professor Dr.-Eng. Axel Gräser. The title of her Ph.D. thesis is: "Robot learning from human demonstrations for human-robot synergy". Before that, she received her M.Eng. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering and her M.Sc. degree in Automation Systems both from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) in 2012 and 2014, respectively. Her primary research interests are in the fields of Robot Learning from Human Demonstrations, Human-Robot Interaction, and Assistive Robotics with a special focus on enhancing Human Performance.

Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, University of Bremen, Germany, 2019

M.Sc. in Automation Systems, National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), Greece, 2014

Diploma in Electrical & Computer Engineering (MEng), National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), Greece, 2012

• Robotics
• Robot Learning from Human Demonstrations
• Accessible Design and Assistive Technologies
• Human-Robot Interaction/Collaboration
• Human-Machine Interaction
• Machine Learning

• SCU University Research Grant
• National Science Foundation (NSF), Disability and Rehabilitation Engineering (DARE): "Collaborative Research: DARE: A Personalized Assistive Robotic System that assesses Cognitive Fatigue in Persons with Paralysis" (Award Number: 2226165), 10/1/2022 - 9/30/2025, PI: Maria Kyrarini, Total amount: $221,617

• A survey of robots in healthcare. M. Kyrarini, F. Lygerakis, A. Rajavenkatanarayanan, C. Sevastopoulos, H.R. Nambiappan, K.K. Chaitanya, A. Ramesh Babu, J. Mathew, F. Makedon. Technologies 9 (1), 8. (2021).
• Automated system to measure Tandem Gait to assess executive functions in children. M. Zaki Zadeh, A. Ramesh Babu, A. Jaiswal, M. Kyrarini, M. Bell, F. Makedon. The 14th PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments Conference, 167-170. (2021).
• End-User Framework for Robot Control. K. Rajpathak, K.C. Kodur, M. Kyrarini, F. Makedon. The 14th PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments Conference, 109-110. (2021). 
• Image-Label Recovery on Fashion Data Using Image Similarity from Triple Siamese Network. D. Banerjee, M. Kyrarini, W.H. Kim. Technologies 9 (1), 10. (2021).
• Learning Visuomotor Policies with Deep Movement Primitives. M. Theofanidis, A. Bozcuoglu, M. Kyrarini. The 14th PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments Conference, 140-146. (2021).
• MINA: A Multitasking Intelligent Nurse Aid Robot. H.R. Nambiappan, K.C. Kodur, M. Kyrarini, F. Makedon, N. Gans. The 14th PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments Conference, 266-267. (2021).
• Self-supervised human activity recognition by augmenting generative adversarial networks. M.Z. Zadeh, A. Ramesh Babu, A. Jaiswal, M. Kyrarini, F. Makedon. The 14th PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments Conference, 171-176. (2021).
• Towards a Multi-purpose Robotic Nursing Assistant. K.C. Kodur, K. Rajpathak, A. Rajavenkatanarayanan, M. Kyrarini, F. Makedon. arXiv preprint arXiv:2106.03683. (2021).
• A Multi-Modal System to Assess Cognition in Children from Their Physical Movements. A. Ramesh Babu, M.Z. Zadeh, A. Jaiswal, A. Lueckenhoff, M. Kyrarini, F. Makedon. Proceedings of the 2020 International Conference on Multimodal Interaction, 6-14. (2020).
• Application of reinforcement learning to a robotic drinking assistant. T.K. Shastha, M. Kyrarini, A. Gräser. Robotics 9 (1), 1. (2020)
• Cognitive performance assessment based on everyday activities for human-robot interaction. A. Rajavenkatanarayanan, V. Kanal, M. Kyrarini, F. Makedon. Companion of the 2020 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, 398-400. (2020).
• HAND-REHA: Dynamic Hand Gesture Recognition for Game-based Wrist Rehabilitation. F. Farahanipad, H.R. Nambiappan, A. Jaiswal, M. Kyrarini, F. Makedon. Proceedings of the 13th ACM International Conference on PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments, 1-9. (2020)
• Personal Devices and Smartphone Applications for Detection of Depression. M.R. Basco, M. Kyrarini, F.S. Makedon. Psychiatric Annals 50 (6), 255-259. (2020).
• Personalized system for human gym activity recognition using an RGB camera. P. Ganesh, R.E. Idgahi, C.B. Venkatesh, A.R. Babu, M. Kyrarini. Proceedings of the 13th ACM International Conference on PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments, 1-7. (2020).
• Pneumon: A dddas framework to detect fatigue and dyspnea in copd. V. Kanal, A. Miller, D. Vester, J. Liller, M. Kyrarini, G. Wylie, M.J. Falvo, F. Makedon. International Conference on Dynamic Data Driven Application Systems, 345-352. (2020).
• Towards a Real-Time Cognitive Load Assessment System for Industrial Human-Robot Cooperation. A. Rajavenkatanarayanan, H.R. Nambiappan, M. Kyrarini, F. Makedon. 2020 29th IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN), 698-705. (2020)
• Towards a serious game based human-robot framework for fatigue assessment. V. Kanal, J. Brady, H. Nambiappan, M. Kyrarini, G. Wylie, F. Makedon Proceedings of the 13th ACM International Conference on PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments, 1-6. (2020).
