Research interests
My research interests are in the general areas of robotics and control. In particular, I have been working on kinematic and dynamic modeling, trajectory planning, motion planning and control for the following robotic systems/problems:
Manipulators with elastic joints, with variable stiffness actuation, with flexible links; Soft robots; Physical human-robot interaction; Collision detection and isolation; Robots in contact with the environment; Haptics; Kinematically redundant robots; Wheeled mobile robots; Mobile manipulators; Visual servoing; Cooperating manipulators; Underactuated robots; Nonholonomic mechanical systems; Locomotion platforms; Telepresence; Fault detection and isolation.
You can find the pdf of my research papers (and the accompanying videos, if present) in the Publications page.
Watch also some videos on our YouTube channel RoboticsLabSapienza, in particular in the playlists:
- Physical human-robot interaction
- Soft robotics
- Kinematic control of redundant robots
- Motion control of the CyberCarpet platform
- Locomotion and telepresence
- Learning and Control
For solving regulation, tracking, or interaction control problems, I have been using several control design approaches, e.g., feedback linearization (static, dynamic, partial state), feedback equivalence, input-output decoupling, Lyapunov-based control, learning, iterative steering, inversion in frequency domain, nonlinear regulation.
Research projects
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Last projects funded by the European Commission
- SOAR-Touch - Soft Optical Aerial Robot Touch (May 2025-April 2026). Funded in the 3rd Open Call for Technology Exchange Programme of the Horizon Europe euROBIN Network of Excellence. Principal Investigator.
- COMANOID (RIA H2020-ICT-2014-1, 645097) - Multi-Contact Collaborative Humanoids in Aircraft Manufacturing (2015-2018). Team Member.
- SYMPLEXITY (IA H2020-FoF-2014, 637080) - Symbiotic Human-Robot Solutions for Complex Surface Finishing Operations (2015-2018). Principal Investigator.
- SAPHARI (IP FP7 ICT, 287513) - Safe and Autonomous Physical Human-Aware Robot Interaction (2011-2015). Project Coordinator.
- PHRIENDS (STREP FP6 IST, 045359) - Physical Human-Robot Interaction: Dependability and Safety (2006-2009). Principal Investigator. Selected results obtained by our group in PHRIENDS can be found here.
- Cyberwalk (STREP FP6 IST, 511092) - The CyberCarpet: Enabling Omni-directional Walking in Virtual Worlds (2005-2008). Principal Investigator. Selected results obtained by our group in CyberWalk can be found here.
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Last national projects
- Spoke 5: High-quality AI, coordinated by Sapienza University of Rome, within FAIR - Future Artificial Intelligence Research (Extended Partnership PE00000013, 2023-2025), the Foundation acting as the hub for this PNRR (Next Generation EU) project of the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR). I am responsible of the work package WP5.3 - Quality in AI Physical Systems.
- I-Mule (2012-2014). Funded by the Italian Ministry of Economic Development (MiSE), within the Industria 2015 "Nuove Tecnologie per il Made in Italy" call. Principal Investigator. This industrial project (code MI01_00365) has dealt with the automation of baggage transfer by a multi-robot system in an airport. A summary video of the work done by our group in I-Mule is available on the Robotics Lab YouTube channel.
- SICURA - Sicurezza per l'Interazione nel Contatto tra Umani, Robot e Ambiente (2008-2010). Funded by the Italian Ministry of Education, University, and Research (MIUR), within the PRIN 2007 call. National Coordinator. Selected results obtained by our group in SICURA can be found here.