SAPHARI

The Research Unit UNINA operates in the Dipartimento di Ingegneria Elettrica e Tecnologie dell'Informazione (DIETI) of the University of Naples Federico II. In this project, UNINA will lead the PRISMA Joint Research Unit (JRU), based on an agreement linking six research teams (www.prisma.unina.it) from the Universities of Basilicata, Cassino, Salerno and the Second University of Naples. The main research activities are in the fields of robot control, cognitive robotics, new sensors and actuators. The group is internationally recognised for its scientific achievements and was involved in a number of research projects, both on a European and a national level. Some of the most recent projects supported by the EC include the large-scale integrating projects DEXMART, ECHORD, ARCAS, the specific target research projects AIROBOTS, Co3AUVs, PHRIENDS, and the coordination and support action EUROBOTICS.

Key researchers

Luigi VILLANI (http://wpage.unina.it/lvillani) is Associate Professor of Control at DIETI. His research interests include: force/motion control of manipulators, cooperative robot manipulation, grasping, underwater robotics, adaptive and nonlinear control of mechanical systems, visual servoing, fault diagnosis and fault tolerance for dynamical systems. He has published more than 110 journal and conference papers. He has co-authored 5 books, including the textbook Robotics: Modelling, Planning and Control. He is an Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Robotics, and of the IEEE Transactions on Control System Technology. He is a IEEE Senior Member.

Bruno SICILIANO (http://wpage.unina.it/sicilian) is Professor of Robotics at DIETI. His research interests include: impedance and force control, visual servoing, redundant and cooperative manipulators, lightweight flexible arms, space robots, human-centered and service robotics. He has co-authored more than 240 journal and conference papers and 7 books, including the textbook Robotics: Modelling, Planning and Control. He co-edited the Springer Handbook of Robotics, is Co-Editor of the Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics series and has served on the Editorial Boards of several journals as well as Chair or Co-Chair for numerous international conferences. He is the coordinator of the FP7 large-scale integrating project DEXMART. He is a Fellow of IEEE, ASME and IFAC and has been President of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society.

Contributions to specific research topics will be provided by other personnel of UNINA, including Alberto Finzi (Assistant Professor), Silvia Rossi (Assistant Professor), Francesco Cutugno (Assistant Professor) and Fanny Ficuciello (post-doc).