CV

Curriculum updated on 06/05/2025

Basics

Name Ariel Gjaci
Label Postdoctoral Researcher
Email ariel.gjaci@iit.it
Phone +393483776041
Url https://arielgjaci.com
Summary Postdoctoral Researcher with a multidisciplinary background in biomedical engineering, robotics, and artificial intelligence. My work spans computer vision, machine learning, multimodal systems, robotics, and computational acoustics, with applications in social robotics and immersive environments. I am driven by the goal of advancing AI research across diverse domains.

Work

  • 2025.02 - now
    Postdoctoral Researcher
    Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), Genova, Italy
    I am working with the Pavis Team on the European project XTREME, which focuses on mixed reality solutions for art and culture, integrating multimodal audio and vision processing . During this period, I will collaborate with a team to develop a novel audio-visual-visual model capable of rendering realistic binaural audio at any position within a room. This model will then be integrated into a mixed reality system to deliver immersive audio and video experiences.
    • Writing a survey paper on learning-based methods for novel-view audio rendering
    • Developing a new method for high-quality binaural audio rendering using visual features.
    • Collaborating with researchers across Europe.
    • Collecting real-world multimodal data (e.g., museums, orchestras) for training audio rendering models.
    • Contributing to the release of a production-level system.
  • 2021.05 - 2021.11
    Software Engineer Intern
    Akka Technologies, Milano, Italy
    Worked in a team project for developing the back-end software for managing aircraft panels.
    • Developed a software system for managing military aircraft panels.
    • Delivered and presented a working demo to stakeholders.
  • 2021.01 - 2025.05
    PhD Candidate
    University of Genoa, Genova, Italy
    The goal of my PhD was to create a hybrid rule-based and data-driven approach to generate culture-aware co-speech gestures on social robots. The rule-based part defines heuristic rules based on semantic scores from Cross-Encoder language models. The data-driven part generates co-speech gestures by implementing a multimodal, culture-aware generative model based on Diffusion-Transformers. The cultural component is analyzed from multimodal data and incorporated into the generated gestures, ensuring that the non-verbal communication of social robots is contextually and culturally appropriate.
    • Developed a large-scale multimodal dataset.
    • Applied ML models (SVMs, Transformers, MLPs, VQ-VAEs, LLMs) to analyze cultural factors.
    • Developed subject-independent cultural embeddings using Fishr and Adversarial Learning.
    • Built rule-based algorithms for identifying gestures from text using Semantic Similarity.
    • Built a Diffusion-Transformer model for multimodal gesture generation.
    • Reviewed papers for AI and Robotics journals and conferences.
    • Co-organized a workshop at ECCV.
    • Collaborated with researchers of King's College London.
    • Obtained certifications from Coursera and international summer schools.
    • Chaired a session of IEEE RO-MAN conference.

Education

  • 2022.01 - 2023.04

    London

    Visiting Ph.D.
    King's College London
    AI-Robotics
    • Theory of Relativity
  • 2021.01 - 2025.05

    Genoa

    Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics
    University of Genoa
    AI-Robotics
  • 2018.01 - 2021.06

    Genoa

    Master's Degree in Robotics Engineering
    University of Genoa
    Robotics
    • Computer vision
    • Machine learning
    • Multivariable and Non-Linear Control Theory
    • Embedded Systems
    • ROS
    • Real-Time Operating Systems
    • Mobile Robotics
    • Manipulators
    • Mechanical Design
    • Social Robotics
    • Biomedical Robotics
  • 2014.01 - 2018.07

    Genoa

    Bachelor's Degree in Biomedical Engineering
    University of Genoa
    Biomedical Engineering
    • Mathematics
    • Geometry
    • Physics (Thermodynamics, Mechanics, Electromagnetism
    • Analog and Digital Signal Processing
    • Electromagnetic Fields
    • Biomedical Instrumentation
    • Chemistry
    • Materials Science
    • Biomechanics
    • Physiology
    • Programming (C / C++ / Matlab)
    • Electronic Circuits
    • Bioelectronics

Skills

Programming
Python
C++
C
R
Matlab
Kotlin
ML Frameworks
Pytorch
Tensorflow
Scikit-learn
Pandas
Operating Systems
Linux
Windows
ROS
Embedded Systems
dsPICDEM 2
Raspberry pi
Arduino
Soft Skills
Motivation
Learning
Teamwork
Leadership
Problem Solving
Communication
Time Management

Languages

Italian
Native speaker
Albanian
Native speaker
English
Fluent

Interests

Machine Learning
Generative models
Multimodal models
Large Language models
Domain Generalization
Quantum Communication
Reinforcement Learning
Robotics
Social Robots
Multimodal Interactions
Computer Vision
Motion Generation
Vision Language Models
Object Identification
Computational Acoustics
Acoustic Fields
Binaural Audio
Audio Rendering
Medicine
ML-based diagnosis
Drug Discovery