PRISMA Lab

🟨 𝗥𝗼𝗯𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀 & 𝗥𝗼𝗯𝗼𝘁𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗲𝘀 Coursera 🟦

Robotics & Robots, the MOOC program coordinated by Bruno Siciliano and developed by Federica Web Learning - Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, is now available on Coursera.

Bringing together the contributions of more than 30 international experts and their research teams, the program offers an interdisciplinary introduction to contemporary robotics through lectures, in-depth content, and application-oriented examples.

Topics include robot design, human-robot interaction, robotics applications across different domains, and the growing convergence of robotics and artificial intelligence.

Following its launch on Federica Web Learning, the program now expands through Coursera reaching a global community of learners.

🔗 https://www.coursera.org/specializations/robotics-and-robots

Prof. F***y Ficuciello, Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Transactions on Medical Robotics and Bionics (T-MRB), during the presentation of the journal’s Best Paper Award at ICRA 2026.

🔥 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘁𝘀 Paolino De Risi

Today at ICRA 2026, Paolino De Risi, Ph.D. student at PRISMA Lab, presented the paper “𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗠𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹 𝗥𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗔𝗱𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿 𝗗𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗛𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗪𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁” in the Wearable and Rehabilitation Robotics session.

The work, co-authored by Shifa Sulaiman, Paolino De Risi, Francesco Schetter, and F***y Ficuciello, addresses control strategies for the wrist of the PRISMA HAND II prosthetic hand.

For more details, the abstract is available at the conference website:

https://ras.papercept.net/conferences/conferences/ICRA26/program/ICRA26_ContentListWeb_5.html

🔥 𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗕𝗶𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗦𝗮𝗳𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗹: 𝗘𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗠𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗥𝗼𝗯𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀

Prof. F***y Ficuciello delivered the keynote “From Bioinspired Design to Safe Control: Emerging Challenges in Medical Robotics” at the IICRA2026 in Vienna, within the “Medical & Healthcare Robotics” session.

The keynote explored the interplay between robot design and control in medical applications, highlighting how advances in bioinspired mechanisms, compliant devices, force sensing and manipulation capabilities are reshaping the development of next-generation medical robots.

Drawing on research activities developed at the Surgical Robotics Laboratory of the PRISMA Team within the Icaros Center as well as at the Biohybrid and Biomimetic Robotics Lab, the keynote presented advances in robot-assisted surgery, spanning mini-invasive surgical tools, haptic guidance and shared autonomy, autonomous control strategies, and simulation-based approaches for safe robot operation.

The presentation also discussed emerging methods for soft-tissue manipulation and continuum robot control, emphasizing the complementary role of design, control, and simulation in the development of safe and effective medical robotic systems.

Prenota ora il tuo posto gratuito La robotica sta trasformando il settore sanitario, rendendo i processi più efficienti e standardizzati.

𝗗𝘆𝗻𝗟𝗲𝗴 — 𝗗𝘆𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗰 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗽𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗟𝗲𝗴𝗴𝗲𝗱 𝗥𝗼𝗯𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀 — is one of PRISMA Lab’s research topics, led by Prof. Fabio Ruggiero.
🚀 Thesis & Internship Opportunities at PRISMA Lab
PRISMA Lab is offering research opportunities for international Master’s students interested in advancing the future of robotics.

From legged and humanoid robots to aerial systems, manipulation, AI, perception, and human–robot interaction, students will have the opportunity to work on cutting-edge research projects combining theory, simulation, and real robotic platforms.

These opportunities are particularly suited to students joining through Erasmus+ Traineeship programmes and other international mobility schemes.

📍 Naples, Italy

📩 For further information:
[email protected]

Full thesis sheets:
https://prisma.dieti.unina.it/images/Thesis/Theses_DynLeg_May26.pdf
https://prisma.dieti.unina.it/images/Thesis/Theses_AerRob_May26.pdf

𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝘂𝗺 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲 ▯ The European House-Ambrosetti
𝗞𝗲𝘆𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗲 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗳. 𝗕𝗿𝘂𝗻𝗼 𝗦𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗼

Yesterday, at the Technology Forum 2026 in Stresa, Prof. Bruno Siciliano delivered the keynote “𝗪𝗘𝗟𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗘 𝗧𝗢 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗔𝗚𝗘 𝗢𝗙 𝗣𝗛𝗬𝗦𝗜𝗖𝗔𝗟 𝗔𝗜” within the session “𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗡𝗘𝗪 𝗜𝗡𝗗𝗨𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗜𝗔𝗟 𝗣𝗔𝗥𝗔𝗗𝗜𝗚𝗠 | 𝗧𝗢𝗪𝗔𝗥𝗗𝗦 𝗔 𝗛𝗨𝗠𝗔𝗡‒𝗥𝗢𝗕𝗢𝗧 𝗘𝗖𝗢𝗦𝗬𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗠?”.

The keynote explored the current inflection point of Physical AI, driven by the convergence of advances in the robotics ecosystem — including compute power, connectivity, battery innovation and falling hardware costs — with recent progress in AI for physical systems, such as robotic foundation models, simulation and data-driven learning.

