Andrea Passaglia

Papers

Total Citations

147

H-Index

About

Andrea Passaglia is a leading researcher in the field of robotics, with a primary focus on variable stiffness actuation (VSA) and the optimal control of compliant robotic systems. Her major contributions center on establishing fundamental optimality principles for stiffness control, demonstrating how variable stiffness actuators can dramatically enhance both the safety and dynamic performance of robots. In her highly cited work, “Optimality principles in variable stiffness control: The VSA hammer” (110 citations), she pioneered the analysis of how VSA systems can be optimally tuned for impact tasks, such as hammering, balancing speed and precision with inherent safety. She extended this framework in “Optimality principles in stiffness control: The VSA kick” (37 citations), where she solved complex optimal control problems to show that VSA-driven robots can outperform traditional rigid actuators in explosive, high-velocity motions like kicking. Her research has been instrumental in shifting the robotics community’s understanding of impedance control from a safety feature to a performance-enhancing tool. Passaglia’s work is essential reading for students and engineers interested in bio-inspired robotics, compliant actuation, and the mathematical foundations of robot control.