At the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa, the “SensAlone” project

Making the sensors and human-machine interfaces of the “robotic hand” developed by the BioRobotics Institute at the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna completely wireless, self-contained, and able to “self-charge”. That’s the “SensAlone” (Self-powered stand-alone sensing system) project for which Calogero Oddo, 28 years old, with a PhD in BioRobotics and currently research fellow, received an award in Turin as part of the “Tour dei Mille”, the 2011 edition of “Working Capital – Premio Nazionale Innovazione” promoted by Telecom Italia and by PNICube. Oddo received a grant in the funding competition for innovative projects presented by young researchers, placing among the 16 winners of the final stage in Turin, chosen from no fewer than 2,139 participants. The “grant” awarded to him will in fact be put to good use in the “SensAlone” project. The project by the School’s young research fellow, who has been working in the research group led by Maria Chiara Carrozza for years, specifically in the field of artificial touch, is of particular interest as its use may not be limited to just the “robotic hand”. There are many potential applications for this new generation of self-powered sensors. “Just think” – explains Oddo – “of smartphones, tablet PCs, MP3 players or wearable systems, which will no longer need to be charged or have their batteries replaced, as they will be able to tap energy sources available in the environment, through new techniques termed ‘energy harvesting’.” Concerning his own experience, Oddo emphasised stressed that “the Tour dei Mille has been a chance to make innovation a point of strength to set out from in order to shape Italy’s future, by demonstrating once again Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna’s ability to place value on us young people by fostering our capacity for independent initiative and by promoting the development of innovative projects.”

Source: intoscana.it