Antonio Bicchi, PhD, a senior researcher at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (Italian Institute of Technology, IIT) and a professor at the University of Pisa has been selected as a recipients of the 2025 Pioneer in Robotics and Automation Award from the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society for his “pioneering fundamental contributions to artificial hands, haptics, and human-robot collaboration, and for their applications in robotics and prosthetics.”

The award ceremony took place during the 2025 International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Atlanta. The award, intended for people who are in the mid or late portions of their careers, recognizes individuals who by virtue of initiating new areas of research, development, or engineering have had a significant impact on the development of the robotics and/or automation fields.
“Receiving the recognition as a pioneer from the world robotics society is, of course, a great honor. In a field where tens of thousands of researchers are now contributing with increasing enthusiasm, being among the few who have received this award—and one of the very few in Europe—means many things,” said Bicchi. “Perhaps the most important is that, while many individuals have abilities equal to or even greater than mine, few have had the privilege of working with people of the quality and passion of those I’ve had as students and collaborators; of having mentors who showed me the way but never restricted my freedom, even the freedom to make mistakes; and of working in institutions like IIT and the University of Pisa, which prioritize research and actively support and value their researchers.”
Bicchi coordinates the Soft Robotics for Human Cooperation and Rehabilitation Research Unit. His scientific inquiries focus on the fundamental, theoretical, and experimental aspects of robotics, aimed at developing impactful new technologies. Bicchi and his team have introduced innovative concepts leading to the creation of robotic limbs that match the complexity and capabilities of the human hand while remaining easy for users to control. More recently, he has focused on the development of more natural prosthetic limbs that integrate with the central nervous system.
In 2012, a grant for Bicchi’s work marked the first of its kind awarded to Italian robotics research, resulting in the SoftHand, used in humanoid robots and hand prostheses in collaboration with clinicians in Italy and the United States. A version of the SoftHand for industrial applications has also been commercialized.
Bicchi has received four proof-of-concept grants, including this year for the project VSoftPro, to develop a transhumeral prosthesis for upper limbs capable of replicating the features of a human limb, following the biological principles of soft robotics.
Editor’s note: This story was adapted from materials provided by IIT and the University of Pisa.