Daniele Costa

About

Daniele Costa is a robotics and marine engineering researcher whose work spans bio-inspired underwater robotics, autonomous vehicle design, and underwater wireless communications. His most influential contribution is a comprehensive review of BCF (Body and Caudal Fin) swimming locomotion for autonomous underwater robots, which has garnered over 220 citations and stands as a seminal reference in the field, proposing novel control and efficiency improvements inspired by fish locomotion. Building on this foundation, Costa has designed and analyzed multiple bio-inspired underwater vehicles — including carangiform and ostraciiform swimming robots — employing computational fluid dynamics and multiphysics simulation environments to push propulsion performance closer to the remarkable capabilities of marine animals. His work on optical Ethernet modems for underwater wireless communications, successfully tested at La Spezia harbor achieving 10 Mbit/s transmission over 10 meters, demonstrates a strong applied engineering dimension to his research portfolio. Costa has also contributed to collaborative robotics within Industry 4.0 frameworks, parallel kinematics machine design, and innovative STEM education tools for marine robotics. With over 400 cumulative citations, his interdisciplinary contributions bridge biological inspiration, advanced hydrodynamics, and practical underwater technology.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   BCF swimming locomotion for autonomous underwater robots: a review and a novel solution to improve control and efficiency

   220 citations · 2016
2. 2
   Design of a Bio-Inspired Autonomous Underwater Robot

   52 citations · 2017
3. 3
   Sea-Trial of Optical Ethernet Modems for Underwater Wireless Communications

   40 citations · 2018
4. 4
   Design of a Carangiform Swimming Robot through a Multiphysics Simulation Environment

   28 citations · 2020
5. 5
   Computational fluid dynamics analysis and design of an ostraciiform swimming robot

   17 citations · 2017
6. 6
   UNIVPM BRAVe: A Hybrid Propulsion Underwater Research Vehicle

   16 citations · 2017
7. 7
   Innovative Tools for Teaching Marine Robotics, IoT and Control Strategies Since the Primary School

   15 citations · 2019
8. 8
   Tools and Methods for Human Robot Collaboration: Case Studies at i-LABS

   13 citations · 2022
9. 9
   Design of a bio-inspired underwater vehicle

   10 citations · 2016
10. 10
    Reconfigurability Analysis of a Class of Parallel Kinematics Machines

    10 citations · 2018

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links