Cristina Piazza
University of Pisa, Technical University of Munich, Piaggio (Italy)
Papers
23
Total Citations
1,749
H-Index
14
About
Cristina Piazza is a leading robotics researcher whose work sits at the intersection of robotic hand design, soft robotics, and prosthetics. She is best known for her foundational contributions to the Pisa/IIT SoftHand project, a landmark effort to create robot hands that combine the simplicity of industrial grippers with the versatility of the human hand through the principle of *adaptive synergies* — a biomechanically inspired framework for under-actuated control. Her 2014 paper introducing this platform has garnered over 660 citations, establishing it as a touchstone in the field. Piazza's research spans both theory and application: she has advanced dexterous manipulation through the SoftHand 2 (209 citations), contributed to soft robot prototyping platforms, and explored adaptive locomotion through novel robotic foot design. Her widely cited 2019 review, "A Century of Robotic Hands" (320 citations), demonstrates her commanding breadth of knowledge across the field's history and future directions. More recently, Piazza has focused on translating these innovations into prosthetic applications, investigating how soft, compliant hand designs improve user acceptance and daily functionality compared to conventional rigid prostheses. Her body of work consistently bridges fundamental engineering with human-centered design, making her a highly influential voice in modern robotics research.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1Adaptive synergies for the design and control of the Pisa/IIT SoftHand662 citations · 2014
- 2A Century of Robotic Hands320 citations · 2019
- 3
- 4Adaptive synergies for a humanoid robot hand120 citations · 2012
- 5
- 6Grasping with Soft Hands68 citations · 2014
- 7
- 8Toward an adaptive foot for natural walking39 citations · 2016
- 9
- 10