People
Principal Investigator
Filippo Cavallo is Associate Professor in Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics at the University of Florence, Department of Industrial Engineering, Florence, Italy. He received the Master Degree in Electronics Engineering, Curriculum Bioengineering, from the University of Pisa, Italy, and the Ph.D. degree in Bioengineering at the BioRobotics Institute of Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa, Italy. From 2007 to 2013, he was postdoc researcher and, from 2013 to 2019, he was assistant professor and head and scientific responsible of the Assistive Robotics Lab at the BioRobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna. Since 2020, he is an associate professor with the University of Florence in Biomedical Robotics and Bio-Mechatronics and an affiliate professor at the BioRobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna. The objectives of his research activities are to promote and evaluate novel service robotics for active and healthy ageing, and to identify and validate disruptive healthcare paradigms for neurodegenerative and chronic diseases, focusing on prevention and support for physical and cognitive declines. The main scientific and technological challenges concern social robotics, human-robot interaction, wearable sensors, Internet of Things, and artificial intelligence for robot companion and healthcare applications. He has participated in various national and European projects and is the author of 180+ papers at conferences and ISI journals.
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Assistant Professors
Laura Fiorini is an assistant professor at the University of Florence, Department of Industrial Engineering, Florence, Italy. She received the M.Sc. Degree in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Pisa in 2012 (full marks, cum laude). She obtained a Ph.D. in Biorobotics (full marks, cum laude) at the BioRobotics Institute of Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, in 2016. In 2015 she visited the Bristol Robotics Laboratory at the University of West England (Bristol, UK). From 2016 to 2020, she was a postdoc researcher at the BioRobotics Institute and she collaborated on different EU and national projects such as Robot-Era, ACCRA, CloudIA, and SI-ROBOTICS. Currently, she is the coordinator of the Italian pilot site of the Pharaon Project.
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Erika Rovini is an Assistant Professor at the University of Florence, Department of Industrial Engineering, Florence, Italy. She received a master’s degree in biomedical engineering from the University of Pisa, Italy, in 2011, and a Ph.D. (cum laude) degree in BioRobotics from the BioRobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa, Italy, in 2018, with a thesis on the "Study and development of novel therapeutic and diagnostic approaches for Parkinson’s Disease based on ICTs and Machine Learning". From 2011 to 2014, she was an Assistant Researcher with the BioRobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, and a Postdoctoral Researcher within the same institute until May 2021. Then, she was a technologist at the University of Florence from June 2021 to December 2022. She is the author of articles and patents concerning the fields of AAL and wearable devices. Her research interests include motion analysis, pattern recognition, data processing, biomedical signal processing, machine learning algorithms, ambient assisted living, and wearable sensors.
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Technologist
Alessandra Sorrentino is a technologist at the University of Florence (Florence). She received a master’s degree in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics from the University of Rome "La Sapienza", Italy, in 2018, and a Ph.D. (cum laude) degree in BioRobotics from the BioRobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, in 2022. Her research areas spawn from social robotics, human-robot interaction, and assistive robotics. In detail, she is interested in finding new ways to adapt robot behavior to establish trustworthy interactions with young and older users, relying on AI algorithms. Over the years, she collaborated on national and international projects and she orally presented the results of her research in national and international conferences.
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Post Doc Researchers
Jaeseok Kim received a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Korea University of Technology and Education in 2013, and a Ph.D. degree in BioRobotics from Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in 2018. He is a Postdoctoral Research Assistant with the BioRobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna. He has participated in the EU Robot-Era, IP Project, and CENTAURO Regional Project - iSort. He is working on grasping multiple objects and cleaning tasks for the domestic environment. His research interests include reinforcement learning, deep neural networks, and bio-inspired robotics.
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Gianmaria Mancioppi is a postdoc researcher at the University of Florence. He got an Ms.C. in Psychology focussing on clinical neuropsychology of Alzheimer’s disease at the University of Pisa, in 2016. In 2021, he got a Ph.D. in BioRobotics at the BioRobotics Institute of Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, working in the field of neurodegenerative diseases and neuropsychology to develop novel technological solutions. His research interests focus on innovative protocols for Mild Cognitive Impairment and Parkinson’s disease early detection based on motor and cognitive interference tasks.
