About us

 Team Members

Associate Professor Tomislav Stipancic PhD (Head of the Lab)

Tomislav Stipančić is an Associate Professor of Robotics and Artificial Intelligence. He earned his PhD in Mechanical Engineering, Robotics and Automation in 2013 with a doctoral thesis entitled A Cognitive Model for the Control of a Group of Industrial Robots. He is the head of the LAPIS Laboratory (Cognitive and Agentic Systems Lab).

His research lies at the intersection of artificial intelligence, robotics, and computer networks, combining cognitive informatics, affective and probabilistic robotics, context-aware reasoning, ubiquitous computing, the Internet of Things (IoT), mixed reality, and human–robot interaction.

In 2016, he was awarded a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Postdoctoral Fellowship and spent almost a year at Kyoto University as a postdoctoral researcher in the Nishida Laboratory, Group of Applied Intelligence and Information Processing. There, he led the project Computational Mechanisms for the Situated Sentient Robot SERENA. He has also been a visiting researcher at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm and Universidad Rey Juan Carlos in Madrid.

Alongside his academic work, he has contributed to numerous scientific and technological projects and worked for more than a decade with CARNet (the Croatian Academic and Research Network) as an ICT specialist, e-learning expert, course designer, and educator. His broader interests include semantic web technologies, web design, and the relationship between people and technology.

He also leads an informal web development group at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture (FSB). He is a co-founder and currently serves as Head of the Cybernetics and Bio-Inspired Systems Master's Programme within the Mechatronics and Robotics study programme. (https://titan.fsb.hr/~tstipancic/)

Associate Professor Petar Curkovic PhD 

An Associate Professor at the Department of Robotics and Manufacturing Systems Automation. Prior to joining FMENA, he was a postdoctoral researcher at Cornell University’s Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, working in the Creative Machines Lab under Professor Hod Lipson. He holds a BSc in Experimental Mechanics and a PhD in Robotics from FMENA. His research focuses on the design of safe, compliant, and unconventional robots that support people in everyday activities. By combining mechanical engineering, materials science, and robotics, he develops systems actuated by pressurized fluids, thermal energy, magnetic fields, inertial forces, and their combinations. His work includes soft anthropomorphic hands, adaptive actuators, self-learning spider-like robots, multi-material lattice structures, and vibration-driven robotic systems for movement and operation in confined spaces. He is one of the founders of the Cybernetics and Bioinspired Systems program within the master study programme in Mechatronics and Robotics at FSB. (https://pcurkovic.fsb.hr)

Professor Emeritus Duska Rosenberg, PhD  (Associate Member, iCOM, University of London)

Professor Emeritus Duška Rosenberg is a multidisciplinary researcher, computer scientist, and educator whose work explores the relationship between people and technology. For more than three decades, she has investigated the cognitive, social, and organisational impacts of information and communication technologies, artificial intelligence, and visualisation systems. She is Emeritus Professor at iCOM, University of London, Director of iCOM Research, and an Associate Member of LAPIS LAB. Her academic career includes professorships in Informatics at De Montfort University Leicester and in ICT at Royal Holloway, University of London. Professor Rosenberg’s research bridges technical system design with human behaviour and organisational practice. Her interests include social computing, human–computer interaction, informatics in management, digital communication, and the evaluation of emerging technologies. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and the National Council of University Professors. Her educational background spans English language and literature, ethnology, linguistics, computer science, and informatics.

Professor Mladen Kucinic PhD  (Associate Member, University of Zagreb, Faculty of Science)

Professor Mladen Kučinić is a Full Professor (retired) and distinguished entomologist at the Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb. His long standing research has deepened understanding of Croatia’s natural heritage through the study of butterflies and caddisflies, with particular attention to their taxonomy, ecology, biogeography, and DNA barcoding. Over the course of his career, Professor Kučinić has combined rigorous scientific research with a commitment to education and public engagement. He has established important entomological collections at the Croatian Natural History Museum and the Faculty of Science, published more than 170 scientific papers and eight books, and made the richness of Croatia’s butterfly fauna accessible to wider audiences through educational and popular publications. An Associate Member and member of the leadership of the Croatian Biological Society, he was awarded the Ivan Filipović Lifetime Achievement Award in 2024 in recognition of his enduring contributions to biology and education.

