Papers
33
Total Citations
2,451
H-Index
24
About
Fabrizio Flacco is a prominent robotics researcher whose work sits at the intersection of human-robot interaction, robot safety, and motion control for redundant manipulators. His research has made foundational contributions to making robots safe, responsive, and collaborative partners alongside humans in shared workspaces. Flacco is perhaps best known for developing the *depth space* approach to real-time collision avoidance, a fast and elegant method for computing distances between robots and moving obstacles—including humans—using depth sensor data. This work (2012, 418 citations) became a landmark reference in safe human-robot coexistence. Complementing this, his integrated control framework for physical Human-Robot Interaction (pHRI), covering avoidance, collision detection, reaction, and collaboration in a unified hierarchy, has garnered over 245 citations and remains widely influential. His *Saturation in the Null Space* (SNS) algorithm addresses the challenging problem of controlling redundant robots under strict joint constraints, offering an efficient real-time solution that has attracted over 300 cumulative citations across multiple publications. He has also advanced virtual force sensing techniques and model identification for platforms like the KUKA LWR, bridging the gap between research-grade and industrial robotic systems. With over 1,500 total citations, Flacco's body of work has meaningfully shaped modern safe robotics research.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1A depth space approach to human-robot collision avoidance418 citations · 2012
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- 6Estimation of contact forces using a virtual force sensor121 citations · 2014
- 7A Depth Space Approach for Evaluating Distance to Objects118 citations · 2014
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