Speakers
Lucia Beccai is Tenured Senior Researcher at IIT, leader of Soft BioRobotics Perception (SBRP) research line, and until 2009 was Assistant Professor in Biomedical Engineering at the Biorobotics Institute of Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Italy. She has a long experience in bionics and bioinspired smart tactile system, has collaborated and had scientific responsibility in many international projects at European and intercontinental level. In her research she takes a biorobotic approach with the final aim of achieving soft sensing and perceptive soft robotic solutions for intelligent and safe interaction with the environment and humans. She focuses on investigating the elephant trunk as a model of manipulation ‘without hands’, for deriving new concepts of versatile continuum manipulators. Some specific research topics include: animal/object interaction for grasping, soft architected structures for sensing and actuation, multidimensional soft actuation, soft tactile systems inspired by natural mechanotransduction and morphology, milli- and micro-scale fabrication technologies for 3D active structures. Currently she is the coordinator of the PROBOSCIS project (EU H2020-FET Open 863212 proboscis.eu) and partner of the MOZART project (mozart-robotics.eu). She serves as Associate Editor for journals including Scientific Reports, IEEE RA-L and Frontiers in Robotics and AI (receiving the 2021 Outstanding Associate Editor award), is reviewer for several journals (including Science Robotics, Nature Communications, Soft Robotics, Advanced Materials, Nature Electronics), and for international conferences (ICRA, IROS, Living Machines, ICORR, RoboSoft, BIOROB). She serves as expert evaluator for EU project proposals (including ERC programme) and for some international research programs (including US NSF).
Dr. Matteo Cianchetti is currently Assistant Professor with The BioRobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna where he leads the Soft Mechatronics for Biorobotics Lab with a team of 17 people. He received the MSc degree in Biomedical Engineering (cum laude) from the University of Pisa, Italy, in 2007 and the PhD degree in Biorobotics (cum laude) from Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna. He is author or co-author of more than 50 international peer reviewed papers and he regularly serves as a reviewer for more than 25 international ISI journals and for several supporting agencies. He has been and currently is involved in EU-funded projects with the main focus on the development of Soft Robotics technologies: OCTOPUS IP, STIFF-FLOP IP, I-SUPPORT, RoboSoft CA, SMART-E Marie Curie ITN and Hybrid Heart to name a few.
Prof. Falotico is an assistant professor at the BioRobotics institute at the School of Advanced Studies in Sant'Anna, Pisa, and the head of the Brain Inspired Robotics Lab (BRAIR). He holds a double PhD in Biorobotics from Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna (SSSA), Pisa, Italy; and in Cognitive Science from University Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France. He has s been fascinated by how a complex system like the human body can be regulated and controlled by an even more complex system, the brain. Specifically, understanding how a movement is conceived, planned and controlled by the brain is one of the biggest neuroscientific challenge that has attracted his interest. According to Prof. Falotico, transposing the movement control mechanisms in a model for artefacts is an extraordinary way to tackle this challenge, to extend the knowledge on the brain and develop better robots. His lab carries out research on brain models for motor control, sensory-motor coordination, and cognition in autonomous robots. The underlining idea is that cognitive abilities, in the same way as they work in humans and other living beings, would help the new-generation robots to be coherent, persistent in behaviour and aware of themselves and the environment. Since 2017, by relying on his expertise in AI and computational neuroscience, he has contributed to the development of control models for soft robots. Soft robots, that are complex robotic platforms difficult to model, benefit from model-free approaches. He has contributed to the design and implementation of several models based on learning the kinematics and dynamics through neural networks. He has become very active in the soft robotics community through the participation in workshops and the role of publicity chair in the first IEEE RoboSoft conference held in Livorno in 2018.
Mattia Gazzola is an Associate Professor in the Mechanical Science and Engineering Department at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He joined UIUC in Fall 2016 after a postdoc at Harvard and PhD at ETH Zurich. His work lies at the interface between numerics, mechanics, robotics, biology, and computing. His studies were awarded with the ETH Medal, Early and Advanced Swiss National Science Foundation Fellowships, NSF CAREER, and featured on the cover of several scientific journals including Science, Nature and PRL. He is the Lead PI and co-director of the center-scale NSF Expedition "Mind in Vitro–Computing with Living Neurons".
