Bruno Siciliano (Naples, 27 October 1959) is an Italian engineer, academic and scientific popularizer. He is professor of Control and Robotics at the University of Naples Federico II, Chair of the Scientific Council of the ICAROS Center,[1] and Director of the PRISMA Lab[2] at the Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology.[3] He is also Honorary Professor at the university of Óbuda[4] where he holds the Rudolf Kálmán chair.
In 1982, Siciliano graduated in Electronic Engineering from the University of Naples Federico II where he then obtained a PhD in Electronic and Computer Engineering in 1987. Fascinated by the readings of Isaac Asimov's books on science fiction and cybernetics, he decided to approach robotics in terms of research. From September 1985 to June 1986 he was visiting scholar at the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering of the Georgia Institute of Technology.[5]
Siciliano became assistant professor of Automatic Control in 1989 at the Department of Computer and Systems Engineering of the University of Naples and then associate professor in 1992. He moved to the role of full professor in 2000 for the Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering of the University of Salerno. Since 2003 he has been full professor of Automatic Control at the Department of Computer and Systems Engineering, which has later become the Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology.
Since 2016 he has been Honorary Professor of the University of Óbuda from which he received the chair named after Rudolf Emil Kálmán in 2019.[6]
Siciliano was President of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society from 2008 to 2009. From 2013 to 2021 he was a member of the Board of Directors of the European Robotics Association.[7] In 2019, he was among the founding members of the National Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Machines (I-RIM).[8] He is a member of the I-RIM Board of Directors. Since 2020 he is on the Board of the International Foundation of Robotics Research.[9] Since 2020 he is an IFAC Pavel J. Nowacki Distinguished Lecturer.
Siciliano's research concerns the manipulation and control of robots, cooperation between robots and humans and service robotics. He was Director of ICAROS, the Interdepartmental Center for Robotic Surgery which aims to create synergies between clinical and surgical practice and research on new technologies for computer/robot assisted surgery. He directs PRISMA Lab, the Laboratory of Projects of Industrial and Service Robotics, Mechatronics and Automation in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology (DIETI) of the University of Naples Federico II. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Research Consortium for Energy, Automation and Electromagnetic Technologies (CREATE)[10] where he is responsible for the research program in Robotics.
Among his research projects are RoDyMan (Robotic Dynamic Manipulation, 2013–2019)[11] a robot capable of replicating the movements of the pizza maker, for which he obtained an Advanced Grant,[12] a frontier research grant from the European Research Council. Siciliano has been the coordinator of several projects funded by the European Commission: REFILLS (Robotics Enabling Fully-Integrated Logistics Lines for Supermarkets, 2017–2020)[13] a project aimed at the realization of mobile assistance cobots in supermarkets, EuRoC (European Robotics Challenges, 2014–2018),[14] the largest research program in Europe on robotics competitions, DEXMART (DEXterous and Autonomous Dual-Arm / Hand Robotic Manipulation with sMART Sensory-Motor Skills: A Bridge from Natural to Artificial Cognition, 2008–2012)[15] one of the first European projects on bimanual manipulation. He also co-coordinated ECHORD (European Clearing House for Open Robotics Development, 2009–2013),[16] a pilot project for technology transfer from research laboratories to SMEs.
Siciliano is active on the MOOC front of the e-learning platform of the University of Naples Federico II with his two Robotics Foundations I[17] & II[17] courses associated with the contents of his textbook, also available on the edX platform, and participation in Industry 4.0 courses, on enabling technologies underlying the new 4.0 paradigm and Pizza Revolution[18] for research and studies on robotics applied to the art of making pizza.[19]
"Keep the gradient" is the motto that Siciliano invented and means the constant search for new ideas and new solutions:[20] [21] a hymn to complexity to seize challenges and opportunities always under the banner of the art of "work and play" as he stated in his TEDx talk[22] in 2016.
In 2008 with Oussama Khatib of Stanford University, Siciliano published the Springer Handbook of Robotics, which received the PROSE Award[23] from the American Association of Publishers for Excellence in Physical Sciences & Mathematics. A text that is the result of the coordination work of over 200 world-renowned researchers with the aim of combining the manual dimension with the encyclopedic one. With the second edition of 2016 the book was among the first to have a multimedia support for direct viewing of videos within the text.[24]
In 2009 with Lorenzo Sciavicco, Luigi Villani and Giuseppe Oriolo he published Robotics, Modeling, Planning and Control, a textbook by Springer now in its third edition and translated into Chinese, Greek and Italian .
Siciliano received the IEEE RAS Pioneer in Robotics and Automation Award[25] "for fundamental contributions to robotics research in the areas of manipulation and control, human–robot cooperation, and service robotics" (2024, the Engelberger Award for Education [26] "for contributing to the advancement of the Science of Robotics in the Service of Mankind" (2022). He was awarded the IEEE RAS George Saridis Leadership Award in Robotics and Automation[27] "for his outstanding leadership in the robotics and automation community as a research innovator, an inspired educator, a dedicated contributor of professional service, an ambassador of science and technology" (2015) and the IEEE RAS Distinguished Service Award[28] "for outstanding leadership and commitment in promoting robotics and automation and RAS as the number one Society in the field" (2010). He has also won the Guido Dorso Award for the university section (2015)[29] and the IPE Alumni Award (2008).[30]
Siciliano ranks tenth (second among engineers) on the list of the 90 most influential scientists of the University of Naples Federico II.[31]
Siciliano is married, with two sons and a daughter. He is a passionate Napoli fan[32] and also an admirer of rock music, gourmet food and fine wines.[33]