Robotics

Our work focuses on the development of methodologies and technologies for robotics and embedded automation at large. The group has a longstanding experience in contracting with international, EC, and national funding agencies, as well as with industrial partners. Main contributions have been in the analysis and control of autonomous manipulation and vehicles.

One traditional topic of investigation is the study of hands and haptics - both in humans and in robots. Many different aspects have been thoroughly investigated, such askinesthetic and cutaneous tactile sensing, analysis ofgrasping forces and slippage avoidance reflexes,tendinous actuationco-contraction mechanisms, biologically inspired vs. functional design of robot hands.The haptic sensing correlated to soft tissue interaction is another area of exploration where an important role is played by expertise in MR image processing and visualisation. The other major prong of our current activity is on advanced control methods for complex systems, in particular addressing nonlinear systems and mixed logical-dynamical systems.