Senior Research Scientist

Alberto joined IHMC in September 2025 as a Senior Research Scientist working with the robotics team. His interests include mechatronics, robotics, additive manufacturing, digital fabrication, compliant mechanisms, and lightweight design. His work is characterized by a passion for creating high-performance mechanisms with minimalistic yet efficient designs.

He believes that the future of robotics will be profoundly shaped by the integration of computation and advanced simulations into the design process. These tools open unprecedented opportunities to imagine and create robots with capabilities well beyond today’s limits—machines that are lighter, stronger, and more adaptive, harnessing the synergy between digital design and physical innovation.

He graduated cum laude in mechanical engineering from the Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia in 2006. He pursued his PhD at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) in Genova, focusing on the hardware development of the iCub humanoid robot. After earning his PhD, he continued his work on the iCub and R1 humanoids as hardware lead, first as a postdoctoral researcher and then as a Research Technologist. From mid 2019 to mid 2025, he coordinated IIT’s manufacturing and design unit.

Alberto is married and father of three sons, which leave him little time to pursue his hobbies (reading, hiking, swimming, playing board games and video games).