I am an ISFP (Inria Starting Faculty Position) researcher in INRIA Nancy Grand-Est and LORIA, working in the HUCEBOT project team. My research focuses on planning and control of generic robotic systems, with particular emphasis on underactuated multi-limbed robots with many degrees of freedom, such as humanoids. I am particularly interested in model- and learning-based optimization techniques and mobile/legged robots. I got my HDR (Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches) in 2026.
Before INRIA, I was a post-doc at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) in Genoa, Italy, in the Humanoids and Human Centered Mechatronics (HHCM) Research Line, with Nikos G. Tsagarakis, and the Advanced Robotics (ADVR) Department, with Prof. Darwin G. Caldwell. I obtained my Ph.D. at IIT and the University of Genoa in 2016. In 2015, I participated in the DARPA Robotics Challenge finals within the WALK-MAN Team, being responsible for the whole-body control and simulation of the humanoid robot WALK-MAN. I also have experience in the industry, having worked as a senior researcher in humanoid robotics at PAL Robotics in Barcelona, Spain, and later as the Principal Investigator (PI) of the Unmanned Systems and Robotics group at Leonardo S.p.A. in Genoa, Italy.
I have been actively involved in the robotics research community through editorial responsibilities, professional service within IEEE-RAS, and the organization of international conferences and workshops. My professional service includes:
- Senior Member of IEEE.
- Associate Editor
- IEEE-RAS Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L) — 2021–2024.
- IEEE-RAS Transactions on Robotics (T-RO) — 2026–present.
- SAGE The International Journal of Robotics Research (IJRR) — 2023–present.
- IEEE-RAS Technical Committee on Whole-Body Control
- Co-Chair (previously Corresponding Chair) — 2021–present.
- Representative for the primary region of Europe — 2021–present.
- Conference and Workshop Organization
- Local Chair, IEEE-RAS HUMANOIDS 2024.
- Publication Chair, IEEE ARSO 2026.
- Workshop Chair, IEEE-RAS HUMANOIDS 2026.
Current projects:
- MeRLin: Multi-limbed Robots empowered by whole-body Loco-manipulation
- euRobin: The European Excellence Network on AI-Powered Robotics
- ENACT: Faire du Grand Est un leader européen de l’intelligence artificielle (IA)
- LEG-AI: Joint lab between INRIA Nancy and UCL
Past projects:
- EUROBENCH: EUropean ROBotics framework for bipedal locomotion bENCHmarking
- ROBOT TELEOPERATIVO
- CogIMon: Cognitive Interaction in Motion
- CENTAURO: Robust Mobility and Dexterous Manipulation in Disaster Response by Fullbody Telepresence in a Centaur-like Robot
- WALK-MAN: Whole-body Adaptive Locomotion and Manipulation