PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Nikolaos Mavridis

Nikolaos Mavridis is an AI and robotics researcher whose work connects language, perception and human-robot interaction. He earned a mathematics BSc at the UK Open University, an engineering diploma at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, an electrical engineering MS at UCLA, and a PhD in robotics and artificial intelligence at MIT in 2007. At MIT, he worked with the Affective Computing & Cognitive Machines group and coauthored a 2006 paper with Deb Roy about a robot that answers questions and acts through speech. He led the Interactive Robots and Media Lab and held faculty and research posts in the UAE, New York, Greece and Russia; his work includes FaceBots and the Ibn Sina android. As of October 2026, he is Principal Data Scientist at SAP's Global Center of Excellence for BTP.

Now at
SAP
Born
1973
Works
115
Citations
3,119
h-index
24
Badges

Years link to their sources. Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 22 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 1993–2001

    Degrees and early research posts

    He earns a BSc in pure and applied mathematics at the UK Open University in 1998 and an engineering diploma in electrical and computer engineering at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in 1999. He earns an MS in electrical engineering at UCLA in 2000. At CPERI/FORTH, he works as a design engineer from 1999 to 2000; at ITI, he researches face and gesture recognition with novel 3D cameras for the EU HiScore project from 2000 to 2001.

  2. 2002–2007

    Robotics research at MIT

    At MIT's Affective Computing & Cognitive Machines group, he works as a research assistant from 2002 to 2007. He earns a PhD in robotics and artificial intelligence at MIT in 2007. In 2006, he coauthors a paper with Deb Roy on a manipulator robot that answers questions and acts through verbal interaction using linguistic, visual and proprioceptive evidence.

  3. 2007–2011

    Assistant professor at UAEU

    At UAEU, he serves as assistant professor of intelligent systems from 2007 to 2011.

  4. 2007–2019

    Interactive Robots and Media Lab

    He serves as founder and director of the Interactive Robots and Media Lab from 2007 to 2019.

  5. 2009

    FaceBots and Ibn Sina

    In 2009, he coauthors FaceBots, a project that combines face recognition and natural-language dialogue with online social information to support longer-term human-robot relationships. He creates the Ibn Sina android at UAEU with Arabic speech recognition and synthesis, facial expressions and hand gestures. It appears at GITEX in Dubai in 2009.

  6. 2011–2017

    NYU, Demokritos and Innopolis posts

    At NYU Abu Dhabi, he serves as assistant professor of computer engineering from 2011 to 2013. He serves as adjunct assistant professor of research at NYU Poly from 2012 to 2015 and senior researcher at NCSR Demokritos from 2013 to 2016. At Innopolis University, he is full professor and Robotics Institute director from 2015 to 2017.

  7. Since 2013

    Academic consulting and Cyprus Summit

    He begins freelance academic and consulting work for numerous clients in 2013. At the 21st Annual Cyprus Summit in 2025, he speaks as an AI consultant and academic and is a speaker and panelist for “Building a Future-Ready Workforce.”

  8. As of October 2026

    Principal Data Scientist at SAP

    His industry experience includes work at the SAP Global Center of Excellence in AI and Data Science and Aramco Digital. As of October 2026, he is Principal Data Scientist at SAP's Global Center of Excellence for BTP.

Career

  1. NowSAPPrincipal Data Scientist
  2. 2015–2017Innopolis UniversityFull Professor
  3. 2015–2017Carnegie Mellon UniversityDirector
  4. 2013–2016National Centre of Scientific Research "Demokritos"Senior Researcher
  5. 2011–2015New York UniversityAssistant Professor of Computer Engineering, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Research
  6. 2007–2019Interactive Robots and Media LabFounder and Director
  7. 2007–2011United Arab Emirates UniversityAssistant Professor of Intelligent Systems
  8. 2002–2007Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyResearch Assistant
  9. 2000–2001Centre for Research and Technology HellasResearcher
  10. 1999–2000Foundation for Research and Technology HellasDesign Engineer

Education

  1. 2007Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyPhD
  2. 2000University of California, Los AngelesMS in electrical engineering
  3. 1999Aristotle University of ThessalonikiEngineering diploma in EECS
  4. 1998Open UniversityBSc

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

Most-cited works

  1. Sex and gender differences and biases in artificial intelligence for biomedicine and healthcare2020 · npj Digital Medicine · 550 citations
  2. A review of verbal and non-verbal human–robot interactive communication2014 · Robotics and Autonomous Systems · 453 citations
  3. Why e-government projects fail? An analysis of the Healthcare.gov website2015 · Government Information Quarterly · 325 citations
  4. The Human Speechome Project2006 · Lecture notes in computer science · 134 citationsWith Deb Roy
  5. Mental Imagery for a Conversational Robot2004 · IEEE Transactions on Systems Man and Cybernetics Part B (Cybernetics) · 116 citationsWith Deb Roy

From OpenAlex, as of 21 October 2026.

  1. 11% of AI doctorate holders from 2010 to 2016 founded or led a company or lab by 10 years after graduationIncludes Nikolaos Mavridis. We estimate how often AI doctorate holders founded or led a company or lab by 10 years after graduation, how waiting times compare between founders and top jobs, and which universities trained the most.
  2. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes Massachusetts Institute of Technology. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  3. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.
  4. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes SAP. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.

Colleagues

People named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Nikolaos Mavridis yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Dr. Nikolaos Mavridis drnikolaosmavridis.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. Nikolaos Mavridis - Founder and Director of Interactive Robots and Media Lab (IRML) | Harbour Space Institute of Technology harbour.space. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. Dr. Nikolaos Mavridis drnikolaosmavridis.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. Grounded Situation Models for Robots: Bridging language, Perception, and Action — MIT Media Lab media.mit.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. Publications List ‹ Social Machines — MIT Media Lab media.mit.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. FaceBots: Steps Towards Enhanced Long-Term Human-Robot Interaction by Utilizing and Publishing Online Social Information arxiv.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. Meet the first Arabic-speaking android gulfnews.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  8. Dr. Nikolaos Mavridis drnikolaosmavridis.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  9. Economist Conferences – Greece hazliseconomist.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  10. Dr. Nikolaos Mavridis drnikolaosmavridis.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  11. Speakers - TechSaloniki X techsaloniki.gr. Checked 21 October 2026.