Nikos Tsagarakis is Tenured Senior Scientist and Principal Investigator of the Humanoid & Human Centred Mechatronics (HHCM) Research Line, a leading research laboratory at IIT with strong expertise in robot design, modelling and control, and in the development of new mechatronics components (actuation and sensing). HHCM is the home laboratory where the compliant humanoids COMAN, WALK-MAN, COMAN+, the CENTAURO hybrid wheeled-legged quadrupedal manipulation platform, the Multi-arm Installation Robot for Readying ORUs and Reflectors (MIRROR) robotic in-orbit servicing platform and the CONCERT Configurable Mobile manipulation robot have been developed.
Nikos Tsagarakis was the coordinator of EU project WALKMAN and he is currently the coordinator of EU project CONCERT. He has also served as principal investigator for several EU projects in the past including VIACTORS, SAPHARI, AMARSI, WEARHAP, CogiMON, CENTAURO, EUROBENCH and most recently for euROBIN, REPAIR, HARIA and MAGICIAN. He is an author or co-author of over 450 papers in research journals and at international conferences and holds 16 patents.
He has received several awards including the 2009 PE Publishing Award from the Journal of Systems and Control Engineering and prizes for the Best Paper at IEEE ICAR (2003), the Best Jubilee Video Award at IEEE/RSJ IROS (2012), the Best Student Paper Award at IEEE ROBIO (2013), the Best Student Paper Award (ICINCO 2014), the Best Interactive Paper at IEEE Humanoids (2017), the Best Conference Paper Award at IEEE/ASM AIM (2021) and the Honorable Mention Award at IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (2022).
He was also a finalist for the Best Entertainment Robots and Systems - 20th Anniversary Award at IEEE/RSJ IROS (2007) and finalist for the Best Manipulation paper at IEEE ICRA (2012), the Best Conference Paper at IEEE Humanoids (2012), the Best Interactive Paper at IEEE Humanoids (for 2015, 2016 and 2017), the Best Student Paper at ICARCV (2018), the Best Conference Paper at IEEE ROBIO (2019) and the Best Conference Paper at IEEE Humanoids (2021).
He has been in the Program Committee of several international conferences including IEEE ICRA, IROS, RSS, HUMANOIDS BIOROB and ICAR. Nikos Tsagarakis was Technical Editor of IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics (2012-2015) and he has served on the Editorial Board of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (2014-2019). He is currently a Senior Editor of IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics.
He has been the Principal Investigatior or Coordinator of more than 10 European projects obtained from highly Competive EC Calls including:
EU Projects
EU Project MATISSE (2024-2028): Role: IIT Principal Investigator
EU Project MAGICIAN (2023-2027): Role: IIT Principal Investigator
EU Project HARIA (2022-2026): Role: IIT Principal Investigator
EU Project euRobin (2022- 2026) Role: IIT Principal Investigator
EU Project RePAIR (2021- 2025) Role: IIT Co-applicant
EU Project CONCERT (2021- 2024) Role: Project Coordinator
EU Project SOPHIA (2020- 2024) Role: IIT Co-applicant
EU Project EUROBENCH (2018-2022) Role: IIT Principal Investigator
EU Project CENTAURO (2015-2019) Role: IIT Principal Investigator
EU Project CogiMon (2015-2019) Role: IIT Principal Investigator
EU Project WALK-MAN (2013-2017) Role: Project Coordinator
EU Project SAPHARI (2011-2015) Role: IIT Principal Investigator
EU Project AMARSI (2010-2014) Role: IIT Principal Investigaror
EU Project VIACTORS (2009-2012) Role: IIT Principal Investigator,
EU Project ROBOTCUB (2004-2009)
He has also been involved in several industrical/commercial projects in which customized robotic solutions have been developed for applications with unstructured environment characteristics, including robot technologies for SPACE and in orbit service operations, disaster response interventations, etc., while other concrete links of the HHCM Research Line with the industry include the following joint-lab activities:
Joint Labs
IIT & LEONARDO Joint LAB (2020-2025)
IIT & Kilometro Rosso JOiiNT LAB (2020-2024),
Related Links
Link to Humanoid & Human Centred Mechatronics (HHCM) Research Line: HHCM
Link to Alberobotics Technology Transfer Project: ALBEROBOTICS