A story of talent: seven students from sant’anna school biorobotics institute took part in the international robotics final challenge MBZIRC in abu dhabi
Sant’Anna School students Michele Bersani, Alfredo Bochicchio, Andrea Boscolo Camiletto, Luca Cuoghi, Lorenzo Ferrini, Leonardo Lai, and Emanuele Pallaoro took part in the Mohamed Bin Zayed International Robotics Challenge MBZIRC in Abu Dhabi on February 23-25, 2020. MBZIRC is a biennial international robotics competition open to best research teams from all countries.
The Sant'Anna School research team, coordinated by a group of scientists of the Biorobotics Institute, ranked fourth in the challenge no. 1 for Artificial Intelligence-powered drones using AI algorithms for target detection and tracking from aerial imagery. The techniques developed by the team have relied on accurate sensors and cooperation with professional pilots.
“I joined the team in 2018 – said Leonardo Lai, a master’s student in Embedded Computing Systems – I have worked in the field of computer vision and machine learning for drone-based applications such as video content analytics, for a broad range of camera-based applications including drone surveillance and autonomous driving.”
Students Michele Bersani, Alfredo Bochicchio, Andrea Boscolo Camiletto, Luca Cuoghi, Lorenzo Ferrini, Leonardo Lai, and Emanuele Pallaoro had the opportunity to access to an international network of experts, researchers and scientists working in the robotics and emerging real-time applications research field.
The MBZIRC competitive innovation challenge promoted exchanges among researchers in the field of aerial robotics. Leonardo Lai also joined the TeCIP Institute Human-Robot Interaction research team and takes part in the ANA Avatar XPRIZE initiative together with researchers from the BioRobotics Institute Artificial Hands Area who have been selected to participate in the four-year global competition. They will focus on the development of an avatar system that will transport the senses, actions, and presence of a human to a remote location in real time.