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Jasmine Pani earned a M.Sci in Cognitive Science at CIMeC (Rovereto, TN) and obtained a PhD in Neuroscience at the Faculty of Medicine, NTNU (Trondheim, Norway). Her past research focuses on the effects of exercise training on brain aging. Currently, she is working as a Post-Doctoral Research Assistant with the Biomedical and Robotics Lab at the University of Florence and she is involved in the Pharaon Project investigating cognitive training, socialization, and monitoring interventions to promote successful aging.
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PhD Students
Pietro Benvenuti received an M.Sc. degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Florence in 2022. He is pursuing a Ph.D. degree with the BioRobotics LAB, University of Florence. His research interests lie in the application of wearable sensors for biomechanics analysis, musculoskeletal modeling, and motor strategy control extraction.
Beatrice Francalanci received a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering in October 2020 and a master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering in July 2023 from the University of Florence. Currently, she is a Ph.D. student in Industrial Engineering at the University of Florence. Her main research interests are in the fields of wearable sensors and biomedical signal processing to help clinicians in the diagnosis, monitoring, and management of chronic diseases.
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He got his M.Sc. in 2017 in Computer Science at the University of Rome Tre (Italy). From 2018 to December 2019 he worked as a Software Engineer in Brussels in the railway sector. In 2020, he moved back to Italy and joined to laboratory with Prof. Cavallo, working on Italian and European projects of biomedical robotics and logistics. In October 2020 he joined the Ph.D. course in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Florence. His research topics are Human-Robot Interaction and robotic manipulation with a particular focus on robotic movements for HRI. His research aim is to use robotic arms in rehabilitation environments that involve physical and cognitive interaction and social capabilities. Google Scholar ResearchGate
Lorenzo Pugi received a bachelor's degree in Electronic and Communication Engineering in 2020 and a master's degree in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Florence, Italy, in July 2023. To date, he is a Ph.D. student in Industrial Engineering at the Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Florence. His research field is focused on human-robot interaction, social gesture generation, and smart objects.
Lorenzo Rettori is a Ph.D. student in industrial engineering at the Biomedical and Robotics Lab, University of Florence. He received a M.Sc. in Electronic Engineering from the University of Florence (Italy) in 2019. He carried out research activities in the field of Multiple Access Protocols for Body Area Networks at the Kohno Laboratory (Yokohama National University, Japan) and in the field of ultrasonic inspection techniques for nuclear safety at the Seals and Identification techniques Laboratory (European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, Ispra, Italy). His main research interests are in the fields of sensor data acquisition, data processing and machine learning techniques for biomedical and biomechanical applications.
Collaborators
Erica Li CalziErica Li Calzi is an assistant researcher at the University of Florence, Department of Industrial Engineering, in Florence, Italy. She earned her bachelor's degree in Biomedical Engineering in April 2021 at the University of Pisa and completed her master's degree in Biomedical Engineering in December 2023 at the University of Florence. Currently, she is actively involved in the large-scale EU Project Pharaon, where she focuses on supporting Europe’s aging population by integrating digital services, devices, and tools into open platforms that can be readily deployed while maintaining the dignity of older adults and enhancing their independence. Her primary research interests lie in the fields of sensor data acquisition, data processing, biomedical signal processing, and wearable sensors.
Marco MaselliMarco Maselli is a Research Fellow at the University of Florence in the Social Robotics field. He holds a Bachelor and a Master Degree in Biomedical Engineering from Politecnico of Turin (Italy). He has experience as Research Collaborator at the Politecnico di Bari and as Research Fellow at C.N.R - STIIMA. Since November 2023, he has been appointed as an Contract Professor for the first-year "Computer Science for Engineering" course at Politecnico di Bari. His main research interests are in the field of Biomedical Signals (EEG, ECG) and in Deep Learning.
Last update
22.04.2024