Francesca Martelli
Papers
5
Total Citations
44
H-Index
4
About
Francesca Martelli is a biomedical engineer whose research sits at the intersection of rehabilitation robotics and clinical neurology, with a primary focus on understanding and quantifying human motor control. Her work is centered on using robotic devices—specifically the pediAnklebot—to characterize ankle impairments in both neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative conditions. Martelli’s major contributions include developing novel protocols to evaluate ankle movements during goal-directed tasks, as evidenced by her 2017 study on reaching tasks in healthy children. She has also pioneered methods to quantify the effects of clinical interventions, such as her 2016 work estimating dynamic ankle impedance changes after botulinum toxin injections in children with cerebral palsy, and her 2021 study on early balance impairment in Parkinson’s disease using robot-assisted axial rotations—her most cited paper with 28 citations. Additionally, her 2019 study on age-related differences in ankle mechanical properties provides foundational data for designing pediatric and adult exoskeletons. Through these efforts, Martelli has established herself as a key figure in translating robotic assessment tools into clinically meaningful insights for movement disorders.
Research Focus
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