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Lotfi El Hafi

Lotfi El Hafi

Research Associate Professor | AI & Robotics Innovator

PhD in Engineering, Founder of Coarobo GK, advancing Society 5.0 through human-centered robotics, multimodal AI, and extended reality interaction.

Explore My Work

About Me

Lotfi El Hafi, PhD, is a Research Associate Professor at Ritsumeikan University, Japan, and the President & Founder of Coarobo GK, a robotics innovation company.

He holds an MScEng in Mechatronics from UCLouvain, Belgium, and a PhD in Engineering from NAIST, Japan. His master’s work contributed to JPEG XS (TICO compression) at intoPIX SA, and his doctoral research introduced STARE — a deep learning method for simultaneous eye tracking and attention recognition.

A recipient of the MEXT Scholarship, Lotfi has led interdisciplinary research in AI, robotics, and extended reality (XR), earning multiple awards from JST CREST and international robotics competitions.

Languages

  • French (Native)
  • English (Professional)
  • Japanese (Conversational)

Affiliations

  • Research Associate Professor, Ritsumeikan University
  • President & Founder, Coarobo GK
  • Research Advisor, Panasonic Robotics Hub
  • Specially Appointed Researcher, Toyota HSR Community (2020–2022)

Core Research Areas

AI + Semiotics

Leading the AI+Semiotics project at Ritsumeikan, integrating artificial intelligence with symbolic meaning systems for next-gen human-machine interaction.

Service Robotics

Designing autonomous robots for real-world environments, focusing on manipulation, navigation, and human-robot collaboration in smart societies.

Extended Reality (XR)

Exploring multimodal interaction in XR environments, combining eye tracking, gesture recognition, and AI for immersive experiences.

System Integration

Building full-stack robotic systems that integrate hardware, software, AI, and cloud infrastructure for scalable deployment.

Open-Source R&D

Advocating for open collaboration through containerized development environments and cloud-first tools to accelerate innovation.

Society 5.0

Contributing to Japan’s vision of a super-smart society through robotics, AI, and human-centered technology design.

Key Innovations & Projects

STARE: Simultaneous Tracking and Attention Recognition from Eyes

Deep learning-based eye-tracking method that extracts user attention from corneal reflections in scene images.

  • Technology: Deep Learning, Computer Vision
  • Application: XR, Human Behavior Analysis
  • Award: Best of IET and IBC 2016–2017

AMIS – Autonomous Manipulation for Intelligence Services

Human-centered robotic platform developed with Panasonic and NAIST for intelligent service environments.

  • Partners: Panasonic, NAIST
  • Function: Object manipulation, navigation
  • Use Case: Future convenience stores, logistics

Containerized SDE for HSR Community

Cloud-first, open-source Software Development Environment for cross-institutional robotics R&D.

  • Used by: 20+ institutions (Japan & EU)
  • Stack: Docker, Kubernetes, ROS
  • Role: Lead Developer, Toyota HSR

JPEG XS (TICO Compression)

Contributed to TICO algorithm during internship at intoPIX, now standardized for Ultra HD 4K/8K video.

  • Standard: ISO/IEC 21122
  • Application: Broadcast, AR/VR streaming
  • Role: Research & Sales Engineer

AI+Semiotics Research Framework

Interdisciplinary framework combining AI with semiotics for meaningful human-robot communication.

  • Funded by: Ritsumeikan Global Innovation
  • Goal: Next-gen AI interaction models
  • Output: Publications, prototypes

Robotic Vision Systems (OpenCV AI)

Advanced vision pipelines for object detection, pose estimation, and scene understanding in robotics.

  • Award: 2nd Place, OpenCV AI Comp 2021
  • Region: Eastern + Southeastern Asia
  • Tools: OpenCV, YOLO, ROS

WRS Future Convenience Store Challenge

Multiple 1st place wins in World Robot Summit challenges focused on autonomous retail robotics.

  • Years: 2018, 2020, 2022
  • Event: IEEE/RSJ IROS 2022
  • Focus: Navigation, manipulation, AI

Airbus Shopfloor Challenge Winner (2016)

1st Place at IEEE ICRA 2016 for robotic assembly and inspection in industrial environments.

  • Competition: IEEE ICRA
  • Challenge: Precision manipulation
  • Team: NAIST Robotics Laboratory

Awards & Recognition

  • METI Minister’s Award for Excellence – World Robot Summit 2020
  • NEDO Chairman’s Award – World Robot Summit 2018
  • SICE Award – WRS Future Convenience Store Challenge 2018
  • 1st Place – Airbus Shopfloor Challenge, IEEE ICRA 2016
  • Finalist Prize – Amazon Robotics Challenge 2017
  • Best of IET and IBC 2016–2017 – For STARE eye-tracking research
  • JST CREST Best Research Proposal Award – Visualization of Emergent Reality in Robotics
  • JST CREST Forecasting Research Award – Toward Harmonious Human-Robot Interaction

Get in Touch

For research collaboration, speaking engagements, or media inquiries, please visit the official website.

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