Nicola Pedrocchi
Institute of Intelligent Systems for Automation, National Research Council, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Tecnologie Avanzate (Italy), Construction Technologies Institute, Institute of Intelligent Industrial Systems and Technologies for Advanced Manufacturing
Papers
108
Total Citations
2,399
H-Index
25
About
Nicola Pedrocchi is a prominent robotics researcher whose work sits at the intersection of human-robot collaboration, advanced control theory, and industrial automation. Based on his most-cited publications, his research spans impedance control, reinforcement learning-based robot control, motion planning, and rehabilitation robotics — areas where he has made sustained and influential contributions over more than a decade. Pedrocchi's most impactful work includes a 2020 paper on model-based reinforcement learning for variable impedance control in human-robot collaboration (192 citations), and foundational studies on force-tracking impedance control for delicate interaction tasks such as polishing fragile materials (123 citations). His 2013 work on safe human-robot cooperation in industrial environments (113 citations) helped lay groundwork for practical implementation of hybrid human-robot production systems under ISO standards. He has also advanced motion planning for collaborative and multi-robot welding cells, and developed predictive inverse kinematics techniques for redundant manipulators. Beyond industrial robotics, Pedrocchi has contributed to medical device design, notably a spherical parallel robot for ankle-foot neuro-rehabilitation (65 citations). With a cumulative citation count exceeding 980 across these ten papers alone, his research has demonstrably shaped both academic understanding and real-world deployment of intelligent, safe, and collaborative robotic systems.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
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- 3Safe Human-Robot Cooperation in an Industrial Environment113 citations · 2013
- 4Motion planning and scheduling for human and industrial-robot collaboration110 citations · 2017
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