Personal information
Download my one-page Biosketch (last update: April 2024) or my full CV (last update: April 2024).
Educational and Academic
I received the ’Laurea’ degree in Electrical Engineering (1982) and the Ph.D. in Systems Engineering (1987), both from Sapienza Università di Roma (formerly, Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza"). I was then a Research Associate at the School of Engineering of the same University (1988-1992) (now renamed Facoltà di Ingegneria dell'Informazione, Informatica e Statistica). I became an Associate Professor at the Università di Milano in November 1992 and moved back to Sapienza in November 1993. Since then, I have been with the Dipartimento di Informatica e Sistemistica "A. Ruberti" (DIS), renamed Dipartimento di Ingegneria informatica, automatica e gestionale Antonio Ruberti (DIAG) in July 2011. I am Full Professor since November 2000.
Between June 2013 and October 2019, I have been the Director of the Master of Science in Control Engineering, a two-year program fully taught in English and attracting about 40 students per year (more than half have an international background or took their bachelor in a different Italian University). In 2017, I became a Senior Research Fellow of the Sapienza School of Advanced Studies (Scuola Superiore di Studi Avanzati Sapienza), in the academic class of Science and Technology, and I held the position for two three-year terms until the end of 2023.
Research Projects and Teaching Activities
See the related pages on Projects and Teaching.
Main Visits
I was a visiting scholar at the Robotics and Automation Laboratory of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, USA (September 1985 to May 1986) and a visiting researcher at CINVESTAV, Mexico City, Mexico (November 1989). Between September 2005 and April 2006, I spent a sabbatical period at the DLR Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics, Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, with a Helmholtz-Humboldt Research Award for foreign scientists.
Societies and Editorial Activities
Since 2023, I am an IEEE Life Fellow and I am active in the Robotics and Automation Society (RAS). Previously, I have been an IEEE Fellow (class of 2007, Region 8), a Senior member in 2005, a Member in 1986, and a Student member in 1982. I have served as RAS AdCom elected member in 2008-10, RAS Associate VP for Publication Activities in 2010-11, and RAS Vice-President for Publication Activities in 2012-13. See who was in the RAS ExCom and RAS PAB in 2012-13 (these are screenshots of the related RAS web pages), or go to the list of board members of the current RAS PAB and current RAS ExCom).
I have been an Associate Editor (1994-1998), an Editor (1998-2003), and then the Editor-in-Chief (2003-04) of the IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation (T-RA). I have been the Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Robotics (T-RO) from its first issue in August 2004 to the end of my term in September 2008 (some memories here). Take a look at the latest issue of T-RO in IEEE Xplore. I am currently in the Steering Committee of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L) and in the Advisory Board of the International Journal of Robotics Research (IJRR).
I have been General Chair of the 2007 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA'07) [Proceedings in Xplore], that was held in Rome, April 10-14, 2007 (a few pictures here), Publications Chair and CEB Editor of the 2011 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS'11, San Francisco) [Proceedings in Xplore], Vice Co-Chair of the 2013 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA'13, Karlsruhe), and Program Chair of the 2016 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA'16, Stockholm).
I was Program Chair of AUTOMATICA.IT 2011, the annual conference of SIDRA, Pisa, September 7-9, 2011, and General Chair of I-RIM 2019, the First Italian Conference on Robotics and Intelligent Machines organized by I-RIM, Rome, October 18-20, 2019. I am also one of the Vice-Presidents of I-RIM since its foundation in 2019, in charge of regulatory and planning activities.
Between 2006 and 2012, I was a member of the Search Committee for Physical Sciences (Technical Sciences up to 2010) of the Körber European Science Award, granted by the Körber Foundation (see who was in that Committee). I have been the Chair of Panel PE7 (Systems and Communication Engineering) of the European Research Council (ERC) for the evaluation of Advanced Grants (AdG) in 2009, 2011, and 2013 (alternate years), and a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics between 2015 and 2017. Since 2022, I am a member of the Science Advisory Board of the Munich Institute of Robotics and Machine Intelligence (MIRMI) of the Technical University of Munich.
Awards and Recognitions
- Finalist of the ICRA 2021 Best Human-Robot Interaction Paper Award for the paper Collision detection and localization for the DLR SARA robot with sensing redundancy (by M. Iskandar, O. Eiberger, A. Albu-Schäffer, A. De Luca, A. Dietrich) ---see [C-150] in the list of publications (Xi'an, CHN, June 2021).
- 2019 IEEE-RAS George Saridis Leadership Award in Robotics and Automation. Citation: "For contributions to the robotics and automation community through research innovation and education, and for leadership in publication and conference activities in RAS" (May 2019). [ceremony picture]
- 2017 Mechanisms and Machine Theory Award for Excellence for the 2008 paper An atlas of physical human-robot interaction (by A. De Santis, B. Siciliano, A. De Luca, A. Bicchi), as one of the top 10 most cited papers since the journal's first publication based on Scopus ---see [J-35] in the list of publications (August 2017). [certificate]
- Finalist of the ICRA 2015 Best Conference Paper Award for the paper Control of generalized contact motion and force in physical human-robot interaction (by E. Magrini, F. Flacco, A. De Luca) ---see [C-132] in the list of publications (Seattle, USA, May 2015).
- Finalist of the IROS 2013 Best Video Award for the video Safe physical human-robot collaboration (by F. Flacco, A. De Luca) ---see [V-1] in the list of publications (Tokyo, Japan, November 2013).
- Best Paper Award at the 4th IEEE RAS-EMBS International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics (BioRob 2012) for the paper Integrated control for pHRI: Collision avoidance, detection, reaction and collaboration (by A. De Luca, F. Flacco) ---see [C-121] in the list of publications (Rome, Italy, June 2012). [ceremony picture with Fabrizio]
- 2009 IEEE-RAS Distinguished Service Award. Citation: "For outstanding leadership and contributions as Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Robotics, and for service as the ICRA 2007 General Chair" (April 2009). [ceremony picture]
- Chapter author of the Springer Handbook of Robotics that received the two PROSE Awards for Excellence in Physical Sciences & Mathematics and for Engineering & Technology, The American Publishers Awards for Professional and Scholarly Excellence ---see [BC-12] in the list of publications (February 2009).
- Best Application Paper Award at the 2008 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2008) for the paper Collision detection and reaction: A contribution to safe physical human-robot interaction (by S. Haddadin, A. Albu-Schäffer, A. De Luca, G. Hirzinger) ---see [C-105] in the list of publications (Nice, France, September 2008). [ceremony pictures: without me and with me (...blurred)]
- Fellow of the IEEE (The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers). Citation: "For contributions to modeling and control of robotic systems" (2007).
- Recipient of the Helmholtz-Humboldt Research Award for foreign scientists (April 2005) of the German Humboldt Foundation. [certificate]
- Best Conference Paper Award at the 1998 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 1998) for the paper A general algorithm for dynamic feedback linearization of robots with elastic joints (by A. De Luca, P. Lucibello). ---see [C-59] in the list of publications (Leuven, Belgium, May 1998). [certificate and a very old ceremony picture]