The talk highlighted how the next phase of AI will increasingly concern action in the physical world: not only processing information, but enabling systems capable of perceiving, adapting and interacting with real environments. In this context, human-robot collaboration becomes central across industrial, logistics, healthcare and manufacturing domains.

Particular attention was devoted to the open challenges in advanced robotics, especially in manipulation, tactile sensing and dynamic adaptation in humanoid robots. While the humanoid form factor remains attractive because human environments are designed around the way people move and interact, deploying humanoids in complex real-world settings will still require time.

During the keynote, prof. Siciliano also addressed the role Europe can play in promoting a human-centric vision of technology, where robotic and AI systems are designed to adapt to individuals while respecting their needs, dignity and privacy.

𝗘𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗛𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗥𝗼𝗯𝗼𝘁 𝗖𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 🇪🇺

The article by Riccardo Oldani published in 𝑊𝑒 𝑅𝑜𝑏𝑜𝑡𝑠 explores some of the key challenges in European AI and robotics research through the lens of euROBIN project, the Horizon Europe-funded network of excellence aiming to build a shared ecosystem of robots, software, and methodologies.

Among the Italian contributors featured in the article are Alberto Finzi, head of the AI and Cognitive Robotics research line at PRISMA Lab, and Riccardo Caccavale, both involved in euROBIN activities through the CREATE Consortium.

One of the main goals of the project is “to make it possible to transfer and reuse technologies developed in laboratories, overcoming the fragmentation that still slows down research today,” explains Finzi. Robotic solutions often remain tied to the specific prototypes or platforms on which they were originally developed, making them difficult to replicate or integrate with other systems.

In this context, learning becomes a central element of the project, especially through approaches that allow robots to acquire and transfer skills more naturally across different platforms. One of the most relevant aspects discussed is learning by demonstration, which allows robots to observe human operators and emulate the sequence of actions required to complete a task. This approach could make robotics more accessible even to people without programming expertise.

On the research side, one of the main challenges concerns the transfer of robotic skills across different platforms. “We want skill transfer to be as simple as possible,” Finzi explains, “and to study techniques not only for training, but also for transferring behaviors and capabilities from one robot to another.”

Finzi also stresses the importance of a “human-centered” approach, in which robots are expected to recognize human intentions and plan their actions accordingly, especially in collaborative environments where humans and machines share spaces and activities.

Riccardo Caccavale discusses the contribution of neurosymbolic systems, where reasoning capabilities and data-driven learning are integrated within the same robotic framework. “We combine the ability to explicitly represent knowledge, typical of symbolic systems, with neural network learning,” Caccavale explains. “This allows us to obtain robots capable of ‘reasoning’ about their own actions.”

The final part of the article focuses on cascade funding and on the coopetitions promoted within euROBIN: collaborative competitions in which research teams are evaluated not only on their own performance, but also on their ability to integrate and reuse software modules developed by other groups. An approach designed to encourage interoperability, knowledge sharing, and collaboration across the European robotics community.

✨ 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗳. 𝗙𝗮𝗻𝗻𝘆 𝗙𝗶𝗰𝘂𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗼 𝗞𝗲𝘆𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗲 𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝘁 𝗜𝗘𝗘𝗘 𝗜𝗖𝗥𝗔 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲

Prof. F***y Ficuciello will deliver a keynote at ICRA 2026, taking place on Tuesday, June 2, within the “Medical & Healthcare Robotics” session.

The talk, titled “𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗕𝗶𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗦𝗮𝗳𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗹: 𝗘𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗠𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗥𝗼𝗯𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀”, will discuss how advances in robotics, AI, and innovative materials are contributing to the development of next-generation medical technologies, opening new frontiers in patient care and treatment.

The keynote will also address the role of supervised autonomy, which aims to combine human expertise with the precision of robotic systems. The focus will be on bioinspired design and control algorithms for robotic systems in which humans always maintain significant control over the robot’s behavior.

More ℹ️ on ICRA 2026 Keynote Sessions
https://2026.ieee-icra.org/program/keynote-sessions/

Nell'articolo de Il Mattino, l'intervista alla prof.ssa F***y Ficuciello, responsabile della robotica medica del gruppo PRISMA, alla guida di 𝗕𝟮𝗥 𝗕𝗶𝗼𝗵𝘆𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗕𝗶𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗥𝗼𝗯𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗟𝗮𝗯, inaugurato l'11 maggio, presso la Scuola Politecnica e delle Scienze di Base della Federico II.

B2R Lab nasce nell’ambito di BRIEF, iniziativa di potenziamento di una rete di infrastrutture di ricerca in biorobotica, finanziata nel 2022 dal PNRR e sostenuta da NextGenerationEU. Coordinatore di BRIEF per l'Ateneo federiciano è il prof. Bruno Siciliano.

L’articolo è a cura di Mariagiovanna Capone.