Arcangelo Messina

About

Arcangelo Messina’s research career is defined by a deep commitment to advancing robotic manipulation, mobility, and perception across industrial, agricultural, and service applications. His work spans three interconnected pillars: the mechanics of robotic grasping and end-effectors, the dynamic modeling and vibration control of flexible manipulators, and the development of perception systems for autonomous navigation. A hallmark of his contributions is the rigorous integration of theoretical modeling with experimental validation. His most cited work, a 2011 study on flat suction cups under tangential loads (39 citations), provides foundational insights for industrial gripping. He has also made significant strides in agricultural robotics, designing a pneumatic robotic arm for automatic harvesting and a skid-steering vehicle for terrain survey and navigation. In the domain of manipulation, he introduced “Adam’s Hand,” an underactuated robotic end-effector, and developed a toolbox for analyzing grasp stability in such systems. His 2013 paper on terrain analysis using depth images (27 citations) offers a novel approach to enhance mobile robot safety and autonomy. Collectively, his publications have garnered over 130 citations, reflecting a sustained impact on both the theory and practice of robotics.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   Theoretical and experimental study of the performance of flat suction cups in the presence of tangential loads

   39 citations · 2011
2. 2
   A new approach for terrain analysis in mobile robot applications

   27 citations · 2013
3. 3
   Exact modeling for control of flexible manipulators

   21 citations · 2011
4. 4
   Pneumatic robotic arm controlled by on-off valves for automatic harvesting based on vision localisation

   10 citations · 2005
5. 5
   Survey and navigation in agricultural environments using robotic technologies

   9 citations · 2017
6. 6
   Dynamic Behaviour of a Mobile Robot Vehicle with a Two Caster and Two Driving Wheel Configuration

   9 citations · 1996
7. 7
   Adam’s Hand: An Underactuated Robotic End-Effector

   7 citations · 2016
8. 8
   A Toolbox for the Analysis of the Grasp Stability of Underactuated Fingers

   6 citations · 2019
9. 9
   Vibration analysis of a planar multilink manipulator using a reduced-order matrix formulation

   5 citations · 2011
10. 10
    Mobile robot perception using an inexpensive 3-D laser rangefinder

    3 citations · 2010

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links