• Towards cognitive fatigue detection from functional magnetic resonance imaging data. M.Z. Zadeh, A.R. Babu, J.B. Lim, M. Kyrarini, G. Wylie, F. Makedon. Proceedings of the 13th ACM International Conference on PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments, 1-2. (2020).
• Towards Game-based Assessment of Executive Functions in Children. A. Lueckenhoff, C. Wessels, M. Kyrarini, F. Makedon. SETN 2020 Workshop – Games and AI. (2020).
• Autonomous multi-sensory robotic assistant for a drinking task. F.F. Goldau, T.K. Shastha, M. Kyrarini, A. Gräser. 2019 IEEE 16th International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics (ICORR), 210-216. (2019).
• Towards robotic drinking assistance: Low cost multi-sensor system to limit forces in human-robot-interaction. T.L. Koller, M. Kyrarini, A. Gräser. Proceedings of the 12th ACM International Conference on PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments, 243-246. (2019).
• Robot Learning from Human Demonstrations for Human-Robot Synergy. M. Kyrarini. Universität Bremen: Physik/Elektrotechnik. (2019).
• Robot learning of assistive manipulation tasks by demonstration via head gesture-based interface. M. Kyrarini, Q. Zheng, M.A. Haseeb, A. Gräser. 2019 IEEE 16th International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics (ICORR), 1139-1146. (2019).
• Robot learning of industrial assembly task via human demonstrations. M. Kyrarini, MA Haseeb, D Ristić-Durrant, A Gräser. Autonomous Robots 43 (1), 239-257. (2019).
• A taxonomy in robot-assisted training: current trends, needs and challenges. K. Tsiakas, M. Kyrarini, V. Karkaletsis, F. Makedon, O. Korn. Technologies 6 (4), 119. (2018).
• Head gesture-based control for assistive robots. M.A. Haseeb, M. Kyrarini, S. Jiang, D. Ristic-Durrant, A. Gräser. Proceedings of the 11th PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments Conference, 379-383. (2018)
• MeRoSy - Mensch-Roboter Synergie - Lernen und Adaption in der Mensch Roboter Evolution : Schlussbericht zum BMBF-Verbundvorhaben : Teilvorhaben: Erforschung von Methoden zur automatischen Optimierung des Systemverhaltens auf Basis von korrigierenden Nutzereingriffen : Laufzeit des Vorhabens: 01.01.2015-30.06.2018. A. Gräser, M. Kyrarini, M.A. Haseeb. https://doi.org/10.2314/KXP:1666814970. (2018).
• RGB-D camera based 3D human mouth detection and tracking towards robotic feeding assistance. Q. Fang, M. Kyrarini, D. Ristic-Durrant, A. Gräser. Proceedings of the 11th PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments Conference, 391-396. (2018).
• Safety Surveillance System for Co-operative Robot using 360-Degree Camera. J. Guan, M. Kyrarini, M.A. Haseeb, D. Ristić-Durrant, A. Gräser. XIV International SAUM Conference on Systems, Automatic Control and Measurements. (2018).
• A Robust Algorithm for Gait Cycle Segmentation. S. Jiang, X. Wang, M. Kyrarini, A. Gräser. 25th European Signal Processing Conference (EUSIPCO 2017), 31-35. (2017).
• Automatic Selection of Human Demonstrations for Robot Learning of Industrial Scenario. M. Kyrarini, A. Gräser. 2017 IEEE/RSJ IROS WORKSHOP Human in-the-loop robotic manipulation: on the influence of the human role. (2017).
• Learning robot manipulation tasks from human demonstrations. M. Kyrarini, A. Gräser. 51. Regelungstechnisches Kolloquium in Boppard. (2017).
• Robot learning of object manipulation task actions from human demonstrations. M. Kyrarini, M.A. Haseeb, D. Ristić-Durrant, A Gräser. Facta Universitatis, Series: Mechanical Engineering 15 (2), 217-229. (2017).
• Skill Robot Library: Intelligent Path Planning Framework for Object Manipulation. M. Kyrarini, S. Naeem, X. Wang, A. Gräser. 25th European Signal Processing Conference (EUSIPCO 2017), 2398 – 2402. (2017).
• Comparison of dynamic vision sensor-based and imu-based systems for ankle joint angle gait analysis. G. Gao, M. Kyrarini, M. Razavi, X. Wang, A. Gräser. 2016 2nd International Conference on Frontiers of Signal Processing (ICFSP), 93-98. (2016).
• Human-robot synergy for cooperative robots. M. Kyrarini, A. Leu, D. Ristić-Durrant, A. Gräser, A. Jackowski, M. Gebhard, J. Nelles, C. Bröhl, C. Brandl, A. Mertens, C.M. Schlick. Facta Universitatis, Series: Automatic Control and Robotics 15 (3), 187-204. (2016).
• Monitoring of gait performance using dynamic time warping on IMU-sensor data. X. Wang, M. Kyrarini, D. Ristić-Durrant, M. Spranger, A. Gräser. 2016 IEEE International Symposium on Medical Measurements and Applications (MeMeA), 1-6. (2016).
• Comparison of vision-based and sensor-based systems for joint angle gait analysis. M. Kyrarini, X. Wang, A. Gräser. 2015 IEEE international symposium on Medical Measurements and Applications (MeMeA), 375-379. (2015).
• Control of the mobile platform of a mobile robotic gait rehabilitation system. M. Kyrarini. (2015).
• Fuzzy controller for the control of the mobile platform of the CORBYS robotic gait rehabilitation system. M. Kyrarini, S. Slavnić, D. Ristić-Durrant. Facta Universitatis, Series: Mechanical Engineering 12 (3), 223-234. (2014).