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Matteo Laffranchi

Coordinator
Technologist - Principal Investigator
Rehab Technologies - INAIL-IIT lab
Phone
+39 010 2896 952
Research center
CCT@Morego
Interests
Prosthetics
Exoskeletons
Robotic Rehabilitation
Mechatronics
Product Development
User-Centred Design
Robot Development
About

Matteo Laffranchi is Coordinator at Rehab Technologies Lab, IIT. His main works focus on the development of novel bionic systems and rehabilitation robotics.

He received a Master's Degree in mechatronic engineering from the Polytechnic University of Turin in 2006 and a PhD in robotics from the University of Sheffield, UK, in 2011. 

Following a brief experience in the automation industry, in the period 2008-2011 he has been Research Fellow and Post-Doc researcher from 2011 to 2014 at the department of Advanced Robotics (ADVR), Italian Institute of Technology. At ADVR, he spent 6 years developing compliant actuation systems for robotics (CompAct actuators, CompAct arm) for safe physical human-robot interaction. 

Since 2014, he works at Rehab Technologies, Italian Institute of Technology, with specific focus on the development of novel healthcare robots, particularly bionic prostheses and robotic exoskeletons (Hannes, HyperLeg, Twin, Float). He now manages the activities related to research and development within the lab starting from 2016.

Along with research, he is also involved in technology transfer activities and in entrepreneurial projects to bring the developed technology to the medtech industry. He and his team collected a series of national and international prizes related to industrial design such as the ADI Index, the Compasso d’Oro, the Good Design, and the iF.  He is author or co-author of 100+ peer review scientific publications in the field of robotics, bionics and rehabilitation robotics.

Experience External

Title: Mechatronic Engineer
Institute: Osai AS
Location: Parella (TO)
Country: Italy
From: 2007 To: 2008

Top Publications
2014
Laffranchi M., Chen L., Kashiri N., Lee J., Tsagarakis N.G., Caldwell D.G.
Development and control of a series elastic actuator equipped with a semi active friction damper for human friendly robots
Robotics and Autonomous Systems, vol. 62, (no. 12), pp. 1827-1836
DOI 10.1016/j.robot.2014.06.007
2013
Laffranchi M., Tsagarakis N.G., Caldwell D.G.
CompAct™ arm: A compliant manipulator with intrinsic variable physical damping
Robotics: Science and Systems, vol. 8, pp. 225-232
DOI 10.15607/rss.2012.viii.029
Conference Paper Conference
2013
Vanderborght B., Albu-Schaeffer A., Bicchi A., Burdet E., Caldwell D.G., Carloni R., Catalano M., Eiberger O., Friedl W., Ganesh G., Garabini M., Grebenstein M., Grioli G., Haddadin S., Hoppner H., Jafari A., Laffranchi M., Lefeber D., Petit F., Stramigioli S., Tsagarakis N., Van Damme M., Van Ham R., Visser L.C., Wolf S.
Variable impedance actuators: A review
Robotics and Autonomous Systems, vol. 61, (no. 12), pp. 1601-1614
DOI 10.1016/j.robot.2013.06.009
All Publications
2025
Quadrelli D., Canepa M., Di Domenico D., Boccardo N., Chiappalone M., Laffranchi M.
Advances in HD-EMG interfaces and spatial algorithms for upper limb prosthetic control
Frontiers in Neuroscience, vol. 19
DOI 10.3389/fnins.2025.1655257
Short Survey Journal
2025
De Waele L., Di Pietro M., Perilli S., Mantini E., Trevisan G., Simoncini M., Panella M., Betti V., Laffranchi M., Mantini D.
Aerosol Jet Printing for Neuroprosthetic Device Development
Bioengineering, vol. 12, (no. 7)
DOI 10.3390/bioengineering12070707
Review Journal
2025
Quadrelli D., Di Domenico D., Canepa M., Marinelli A., Gandolla M., Frigo C.A., Chiappalone M., Boccardo N., Laffranchi M.
Algorithm for Detecting Shifts in High-Density EMG Sensors
Biosystems and Biorobotics, vol. 31, pp. 374-378
DOI 10.1007/978-3-031-77588-8_75
Book Chapter Book Series
2025
Bodo G., Sciortino G., Pedulla L., Grange E., Giordanino S., Bailo G.L., Tacchino A., Podda J., Brichetto G., Petrushin A., Beltran-Gonzalez C., Del Bue A., Laffranchi M.
An AI-Driven Telemonitoring System Exploiting Sensorized Glasses and Insoles to Correlate Cognitive Load and Mobility during ADLs
IEEE International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics, pp. 736-742
DOI 10.1109/ICORR66766.2025.11063185
Conference Paper Conference
2025
MacAluso R., Calandra D., Prattico F.G., Battegazzorre E., Baiocchi G., Boccardo N., Laffranchi M., Bottino A., Barresi G., Lamberti F.
An Augmented and Diminished Reality Exergame for Investigating the Embodiment of a Prosthetic Limb
Proceedings - 2025 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces Abstracts and Workshops, VRW 2025, pp. 913-918
DOI 10.1109/VRW66409.2025.00187
Conference Paper Conference
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Awards and Achievements
2022
Maludrottu S., Laffranchi M., Vassallo C., Vaccaro R., De Michieli L.
iF DESIGN AWARD 2022 - Twin Exoskeleton
2021
Laffranchi M., Traverso S., Vaccaro R., Maludrottu S., Poli F., De Bartolomeis L., Diamanti G., Gruppioni E., De Michieli L.
Good Design
2020
Laffranchi M., Boccardo N., Traverso S., Lombardi L., Canepa M., Lince A., Semprini M., Saglia J.A., Naceri A., Sacchetti R., Gruppioni E., De Michieli L.
Compasso d'oro
2020
Laffranchi M.
Robotics 2020 Young Investigator Award
2020
Laffranchi M., Boccardo N., Traverso S., Lombardi L., Canepa M., Lince A., Semprini M., Saglia J.A., Naceri A., Sacchetti R., Gruppioni E., De Michieli L.
XXVI Compasso d'oro
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