COSMIC (Connected Objects Smart Materials Integrated Circuits) lab develops its applied and basic research activities in heterogeneous fields such as biomedical applications, robotics, virtual / augmented reality, intelligent environments (smart homes, smart cities, …), Internet of Things, environmental monitoring, e-inclusion, disability support.
The main research topics encompass sensors, sensor systems and technologies, sensor networks, energy harvesting, circuits and integrated systems dedicated to specific applications, embedded implementation of Machine Learning methods and algorithms, multimedia systems for e-inclusion and disability support.
In particular, the main research activities have been focused for more than ten years on the development of tactile sensor systems (electronic skin, e-skin) for the artificial reconstruction of the sense of touch. This research is extremely relevant for biomedical (eg prosthetics, post-stroke rehabilitation), robotic and virtual / augmented reality applications.
Participating to international projects enabled our collaboration with prestigious European research institutions, mainly for advanced technology developments (eg Joanneum (AT), Fraunhofer (DE)) and applied research in the biomedical field (eg Imperial College (UK), University of Aalborg (DK)).
COSMIC research lines are:
- realization, characterization and modeling of tactile sensor arrays (e-skin), with emphasis on the mechanical behavior of complex structures that integrate different materials (eg piezoelectric polymers, metal films and elastomers);
- design and development of tactile systems (eg sensorized glove, sensorized prosthesis);
- development of algorithms for the reconstruction of contact information (eg force distribution) from sensor data;
- embedded implementation of algorithms for tactile data processing;
- application of the electrocutaneous sensing-stimulation system in human-in-the-loop experiments (eg prosthetics, post-stroke rehabilitation, virtual / augmented reality).
Contact person: Prof. Maurizio Valle