Prof. Maria Chiara Carrozza received the Laurea degree in physics from the University of Pisa , Pisa , Italy , in 1990. She has got the PhD in Engineering at Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna in 1994. Since 2001, she has been an Associate Professor of biomedical robotics at the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa , Italy . She is Director of the Research Division and Deputy Director of Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna. She teaches Biomechatronics and Rehabilitation Engineering to Master students of Biomedical Engineering. at the University of Pisa She is elected Member of the national Board of the Italian association of Biomedical Engineering (Gruppo Nazionale di Bioinegegneria).Prof. Carrozza has been visiting professor at the Technical University of Wien, Austria with a graduate course entitled Biomechatronics, and she is involved in the scientific management of the Italy-Japan joint laboratory for Humanoid Robotics ROBOCASA, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan where she is responsible for artificial hand design. Prof. Carrozza is the Coordinator of the Advanced Robotics Technology and Systems Laboratory (ARTS Lab), founded by prof. Paolo Dario , where more than 50 peoples are involved in research projects aimed at design, simulation and development of biomedical robots for rehabilitation engineering, functional support and humanoid robotics. She is active in several national and international projects in the fields of biomechatronics and biomedical robotics. Her research interests comprise biomedical robotics (cybernetic and robotic artificial hands, upper limb exoskeletons), rehabilitation engineering (neurorehabilitation, domotic, and robotic aids for functional support and personal assistance), and biomedical microengineering (microsensors, tactile sensors). The ARTS Lab team coordinated by Prof. Carrozza has designed and developed the CYBERHAND artificial hand and is currently responsible for the design of an Exoskeleton for functional support and enhancement of the upper limb, in the framework of the NEUROBOTICS project. In these projects, bioinspired design and the fusion between neuroscience and robotics are addressed for going beyond robotics. Prof. Carrozza is Member of IEEE RAS and EMBS societies and she is an author of several scientific papers and international patents. In addition, she is promoting industrial innovation and start-up creation, she is co-founder of two spin-off of the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna and she is member of their Administrative Boards. Within the SMARTHAND Project, Prof. Carrozza leads the research group working on the design and the development of the biomechatronic prosthetic hand and of the mechatronic skin.

Christian Cipriani is a Postdoctoral Research Scientist at the ARTS Lab of the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa. He was born in Lucca, Italy , on October 22, 1980. He received the Laurea degree in Electronic Engineering (MSc) from the University of Pisa, Italy in 2004 and the Ph.D. in Biorobotics Science and Engineering from a joint program between IMT Institute for Advanced Studies, Lucca and Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa in 2008. He has been working at ARTS Lab since 2005 in the framework of several national and international research projects. He has collaborated in the Cyberhand Project, the Revolutionizing Prosthetic Program and the RobotCUB Project and he is currently involved in the European SmartHand Project and in the Italian SafeHand Project.
His research interests are focused on mechatronic aspects of advanced robotic hands to be used as neuro-prostheses. In particular: the design of hand controllers architectures and strategies based on proprioceptive and exteroceptive sensors; the development and experimentation of non-invasive control interfaces; the development and comparison of shared-control strategies between user and the machine for prosthetic control. Most of his activities are strongly related to hardware development with the goal of building reliable, robust and durable stand-alone mechatronic hands. Dr. Cipriani is a member of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society and of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology.

List of Publications

Personal Homepage @ IMT
Personal Homepage @ ARTS Lab

Marco Controzzi is currently a research assistant at ARTS Lab of the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa. He was born in Pisa, Italy in 1982. He received the Laurea degree in Mechanical Engineer at University of Pisa in Dec. 2008. He joined ARTS Lab in 2006 as a student and since then he has been working for several national and international projects. In particular he has collaborated in the Revolutionizing Prosthetic Program and is currently involved in the European SmartHand Project and in the Italian SafeHand Project.

He is mainly interested in the mechanical design of sensory equipped anthropomorphic robotic and prosthetic hands, as well as in the design of smart actuation mechanisms and analitical models to increase transmission efficiency and grip force.

List of Publications

Alessandro Persichetti received the University Degree (Laurea) in electronic engineering from the University of Perugia in January 2004. He is PhD student in Robotics with the University of Genova and works in the Advanced Robotics Technology and Systems Laboratory (ARTS) of the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna where he is involved in several European scientific projects. His research interests are in the fields of biomechatronics, human-machine interfaces and in particular contact and tactile sensors for prostheses and robotic hands.

He is a student member of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society.

List of Publications

Silvestro Micera was born in Taranto , Italy , on August 31, 1972. He received the University degree (Laurea) in Electrical Engineering (magna cum laude) from the University of Pisa , Pisa , Italy , in 1996, and the Ph.D. degree (magna cum laude) in Biomedical Engineering from the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa , Italy , in 2000.
From 1998 to 2001, he was the Project Manager of the EU GRIP Project (ESPRIT LTR Project 26322, 'An integrated system for the neuroelectrIic control of grasp in disabled persons'). During 1999, he was a Visiting Student at the Center for Sensory-Motor Interaction, Aalborg University . Since May 2000, he has been an Assistant Professor of BioRobotics at the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna. He is currently a Visiting Scientist with the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge , USA .
He is also currently involved in several projects on neuro-robotics and rehabilitation engineering. His research interests include the development of bionic systems (interfacing the central and peripheral nervous system with robotic artefacts) and the development of mechatronic and robotic systems for function restoration in disabled persons.
He is an author of several scientific papers and international patents.
Dr. Micera is a Senior Member of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology, Systems Man and Cybernetics, and Robotics and Automation Societies and a member of the International Society for Gerontechnologies (ISG). He is currently the Program Co-Chair of the 6 th International Conference of ISG which will be held in Pisa in 2008.
He served as Associate Editor and Guest Editor of several biomedical engineering journals. He is currently an Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.

Personal Homepage @ Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna

Stanisa Raspopovic is currently a PhD student at the ARTS Lab of Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa.

Jacopo Rigosa is currently at the first year of his PhD in "Innovative Technologies in ICT and Robotics" at the ARTS Lab of the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa. whose dissertation is entitled: Advanced statistical techniques for the development of new hybrid bionic systems.