About
Michele Focchi is a world-recognized expert in motion planning and control of quadruped robots, with over 16 years of experience in robotics research. He is currently a Professor at the University of Trento in the Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science (DISI), where he teaches robotics courses at the bachelor, master, and PhD levels. He is also a Scientific Advisor for All3. Prof. Focchi earned both his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Control Systems Engineering from Politecnico di Milano and completed his Ph.D. in Robotics at Italian Institute of Technology in 2013, contributing to the development of the first Italian quadruped robot (HyQ). During his time at IIT, he co-founded the Dynamic Legged Systems Lab, an internationally recognized research team focused on the development of quadruped robots and advanced locomotion strategies. His research lies at the intersection of control, optimization, and machine learning, with a strong focus on optimization-based and Model Predictive Control techniques for robust locomotion in unstructured and challenging environments. His work has evolved from low-level locomotion controllers to whole-body control, model identification, and uncertainty-aware motion planning for real-world applications. He is particularly known for his pioneering contributions to heuristic locomotion strategies for quadruped robots operating in rough terrain. Beyond quadruped locomotion, Prof. Focchi has developed and studied innovative robotic platforms, including rappelling robots for hydro-geological risk reduction and inspection in oil & gas scenarios, as well as control and navigation strategies for tracked robots in agricultural applications. He has played leading roles in several high-profile academic and industrial projects, including ECHORD++, INAIL, and ANT with the European Space Agency (ESA) and, more recently, EUREGIO and VRT. In 2015, he co-founded the MOOG–IIT Joint Lab, focused on the development of next-generation software and control technologies for autonomous robots. He is the inventor and co-inventor of several patents; notably, in 2009 he contributed to a patented micro-turbine technology that led to the creation of the Advanced Microturbines spin-off company. He has organized several scientific workshops, including a workshop on numerical optimization at Robotics: Science and Systems (RSS), and has delivered more than 25 invited talks at international conferences and workshops. He is the organizer of the firs PhD summer school on Legged Robots (WHERE) and Dog Challenges in Italy at I-RIM and at the European Robotics Forum. He has authored or co-authored and a Scientific Advisor for All3 , with a high citation record, in top international journals and conferences and has supervised numerous master’s and Ph.D. theses. He currently serves as an Associate Editor for IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L) and for the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA).
Projects I Was Involved In
02/2026 – 12/2026
Fondazione VRT – il bando “Future of Work” (link) – 28k euro
In this call I received funding to build a new prototype of ALPINE, a novel rope-assisted climbing robot for autonomous, energy-efficient maintenance in hazardous alpine environments.
07/2024 – 10/2026
EUREGIO Mobility Fund – VIII edition (link) – 6k euro
In this call I received funding to organize a summer school on legged robots. The application involved two partners: UNITN and UNIBZ.
01/2021 – 31/12/2022
European Space Agency – Autonomous Non-Wheeled all-Terrain Rover (ANT) – 400k euro
This project is a joint work carried out by the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), IIT, and Airbus Defence and Space Ltd. (ADS).
The objective of the activity is to develop the ANT navigation system for legged robots. It will be able to perceive the terrain, to plan a path to a desired goal and to control the path execution while traversing unconsolidated, inclined, and rugged terrain.
A modular generic approach is being developed to exploit the potential of robots with four (quadrupeds) as well as with six legs (hexapods).
09/2017 – 31/12/2022
INAIL – The Teleoperazione project – 5.4M euro
This project aims to enhance occupational safety in hazardous environments through substitution, i.e., removing the worker from the unsafe area and using robotic technologies to do the same tasks through remote robotic teleoperation.
The project proposes a collaborative system: a centaur-like robot featuring a hydraulically-driven quadruped platform, a dexterous manipulator arm, and advanced 3D user interfaces designed for intuitive remote teleoperation.
The manipulator will have enough degrees of freedom to ensure dexterity. The human-robot interface will be improved with augmented reality with tactile feedback for tele-operation.
09/2016 – 07/2018
HyQ-REAL (EU funded FP7 ECHORD++ experiment) – 300k euro
Bring HyQ from the research lab to the real-world application. Developing planning algorithms for locomotion on unstructured terrain.