Prestigious recognition for Bruno Siciliano, Professor of Control and Robotics at DIETI and coordinator of PRISMA Lab, who has been named Fellow of the Asia-Pacific Artificial Intelligence Association (AAIA), an academic, non-profit and non-governmental organisation whose mission is to promote the development and application of AI through academic research and scientific education. The AAIA, incorporated in 2021, currently counts 527 Fellows.
Siciliano, Fellow of the scientific associations IEEE, ASME, IFAC, and winner of the Engelberger Award for Education, receives this nomination as "top scientist with outstanding achievements in the area of human-robot cooperation". His comment: "Receiving this recognition in a field of research such as Artificial Intelligence, which is not my primary area of interest, is particularly gratifying. Moreover, Robotics and Artificial Intelligence currently play a key role in the transition from Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to InterAction Technology (IAT). It is precisely thanks to the synergy between the two disciplines it will be possible to connect human beings and intelligent machines both locally and globally, enabling the development of a new dimension of the network, the Internet of Skills".
Human-robot cooperation is a fundamental theme of his research, explored also thanks to numerous European projects he won at the guidance of the PRISMA Lab. Among the first projects, PHRIENDS for the development of key components of a new generation of robots designed to share the environment and interact physically. SAPHARI, for the study of all essential aspects of safe, intuitive physical interaction between humans and robots. SHERPA, a ground and aerial robotic platform to support search and rescue activities in a hostile environment such as the Alpine scenario. Projects that have paved the way for research strands such as aerial, assistive, cognitive, industrial and service robotics and led to an average annual funding of EUR 1.4 million to the team over the last ten years.