Interview with Antonio Bicchi, president of the Italian Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Machines
With a career spanning decades of research and teaching, Antonio Bicchi is today an international point of reference in the field of emerging technologies. Professor at the University of Pisa and senior researcher at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), he has made a fundamental contribution to the development of soft robotics and the study of the interaction between man and machine.
Over the years, he has led numerous initiatives to strengthen the link between research, universities, businesses and institutions. This vision is also embodied in the Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Machines (I-Rim), an organisation he co-founded in 2019 to promote collaboration between researchers and industry in the field of robotics.
I-RIM's patronage of RomeCup 2025 to promote robotics among young people
In 2025, I-Rim is among the organisations sponsoring the RomeCup, an event that represents a unique opportunity to bring new generations closer to robotics and digital technologies. In an interview conducted by Alberta Testa for the Fondazione Mondo Digitale, Bicchi explained the reasons for this commitment: ‘We share RomeCup's goal of drawing the attention and awareness of younger generations to robotics and digital technologies, to transform them from unaware users to actors in the revolution we are experiencing’.
I-RIM's patronage of RomeCup is not just support for an event, but is part of a broader strategy aimed at creating a constant dialogue between research and the productive world.
‘The events that I-RIM organises or sponsors always aim to bring together and build bridges between education, research and the productive world. Innovation is achieved in different ways – technology transfer, creation of start-ups, meeting of skills – to bring the results of young people's intellectual growth into the economic reality of companies. In this mission, I-Rim is helped by other organisations and events, among which RomeCup stands out for the originality of its formula and the attractiveness of its events’.
Robotics at the service of people: a future integrated with technology
The central theme of the RomeCup 2025, ‘Innovation at the service of the integral development of people and communities’, is perfectly in line with I-Rim's vision. Bicchi emphasises that robotics and artificial intelligence are not intended to replace human beings, but to integrate with them to improve the quality of life. ‘I-Rim looks at the future of robotics, AI and intelligent machines as a galaxy that revolves around the person, that does not replace them but integrates them’.
A message to young people: ambition and courage for the future of robotics
Bicchi wanted to send a message to young people approaching the world of robotics and artificial intelligence, inviting them to face the future with determination: ‘To young people approaching artificial intelligence and robotics, I suggest looking to the future without fear and with ambition. When man invented writing and stopped passing down epic poems by singing them, some people certainly feared that our species would lose its memory; and when the printing press was invented, all the most pessimistic predictions were proven wrong. AI and robotics are coming and they will change us, but how they will do so depends only on those young people who will build them’.
An invitation not to fear innovation, but to guide it with awareness and a pioneering spirit.
