Stefano Dafarra
Papers
23
Total Citations
365
H-Index
11
About
Stefano Dafarra is a robotics researcher whose work sits at the intersection of humanoid robot locomotion, whole-body control, and human-robot interaction. Based at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, he has made significant contributions to advancing the capabilities of humanoid platforms, most notably the iCub series of robots. Dafarra's research spans model predictive control for dynamic locomotion, inverse kinematics for real-time motion tracking, and avatar systems that enable human operators to embody humanoid robots remotely. His 2024 paper introducing the iCub3 avatar system has already garnered 60 citations, reflecting the field's excitement around immersive teleoperation. Complementing this, his nonlinear centroidal MPC framework for locomotion with online step adjustment (50 citations) represents a technically rigorous contribution to robust bipedal walking. His earlier work on push recovery, DCM-based control architectures, and the EU-funded CoDyCo project demonstrates a sustained commitment to making humanoid robots physically safe and interactive in real-world settings. Across his career, Dafarra has helped bridge the gap between theoretical control formulations and practical robot deployment. With contributions spanning trajectory optimization, machine-learning-based motion generation, and international competitions like the ANA Avatar XPRIZE, his research profile is both technically deep and broadly impactful — making him an important voice in modern humanoid robotics.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
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- 3Analysis and Perspectives on the ANA Avatar XPRIZE Competition31 citations · 2024
- 4Model-Based Real-Time Motion Tracking Using Dynamical Inverse Kinematics31 citations · 2020
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