Paolo Dario

Professor
(paolo.dario@sssup.it)

Paolo Dario received his Dr. Eng. Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pisa, Italy, in 1977. He is currently a Professor of Biomedical Robotics at the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Pisa. He also teaches courses at the School of Engineering of the University of Pisa and at the “Campus Biomedico” University in Rome. He has been Visiting Professor at Brown University, Providence, RI, USA, at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland, and at Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan. He was the founder of the ARTS (Advanced Robotics Technologies and Systems) Laboratory and is currently the Coordinator of the CRIM (Center for the Research in Microengineering) Laboratory of the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, where he supervises a team of about 70 researchers and PhD. students. He is also the Director of the Polo Sant’Anna Valdera of the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna.
His main research interests are in the fields of medical robotics, bio-robotics, mechatronics andmicro/nano engineering, and specifically in sensors and actuators for the above applications, and in robotics for rehabilitation. He is the coordinator of many national and European projects, the editor of two books on the subject of robotics, and the author of more than 200 scientific papers (90 on ISI journals). He is Editor-in-Chief, Associate Editor and member of the Editorial Board of many international journals. He has been a plenary invited speaker in many international conferences.
Prof. Dario has served as President of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society in the years 2002-2003, and he is currently Past-President, Co-Chair of the Technical Committees on Biorobotics
and of Robo-ethics of the same Society. Prof. Dario is an IEEE Fellow, a Fellow of the European Society on Medical and Biological Engineering, and a recipient of many honors and awards, such as the Joseph Engelberger Award. He is also a member of the Board of the
International Foundation of Robotics Research (IFRR).
He has been the General Chair of the 1st IEEE RAS/EMBS Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics (BioRob 2006), the General Chair of the IEEE International Conference on
Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2007), and he is the General Chair of ISG 2008 (the 6th Conference of the International Society for Gerontechnology).

• Present Positions
- Full Professor of Biomedical Robotics Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna
Piazza Martiri della Libertà, 33
56127 Pisa, Italy
- Coordinator of CRIM Lab c/o Polo Sant’Anna Valdera
Viale R. Piaggio, 34 56025 – Pontedera, Pisa
- Director Polo Sant’Anna Valdera
Viale Rinaldo Piaggio, 34
56025 – Pontedera, Pisa
E mail: dario@sssup.it
Phone: +39.050.883.420/400
Fax: +39.050.883.497

• University and post-degree Education and activities:
- 1977 – “Laurea Degree” in Mechanical Engineering, University of Pisa
- 1978/79 - Post-degree Fellowship from the Italian Research Council (CNR)
- Visiting Professor at Brown University, Providence, RI, USA, at the Ecole Polytéchnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland, at Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan and at Collège de France and Ecole Normale, Paris, France.

• Research Interests:
Paolo Dario’s main field of interest is bio-robotics, a frontier research area that combines bioinspiration and bio-application. Paolo Dario has been and is working on theoretical models, design methods, precision technologies (including micro, nano and bio) for fabrication of novel components and integrated systems, machines and robots, on application of such systems to different fields of applications, including (micro) endoscopic and endoluminal surgery, rehabilitation and assistance to disabled and elderly people, and to humanoids.
Paolo Dario has contributed to the foundation of such new fields as micro and biomechatronics, and to the fields of “bio” and “neuro-robotics”, a frontier research area whose ultimate goals
are to integrate biology and neuroscience with robotics, and to educate the kernel of a new generation of engineers, able to combine solid engineering capabilities, with curiosity and imagination, and with the ability to incorporate in their engineering skills interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary knowledge.
In pursuing this goal, Paolo Dario has founded two labs now hosting a total of about 100 young researchers, and has involved a large number of undergraduate and graduate students in high education and in research activities

• Teaching Activities:
- Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Course on Medical Robotics;
- University of Pisa, MS Degree Course in Biomedical Engineering, Biomedical Robotics, credits: 12;
- Campus Biomedico University, Rome, MS Degree Course in Biomedical Engineering Biomedical Robotics, credits: 5;
- Founder and Coordinator of the Doctoral Program in “Biorobotics Science and Engineering”, IMT (Istituzioni Mercati Tecnologie), Lucca.

• Academic Responsabilities at Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna:
- Director of the Science Park of the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Pontedera;
- Member of numerous academic boards;
- Supervisor of a large number (more than 80) PhD students in Engineering, Medical Robotics and Micro-Engineering;
- Responsible for many International Cooperation Programs;
- Founder and Coordinator of the RoboCasa Lab of the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna at Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan.

• National and International Research Projects:
- Coordinator of many scientific projects, funded by National and International Agencies, and by private companies (at this moment, coordinator or partner of more than 20 European Research Projects);
- Founder of many start-up companies and President of two of them.

