PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Domenico Prattichizzo

Domenico Prattichizzo is a robotics researcher whose work connects artificial intelligence with human control and haptic feedback in assistive robots. He earned an electronics engineering M.S. at Pisa in 1991 and a robotics and automation Ph.D. there in 1995, and visited MIT’s AI Laboratory in 1994. At Siena, he coordinated WEARHAP, worked on the Robotic Sixth Finger, and served as principal investigator for HARIA’s AI-powered assistive limbs. He became an IEEE Fellow in 2016 and is a professor of robotics and automation at Siena and a Visiting Scientist at IIT.

Works
672
Citations
16,357
h-index
65
Badges

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 19 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 1991–1995

    Pisa degrees and MIT AI Lab

    He earns an M.S. in electronics engineering at the University of Pisa in 1991 and a Ph.D. in robotics and automation there in 1995. In 1994, he visits MIT’s AI Laboratory.

  2. 2002–2015

    Professor at the University of Siena

    He serves as associate professor of robotics at the University of Siena from 2002 to 2015 and becomes full professor in 2015 in its Department of Information Engineering.

  3. 2013

    Coordinating WEARHAP

    From March 2013, he coordinates the collaborative project WEARHAP, named “WEARable HAPtics for Humans and Robots.”

  4. 2016

    An IEEE Fellowship

    He becomes an IEEE Fellow in 2016.

  5. 2016

    Robotic sixth finger award

    His research on the Robotic Sixth Finger receives a Best Demonstration Award at the 2016 Haptic Symposium.

  6. 2022–2026

    HARIA’s AI-powered limbs

    He serves as the University of Siena’s principal investigator for HARIA from 2022 to 2026. The project develops AI-powered wearable and supernumerary robotic limbs with sensorimotor interfaces for people with chronic stroke or spinal cord injuries. Artificial intelligence controls some movement parameters while the user controls others.

  7. 2024–2025

    Robot arms for rehabilitation

    In 2024, his Siena group reports its first patient experiments with augmentative robotic arms in home settings. In 2025, he describes a HARIA system that lets a person with tetraplegia guide a robot arm with residual movement and feel it as a body extension.

  8. As of October 2026

    Professor and visiting scientist

    As of October 2026, he is a professor of robotics and automation at the University of Siena’s Department of Information Engineering and Mathematical Sciences and a Visiting Scientist in IIT’s Humanoids & Human Centered Mechatronics group.

Career

  1. Since 2010Italian Institute of TechnologyVisiting Scientist
  2. Since 2002University of SienaAssociate professor of robotics, Full professor
  3. 1994Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Education

  1. 1995University of PisaPh.D. in robotics and automation
  2. 1991University of PisaM.S. in electronics engineering

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

Most-cited works

  1. Wearable Haptic Systems for the Fingertip and the Hand: Taxonomy, Review, and Perspectives2017 · IEEE Transactions on Haptics · 821 citations
  2. Leader–follower formation control of nonholonomic mobile robots with input constraints2008 · Automatica · 681 citations
  3. IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON CONTROL SYSTEMS TECHNOLOGY2004 · 441 citationsWith Gary G. Yen
  4. Hand synergies: Integration of robotics and neuroscience for understanding the control of biological and artificial hands2016 · Physics of Life Reviews · 308 citationsWith Antonio Bicchi
  5. Towards Wearability in Fingertip Haptics: A 3-DoF Wearable Device for Cutaneous Force Feedback2013 · IEEE Transactions on Haptics · 292 citations

From OpenAlex, as of 19 October 2026.

  1. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Our estimates of where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led, from education records in cited biographies.
  2. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers rose from 2% to 32%Includes Italian Institute of Technology. We estimate where leading AI researchers worked when their most-cited papers appeared. The company share rose from 2% in 1975–1979 to 32% in 2020–2024.
  3. Google has the highest combined h-index among AI organizationsIncludes Italian Institute of Technology. Our estimates of combined and median h-index at AI organizations, using current affiliations and OpenAlex records.
  4. Google had the most people shaping AI every year from 2014 to 2025Includes Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Our estimates of which organizations employed the most people shaping AI from 1961 to 2025, with a year-by-year chart.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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  1. Home Page of Domenico Prattichizzo www3.diism.unisi.it. Checked 19 October 2026.
  2. Keynote Talks – ICRA 2016 in Stockholm ewh.ieee.org. Checked 19 October 2026.
  3. HORIZON EUROPE – “HARIA” – Human-robot sensorimotor augmentatio – wearable sensorimotor interfaces and supernumerary robotic limbs for humans with upper-limb disabilities research.unisi.it. Checked 19 October 2026.
  4. Robotica aumentativa per migliorare la qualità della vita research.unisi.it. Checked 19 October 2026.
  5. La biotecnologia nel futuro: ‘Un braccio artificiale come una parte del corpo’ lanazione.it. Checked 19 October 2026.
  6. Domenico Prattichizzo | People details iit.it. Checked 19 October 2026.