Prof Cecilia Laschi is Provost’s Chair Professor of robotics at the National University of Singapore, leading the Soft Robotics Lab. She is Co-Director of CARTIN – Centre for Advanced Robotics Technology and Innovation. She is on leave from Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Italy, The BioRobotics Institute (Dept. of Excellence in Robotics & AI). She graduated in Computer Science at the University of Pisa and received a Ph.D. in Robotics from the University of Genoa. She received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Southern Denmark, Odense, in 2023. She was JSPS visiting researcher at the Humanoid Robotics Institute of Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan.Cecilia Laschi is best-known for her research in soft robotics, an area that she pioneered and contributed to develop at international level. She investigates fundamental challenges for building robots with soft materials, with a bioinspired approach which started with a study of the octopus as a model for robotics. She explores marine applications of soft robots and their use in the biomedical field, with a focus on eldercare. She has worked in humanoid and neuro-robotics, applying brain models in humanoid robots.She is Editor-in-Chief of Bioinspiration & Biomimetics and Specialty Chief Editor of Soft Robotics in Frontiers in Robotics & AI. She serves in the Editorial Boards of Science Robotics and IEEE Robotics & Automation Letters. She serves as evaluators for the EC (incl. ERC programme), HFSP and national research agencies.She is IEEE Fellow and member of other scientific societies, like AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science), and the IEEE Robotics & Automation Society (RAS), where she was elected twice as AdCom member and is founding co-chair of the Technical Committee (TC) on Soft Robotics. She founded and chaired the 1st IEEE-RAS International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft) in 2018, serving now in its Steering Committee. She is Co-Chair of Gordon Research Conference on Robotics 2024. She co-founded the spin-off company RoboTech, in edutainment robotics.
Dr Gianmarco Mengaldo joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering at National University of Singapore (Singapore) in 2020, as an Assistant Professor. He is also an Honorary Research Fellow at Imperial College London (United Kingdom). He received his BSc and MSc in Aerospace and Aeronautical Engineering from Politecnico di Milano (Italy), and his PhD in Aeronautical Engineering from Imperial College London (United Kingdom). After his PhD he undertook various roles both in industry and academia, including at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, the California Institute of Technology, and Keefe, Bruyette and Woods (KBW). Dr Mengaldo’s adopts an interdisciplinary approach integrating mathematical engineering and computational science to study complex systems that arise in in engineering and applied science. His current research interests involve (i) the development of data-mining technologies for the systematic identification of coherent patterns in highly unstructured datasets, (ii) the development of high-fidelity simulations tools for multi-physics problems, and (iii) the use of machine learning and statistical tools to predict the behaviour of complex systems. Dr Mengaldo’s main application areas include aerospace and mechanical engineering, weather and climate, solid earth physics, healthcare, and finance.
Hamid Marvi is an Associate Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and a Fulton Entrepreneurial Professor at Arizona State University. Previously, he was a postdoctoral fellow at Carnegie Mellon University (2014-2015) and at Georgia Institute of Technology (2013-2014). He received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech in 2013. He has received several awards including the Origins Project Faculty Research Award, KEEN Professorship, Sigma Xi Best Ph.D. Thesis Award, and Best ASME-DSCD Student Paper of the Year in Mechatronics. His research is focused on developing bio-inspired robotics technologies with applications spanning medical, space, and NDT fields. Currently, he is leveraging MRI, EMG, and FEA techniques to conduct experimental and computational studies on octopus arm muscle morphology and functionality, with a focus on advancing soft robotics applications.
Andrew K. Schulz is currently a postdoctoral researcher in the Haptic Ingelligence department in the Max Planck Institute of Intelligent Systems. Andrew earned his doctorate from Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) in August 2022. He received his bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and Mathematics in 2018 from Oklahoma State University. Andrew’s doctoral dissertation, Mechanics and Materials of Elephant Trunks with Applications to Conservation Technology, focused on understanding the muscular hydrostat mechanics of the African Elephant (Loxodonta africana). Andrew also focused on understanding conservation perspectives and how to work with engineering, biologists, and computer scientists to advance conservation technology, starting the non-profit organization Tech4Wildlife. Andrew worked in Atlanta to bridge the gap between technical universities and zoological organizations to study various species of animals. Andrew successfully defended his thesis on 3 August 2022 under the direction of Dr. David Hu. During his Ph.D., Andrew’s work was covered in numerous media outlets, including the New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, and Science Friday. Andrew's research also made the cover of the journal PNAS. Outside of research, he advocated for mental health in academics as well as increased resources for academics with Autism.
Prof. Zullo graduated in Biological Sciences in 2001 at the Federico II University, Naples, Italy working on the Central and peripheral control of “patterning” of the cromatophores in Loligo vulgaris. She received her PhD in Applied Biology in the 2004 at the Federico II University, Naples, Italy working on the organization of the higher motor centers in Octopus vulgaris at the Stazione Zoologica A.Dohrn of Naples. From 2004 to 2007 she was a postdoc in the lab of Prof. Benjamin Hochner at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem working on the electrophysiology of the Octopus CNS and arm. From 2007 to 2012 she was a postdoc at the Department of Neuroscience and Brain Technologies, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy. Currently she is a researcher at IRCCS Ospedale Policlinico San Martino. The aim of her research is to investigate the properties of the Octopus arm sensory-motor systems, the muscle mechanics, structure and molecular determinant of muscle formation with a special focus on their application in the bio-robotic field. She works on two main research lines aiming at (i) elucidating the mechanisms of arm sensory motor coordination, neural control and coordination of muscle cell ensembles with particular attention to their implementation in a bio-robotic environment; (ii) deciphering the molecular determinant of muscle formation and regeneration relevant to regenerative medicine.