• Editorial Activities:
- Associate Editor of important international journals, such as IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation;
- Co-Editor of Journal of MicroMechatronics, Advanced Robotics, Autonomous Robots, Biomedical Devices;
- Member of the Editorial Board of IEEE/ASME Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems;
- Member of the Editorial Board of Applied Bionics and Biomechanics Journal;
- Member of the Editorial Board of Bioinspiration and Biomimetics;
- Member of the Honorary Editorial Board of International Journal of Information Acquisition.
- Editor in Chief of Journal of Micro-Nano Mechatronics, Springer.
- Guest Editor of International Journal of Robotics Research

• Main Awards and Honors:
- 1996:”Engelberger Robotics Award”. Annual award assigned by Robotic Industries Association (RIA), Ann Arbor, MI, U.S.A.. The motivation was: “Professor Dario is one of the world’s leading pioneers in tactile sensing and artificial perception for robots. For the
past several years, he has played a key role in the conception and scientific coordination of large national and international research projects, which are leading to the development of complex robotic systems for medical applications of robotics”;
- 2001: “Best Manipulation Paper Competition” for the paper: “Force Feedback based Microinstrument for Measuring Tissue and Pulse in Microsurgery” presented at 2001 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Seoul, Korea;
- 2002: “Ufficiale della Repubblica Italiana” awarded by the President of the Republic of Italy;
- 2003 –IEEE Fellow for the scientific contribution to biomedical robotics;
- 2003: Recipient of the ”Gonfalone d’Argento” awarded by the Board of the “Regione Toscana” .

• Organization of Scientific Events:
- Member of many Organizing Committees of International Conferences and General Chair of Scientific Conferences held during the last few years, such as ICAR 1991 and the International Symposium on Robotics Research (ISRR 2003, Siena);
- Program Chair of many conferences (IROS 1995, ICRA 1998, IROS 2001);
- Member of Scientific Board and Local Chair of the 1st IEEE-IFRR School of Robotics Science (SRS 2004, Volterra);
- General Chair of the 1st IEEE/RAS-EMBS International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics (BioRob 2006, Pisa);
- Member of EUROS 06 Senior Program Committee (Palermo, March, 16-17);
- General Chair: International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2007, Roma);
- General Chair: 13th World Micromachine Summit (MMS ’07), Venezia, Italy;
- General Chair: VIII International Society for Gerontechnology Conference (ISG 2008 in Pisa).

• Scientific Societies:
- 2002-2003 – President, IEEE Robotics and Automation Society
- Member of other National and International Scientific Societies (EMBS, ESEM, etc.)

• Invited Lecturer at the following Conferences (2005/2008):
- IEEE Workshop on Advanced Robotics and its Social Impacts (ARSO), Nagoya (JAP), June 12 - 15, 2005;
- IEEE Intl. Conference on Information Acquisition (ICIA), Hong Kong, June 27 - July 3, 2005;

IEEE Intl. Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics (ICORR), Chicago (IL, USA), June 28 –July 1, 2005;
- International Conference on Materials for Advanced Technologies (ICMAT), Singapore, July 3 - 8, 2005;
- 27th Conf IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology (EMBS) Soc, Shanghai (CHI), September 1 - 4, 2005;
- IURS-2005-ESNR Summer School on Robotics and Neuroscience, Benicàssim (E), September 2005;
- New and Emerging Science and Technology (NEST) Conference, Londra (UK), September 20 – 21, 2005;
- 15th International Surgical Symposium, Hong Kong, November 18 - 19, 2005;
- European Academy of Childhood Disability (EACD), November 19 - 22, 2005;
- XI Conferenza Annuale Associazione Italiana Sensori e Microsistemi (AISEM), Lecce, Italy, February 8-10, 2006;
- IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 07), Orlando, FL, U.S.A., May 15-19, 2006;
- 1st ESSE-ISSE European Congress, Verona, Italy, June 1-3, 2006.
- 2006 IEEE International Conference on Information Acquisition (ICIA 2006), Weihai, China, August 20-23, 2006.
- Colloquium on Robotics and Automation, Naples, Italy, December 18, 2006.
- Italy-Japan 2006 Workshop “Robots and Humans”, Tokyo (Japan), December 14, 2006.
- 7th Digital Human Workshop, Tokyo (Japan), March 3, 2007.
- 2007 IEEE International Conference on Integration Technology (ICIT), Shenzen, China, March 20-24, 2007.
- IARP International Workshop “Technical Challenges for dependable Robots in Human Environments”, Rome, Italy, April 14-15, 2007.
- VECTOR 1st Dissemination Meeting, Rome (Italy), May 11, 2007.
- Annual meeting of Japanese Network Robot Forum (NRF), Tokyo, Japan, June 29, 2007.
- Premio Voltolino, X Edizione, Milano, Italy, October 18, 2007.
- 6th International conference on the management of Healthcare & Medical Technology, Pisa, Italy, October 5, 2007.
- IROS 2007 Full day workshop “Biomedical Micro-Nano Robotics: New trends and future aspects in the next decade”, San Diego (USA) October 29, 2007.
- International Forum for the 21st Century “Life’s Possibilities with Advanced Medical Science”, Tokyo, Japan, November 9, 2007.
- Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, Italy, January 25, 2008.
- International Symposium “Robotics: a new science”, Accademia dei Lincei, Roma, Italy, February 20, 2008.