Max Robotics — Global Service Robot Directory + US Certification

About

Giulia Piovan’s research lies at the intersection of robotics, dynamic locomotion, and control theory, with a central focus on legged systems that run and hop. Her work is anchored by the Spring-Loaded Inverted Pendulum (SLIP) model, a foundational tool for understanding and designing bouncing gaits in both animals and robots. Piovan’s major contributions include developing reachability-based control strategies for the active SLIP model (38 citations), which provide a rigorous framework for ensuring stability and performance during dynamic locomotion. She also introduced the concept of enforced symmetry in the stance phase of the SLIP model (29 citations), addressing a key challenge in translating this simple model into effective robot designs. Beyond theory, Piovan has made tangible hardware contributions, including the development of a series-elastic actuation prototype for rough terrain hopping (12 citations) and precise control techniques for the hopping robot FRANK using high-order partial feedback linearization (9 citations). Her work bridges the gap between elegant mathematical models and real-world robotic platforms, offering practical pathways for fast, sensor-limited locomotion over uneven terrain. Piovan’s research is essential reading for anyone interested in the control of dynamic, legged robots.