From Siena to Rome and beyond

A little more than a year after winning the RomeCup Award 2024 as Most Promising Researcher in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence, Mihai Drăgușanu's career continues to surprise, with frontier research, international collaborations and new awards [see the news item Mihai's all gold]

Mihai, currently a researcher in the field of wearable robotics, is developing the Tuta Gold, an innovative exoskeleton designed to aid upper limb motor rehabilitation in stroke patients. The project, created to help patients recover hand movements by synchronising them with a robotic glove, has recently produced very promising results thanks to the collaboration with the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in France.

The first tests, conducted on healthy subjects and then on patients, show that wearing the Gold Suit activates new areas of the brain, opening up interesting possibilities for post-trauma motor recovery.

Mihai's work is also gaining international recognition: he has been invited to present these results at the 11th International BCI Meeting, and his contribution to the Fifth International Conference of the IFToMM Association has been selected for a special issue of the scientific journal Robotics.

But the developments don't stop there. The project has been expanded to include new elbow and shoulder modules, an advanced mathematical model for controlling finger movements, a completely new design for the sensorised glove and the integration of an artificial intelligence system capable of real-time dialogue with the various components of the suit.

Mihai is also working on filing a patent for an innovative robotic gripping system, and has extended his expertise to the world of haptic systems and robotic hands.

Another important milestone is the imminent creation of the first Inter-University Centre for Wearable Robotics, the result of a collaboration between the University of Florence, the University of Rome Tor Vergata and the University of Siena, dedicated to the rehabilitation and assistance of people with disabilities.

At the same time, Mihai was recently the protagonist at the Banca Centro scholarship award ceremony in Siena, where he rewarded the winners and shared a very personal message with them:

‘Believe in your dreams and fight to make them come true. Nothing is impossible for those who have the courage to pursue what they love.’

Finally, the publication of his first book, based on his doctoral thesis, is expected soon by the publishing house Springer. And on the scientific front, he has been appointed Associate Editor not only for the International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), but also for the International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (iros), the two most important conferences in the field of robotics worldwide.

A growth path that starts from RomeCup and continues to build bridges between research, innovation and real life.