PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Lorenzo Natale

Lorenzo Natale is a robotics researcher whose work connects perception with the software systems that let humanoid robots operate. He earned an Electronic Engineering degree with honors at the University of Genoa in 2000, completed a Robotics PhD there in 2004, and worked at MIT CSAIL from 2005 to 2006. He coauthored YARP and led development of the iCub's software architecture, then coauthored a 2016 paper on that architecture and a 2025 storytelling study using ChatGPT. He coordinated Horizon Europe project CONVINCE through March 2026 and has served as an IEEE-RAS Distinguished Lecturer since 2024; as of October 2026, he is a tenured Senior Researcher at IIT and leads its Humanoid Sensing and Perception group.

Works
308
Citations
8,498
h-index
42
Badges

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 22 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 2000–2006

    Genoa degrees and MIT postdoc

    He earns an Electronic Engineering degree with honors at the University of Genoa in 2000 and a Robotics PhD there in 2004. During his studies, he works in the Laboratory for Integrated Advanced Robotics (LIRA-Lab); from 2005 to 2006, he is a postdoctoral researcher at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, working in its Humanoid Robotics Group.

  2. 2006

    YARP and iCub software

    In 2006, he coauthors “YARP: Yet Another Robot Platform” with Giorgio Metta and Paul Fitzpatrick. YARP is free, open-source middleware for robot-control software, with programs that communicate peer-to-peer. He leads development of the iCub's software architecture and the YARP middleware.

  3. 2016

    The iCub software architecture

    In 2016, he coauthors an article describing the iCub's software architecture and the engineering practices developed for its research community. It covers middleware, automatic code generation, logging, ROS compatibility, and testing.

  4. 2020–2021

    Visiting professor in Manchester

    In 2020 and 2021, he is a visiting professor at the University of Manchester.

  5. 2021

    Coordinating Humanoid Sensing and Perception

    In 2021, he coordinates IIT's Humanoid Sensing and Perception research line. His group works with iCub and R1 to study environmental perception and interaction with objects and people.

  6. October 2022–March 2026

    Coordinating CONVINCE

    From October 2022 to March 2026, he coordinates Horizon Europe project CONVINCE. The project develops cognitive deliberation and a model-driven toolchain that selects task behaviors, configures robot components, and checks their safety as robots adapt to context.

  7. 2025

    LLM storytelling with iCub

    In 2025, he coauthors a study that uses generative models such as ChatGPT to help iCub understand its surroundings and respond to social cues. Participants create a story with the robot, and the study measures usability and their experience.

  8. As of October 2026

    Senior researcher at IIT

    As of October 2026, he is a tenured Senior Researcher at the Italian Institute of Technology and leads the Humanoid Sensing and Perception group. Since 2024, he serves as Distinguished Lecturer for the IEEE-RAS Technical Committee for Software Engineering for Robotics and Automation. His research interests include humanoid robotics, grasping and manipulation, active perception, tactile sensing, and software engineering for robotics.

Career

  1. Since 2021Italian Institute of TechnologyLead
  2. 2020–2021University of ManchesterVisiting professor
  3. 2005–2006MIT CSAILPostdoctoral researcher
  4. 2002–2008University of Genoa

Education

  1. 2004University of GenoaPhD in Robotics
  2. 2000University of GenoaElectronic Engineering degree with honors

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

Most-cited works

  1. YARP: Yet Another Robot Platform2006 · International Journal of Advanced Robotic Systems · 642 citations
  2. The iCub humanoid robot: An open-systems platform for research in cognitive development2010 · Neural Networks · 580 citationsWith David Vernon, José Santos-Victor and Manuel Lopes
  3. The iCub humanoid robot2008 · Workshop on Performance Metrics for Intelligent Systems (PerMIS) · 548 citationsWith David Vernon
  4. Methods and Technologies for the Implementation of Large-Scale Robot Tactile Sensors2011 · IEEE Transactions on Robotics · 418 citations
  5. Robots with a sense of touch2016 · Nature Materials · 311 citations

From OpenAlex, as of 21 October 2026.

  1. 72% of AI researchers with top works connect into a single 2,592-person co-author groupIncludes Lorenzo Natale. We map the co-author network across 3,593 people shaping AI and 14,977 most-cited papers: 2,592 (72%) form one connected group with a median distance of 5 steps, led in 2-step reach by Yoshua Bengio (570) and in shortest-path bridging by Yoshua Bengio (6.7%).
  2. The United States employs an estimated 48% of people shaping AIIncludes Italian Institute of Technology. We estimate where the people shaping AI work today, how universities, companies and research institutes split across countries, and how country shares have changed since the 1960s.
  3. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes Massachusetts Institute of Technology. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  4. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.

Colleagues

People named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Lorenzo Natale yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. WALK-MAN - Consortium walk-man.eu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. People chrisfp7.brl.ac.uk. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. YARP: Welcome to YARP yarp.eu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. Lorenzo Natale's home page lornat75.github.io. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. Lorenzo Natale | People details iit.it. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. The iCub Software Architecture: Evolution and Lessons Learned frontiersin.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. PI Profiles: Lorenzo Natale opentalk.iit.it. Checked 21 October 2026.
  8. CONtext-aware VerifIable dyNamiC dEliberation | Project details - Humanoid Sensing and Perception hsp.iit.it. Checked 21 October 2026.
  9. [2508.02505] Would you let a humanoid play storytelling with your child? A usability study on LLM-powered narrative Human-Robot Interaction arxiv.org. Checked 21 October 2026.