Luka Orsag (Associate Member, Visage Technologies, PhD Student)

Luka Orsag is a Senior R&D Engineer at Visage Technologies and a PhD candidate at the University of Zagreb’s Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture. As part of the LAPIS Laboratory, he works at the intersection of industry and academic research to help create robotic systems that can understand and collaborate safely with people. His research centres on affective computing, emotion analysis, and real-time human-robot interaction. He investigates spatiotemporal recognition of human activities using LSTM networks and multimodal approaches that combine visual, acoustic, and linguistic signals to better interpret human emotion and behaviour. Peer-reviewed work includes Towards a Safe Human Robot Collaboration Using Vision-Based Activity Recognition, published in Sensors, and Multimodal Emotion Analysis Based on Visual, Acoustic and Linguistic Features. Through this work, Luka contributes to more adaptive, perceptive, and human-centred technologies.

Marin Dominiković, M.sc.Ing.  (Junior Researcher, SAFER Project)

Marin Dominiković is a young researcher at LAPIS, currently contributing to the Safer Smart AI and IoT-Based Fire Extinguisher project. He holds an M.Sc.Ing. degree from FMENA, specialising in Autonomous Systems and Computational Intelligence. His graduate thesis explored the use of a robotic arm, 3D machine vision, and force control to automate the connection of an electric vehicle to a charging system. His work is driven by an interest in applying computational intelligence to autonomous and safety critical systems, combining data driven methods, perception, and intelligent decision making. He is particularly interested in the practical potential of robotics and artificial intelligence to create reliable, efficient solutions for real-world challenges. Outside his professional life, Marin draws inspiration from technology speed and sound. He enjoys exploring virtual landscapes through video games, diving into the endless possibilities of computers, following the precision and passion of Formula 1, and expressing creativity through both listening to and creating music.

Mihovil Njegovan, M.sc.Ing. (Junior Researcher, SAFER Project)

Mihovil Njegovan is a mechanical engineer working at the intersection of robotics, machine learning, and control systems. An FSB graduate whose Master’s thesis explored the application of neural networks to hybrid vehicle energy management, he combines hands on experience in autonomous mobile robots, industrial automation, and mechanical design with a passion for bridging data driven intelligence and classical engineering principles. Beyond engineering, Mihovil finds inspiration in music and nature, enjoying guitar, exploration, and hiking. 

Jelena Gajer  M.sc.Oec. (Project Administrator, SAFER Project)

Jelena Gajer is a Project Administrator at LAPIS, contributing to the Safer Smart AI and IoT Based Fire Extinguisher project. She holds an M.Sc. in Hospitality Service and Business Management from RIT, alongside a UX Design certificate from Algebra Zagreb. With a background in project management, operations, and team coordination, she helps create the structure that enables research and innovation projects to move forward. Jelena combines project management and operational coordination with expertise in human centred management (HCM) and UX design. Passionate about AI and emerging technologies, she focuses on making innovative solutions more accessible, practical, and meaningful for people and communities. Her work combines careful organisation, clear communication, and a people-focused approach to bringing complex research and innovation projects to life. She also maintains a long standing personal interest in phytotherapy and Jungian approaches to psychology and human development. 

Former Lab Members: 

- Sanja Miklin PhD

- Leon Koren PhD

- Matija Zidaric

The primary research focus of LAPIS lies in robotics, cognitive informatics, and artificial intelligence. The lab is equipped with stationary industrial robots as well as custom-made cognitive robots, both mobile and stationary.

Within cognitive robotics research, LAPIS concentrates on cognitive informatics, multimodal information fusion, affective and probabilistic robotics, artificial intelligence, context-driven reasoning and awareness, ubiquitous computing, and human-agent (robot) interaction.

The latest ongoing research project, funded by the Croatian Science Foundation, is AMICORC—Affective Multimodal Interaction based on Constructed Robot Cognition. AMICORC aims to develop a prototype affective robot named PLEA, which can analyze and utilize behaviors through biomimicry. PLEA interprets social signals from its interactions, including facial emotions, ambient loudness, body movement intensity, and speech sentiment analysis. It then responds to these signals by generating visual information in the form of facial expressions.

PLEA actively participated in the Art & AI Festival in Leicester, the British Science Festival, and the World of Robots exhibition in Croatia, where it spent more than six months engaging in constant interaction. The collected data corpus is being used to build computational models to advance the state of the art in human-robot interaction (HRI), enabling PLEA to guide interactions toward specific goals, such as providing support or enhancing a person's mood. The reputable DailyArt Magazine ranked the PLEA installation among the best AI-based art installations in the UK for 2021 (https://www.dailyartmagazine.com/ai-art-installations/).

In the field of industrial robotics, LAPIS is dedicated to the development of Industry 4.0 principles and the creation of reconfigurable and adaptive robotics cells.

A particular area of interest for LAPIS is the realization of context-aware agents across various working environments, including virtual, augmented, and real-world settings.