About Us
GRAAL stands for Genoa Robotics and Automation Laboratory, and it is located at DIBRIS, Department of Computer Science, Bioengineering, Robotics, and System Engineering. Our department is part of the Polytechnic School of the University of Genova.
The laboratory was founded by Prof. Giuseppe “Pino” Casalino, a prominent figure in Italian robotics and automation research. He also conceived and co-founded the Interuniversity Center on Integrated Systems for the Marine Environment (ISME) in 1999, which remains a key national reference for marine robotics research. More information about his scientific contributions and legacy is available on the dedicated page.
Our main research areas are marine robotics, cooperative control, embedded control systems and real time control architectures.
In line with the ISME mission, all the activities on marine robotics are carried out in cooperation with other ISME laboratories across Italy.
Undergraduate students may join the laboratory for stages and for their Bachelor or Master Thesis work. This is a very important opportunity for students to participate to the ongoing research activities.
GRAAL Team
Giovanni Indiveri is Associate Professor, since 2011, in Systems and Control Engineering. He holds a Laurea degree in Physics since 1995 and a Dottorato di Ricerca (Ph.D.) in Electronic Engineering and Computer Science since 1998 (both from the University of Genova, Italy). From 1999 to 2001 he was a post-doc Researcher at the Fraunhofer (formerly GMD) Institute for Intelligent Autonomous Systems FhG - AiS of Sankt Augustin, Germany. From December 2001 to January 2011 he was Ricercatore (Assistant Professor) at the University of Salento. He is currently member of the IFAC Technical Committees 7.2 Marine Systems and 7.5 Intelligent Autonomous Vehicles of which he was Chair in the triennium 2009 - 2011. He is the Scientific Responsible of the University of Salento Research Unit of the Interuniversity Centre of Integrated Systems for the Marine Environment (ISME) since 2007.
His research interests are in the area of autonomous robotics and, in particular, of navigation, guidance and motion control for marine and underactuated robots. Specific research topics include modeling and identification of marine robots, pose regulation, trajectory tracking and path following for underactuated kinematic robot models, marine robot navigation, outlier robust parameter identification and state estimation. He has published over 100 papers in international journals and conferences proceedings on these subjects.
Enrico Simetti is an Associate Professor at University of Genova, teaching Embedded Systems and Cooperative Robotics. Since 2020, he is the vice-coordinator for the M.Sc. in Robotics Engineering at the University of Genova, and vice-coordinator of the euRobotics aisbl topic group in Marine Robotics.
His current research interests are in the field of robotics, in particular: marine robotics, embedded systems and mechatronics for robotic applications, force and motion control of robot manipulators and cooperation within multi-agent systems. In details, his research is focused the development and experimental evaluation of control solutions for manipulation tasks with redundant systems. The case of multi-agents cooperating for achieving the manipulation task is also within his research interests. Moreover, he has worked on developing flexible human-robot collaboration frameworks capable to adapt to the human actions.
He is author of 27 papers in international journals, 49 in international conferences and 2 book chapters. He has participated in several national (2 PRINs and 1 PNRM projects) and international funded projects (3 FP7 and 4 H2020 projects, plus a project funded by Qatar National Research Foundation). He has been the principal investigator for the whole ISME interuniversity center involvement within the H2020 ROBUST (2015-2020) project on autonomous in-situ deep-mining exploration with AUVs and he has been the principal investigator of UNIGE within the H2020 EUMR Marine Robots Network project.
Francesco Wanderlingh is currently a Researcher in Robotics Engineering and Marine Systems at the University of Genova. He received the PhD in Robotics and Autonomous Systems in 2018 on the topic "Smart Manufacturing 2020".
He is a member of the ISME Research Center and his main research interests are the design of multi-agent robotics systems for exploration, maintenance, and intervention with main focus on the algorithm design phase and hardware/software development aspect.
He participated in numerous national and international projects conducting extended sea trials, involving the control of marine robotics systems such as surface vehicles, underwater vehicle-manipulators and underwater multi-robot systems.
Juri Khanmeh is a PhD student in Robotics and Intelligent Machines, particularly in Inspection and Maintenance of Infrastructure. After receiving B.S. in Mechatronics Engineer from Higher Institute of Applied Sciences and Technology in Syria (HIAST) in 2019, she received the Msc. in Robotics Engineering from University of Genoa in 2022.
Currently her research field is in marine Robotics, especially in the development of cooperative system between Autonomous Surface Vehicle (ASV) and Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV). Her main interest is the navigation, guidance and control of the overall system.
Luca Tarasi is currently a PhD student in Robotics and Intelligent Machines. He received a Bachelor’s degree in Software Engineering in 2019, and an MSc in Robotics Engineering in 2021, both at University of Genoa. He has working experience with manipulators.
His research field in is marine robotics, in particular Autonomous Surface Vehicles. His main interests are currently perception, obstacle detection and avoidance systems.
Youssef Attia holds a Master's degree in Robotics Engineering from the University of Genova, building on a background in Mechatronics Engineering from my Bachelor's studies. He completed the master thesis through an Erasmus traineeship program in collaboration with Graal Lab and LRIMM. After graduating, spent a year as a Research Fellow at Graal Lab, where he worked on the development of a Hybrid Cable-Thruster Actuated Remotely Operated Underwater Vehicle.
Currently, he is pursuing an Industrial PhD in collaboration with Graal Lab and Graal Tech, focusing on underwater robotics.
Mert Tekyurt is a PhD student in Robotics and Intelligent Machines, particularly in the Inspection and Maintenance of Infrastructure. He received his bachelor’s degree from the Middle East Technical University, Department of Aerospace Engineering, focusing on Flight Mechanics and Control Systems. After gaining two years of industry experience as a MATLAB Application Engineer and Control Engineer, he decided to pursue graduate studies and received his master’s degree in Control Engineering from Sapienza University of Rome in 2025. His research interests include marine robotics, underwater manipulation, control systems, guidance, and navigation.
Susanna Munari is a PhD candidate in Bioengineering and Robotics working on sensor fusion for underwater localisation and mapping. Her research focuses on acoustic sensing and navigation for underwater robotic systems.
She holds a double MSc in Marine and Maritime Intelligent Robotics from the University of Toulon and NTNU, and a BSc in Mechatronics Engineering from Unimore.
Marcello Sorge is a PhD candidate in Robotics and Intelligent Machines, working on advanced navigation systems for autonomous marine robots. He holds a MSc. degree in Control Systems Engineering and a BSc. degree in Information Engineering, both from the University of Padova.
From october 2024 to february 2026 he has worked within the SPARCS group, focusing on multi-agent systems for search and rescue applications and dynamic control allocation for overactuated systems.
Gabriele Boscarini is a PhD candidate in Robotics and Intelligent Machines, in the Inspection and Mainteinance of Infrastructure. His research interests are focused on Machine Learning applied to Control Systems and Collaborative Robotics.
After receiving B.S. in Computer Engineering from the University of Perugia in 2021, he received the Msc. In Control Systems Engineering from the University of Padova in 2025.
Collaborators
Andrea Delbene is a Post-Doc Research Fellow in Robotics and Autonomous Systems at the Università degli Studi di Genova (UNIGE), where he specializes in robotics, automation, and complex systems. He holds a Ph.D. in Robotics and Autonomous Systems from UNIGE, completed in 2023, and a Master’s degree in Complex Systems Engineering from the Université de Technologie de Compiègne (UTC) as part of a Double Degree program (EMECIS). His research focuses on multi-UAV systems, trajectory generation, and autonomous landing techniques.
Former Members
If you want to be added/removed from this list, write us on: graal.lab.unige@gmail.com.
