Fabrizio Schiano
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Weatherford College
Papers
12
Total Citations
389
H-Index
7
About
Fabrizio Schiano is a robotics researcher whose work spans aerial swarm intelligence, multi-robot localization, and human-robot interaction. He is perhaps best known for his pioneering contributions to drone swarm navigation in cluttered environments, where his predictive control frameworks — collectively accumulating over 225 citations — demonstrated that cohesive, self-organized swarm flight could emerge from purely local inter-agent communication, even in dense obstacle-rich settings. This work represents a significant leap beyond prior swarm models that struggled in real-world complex environments. Schiano has also made notable contributions to collaborative multi-robot localization, developing VIO-UWB fusion approaches that enable accurate relative positioning and dense scene reconstruction in heterogeneous robot teams — critical capabilities for applications ranging from cooperative exploration to manipulation. His UWB-based localization work further addresses the practical challenge of flying UAVs safely in GNSS-denied environments. Beyond hardware systems, Schiano has explored the human side of robotics, advancing personalized Body-Machine Interfaces through fast machine learning to make teleoperation more intuitive for novice users. He has also engaged with broader societal questions, contributing research on automation's impact on labor markets. Taken together, his work bridges cutting-edge aerial autonomy, sensing, and human-centered robotics in a uniquely interdisciplinary way.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1Predictive control of aerial swarms in cluttered environments160 citations · 2021
- 2Distributed Predictive Drone Swarms in Cluttered Environments65 citations · 2021
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- 8SwarmLab: a Matlab Drone Swarm Simulator6 citations · 2020
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- 10Predictive Control of Aerial Swarms in Cluttered Environments4 citations · 2020