About
Francesco Semeraro is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Manchester, working within the Cognitive Robotics laboratory of the Machine Learning and Robotics research group. He is an active member of the Manchester Centre for Robotics and AI and currently contributes to the Horizon Europe MUSAE project (Ref. 101070421), focusing on non-dyadic human-robot collaboration under Professor Angelo Cangelosi's supervision.
His academic journey includes:
- Master of Science in Robotics and Computation from University College London (2018-2019, awarded 2020)
- Master of Science in Bionics Engineering from Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna The BioRobotics Institute (2015-2018)
- Bachelor of Science in Electronic Engineering from Universita di Pisa (2012-2015)
Semeraro's research centers on advancing human-robot collaboration through machine learning, with core expertise in deep learning, reinforcement learning, and affective computing. His work specifically targets flexible manufacturing environments, developing robotic systems capable of adaptive interaction and emotional state recognition to enhance human-robot teamwork efficiency and safety.
His publication portfolio reveals a clear trajectory toward triadic collaboration systems, computational trust modeling, and robustness in occluded environments. Recent works demonstrate increasing sophistication in mediated object alignment and prediction tree applications, bridging theoretical machine learning with practical industrial robotics challenges.
His contributions have earned significant recognition:
- UKRI EPSRC/BAE Systems plc. DTP CASE-conversion award for "Human-Robot Collaboration for Flexible Manufacturing" (2020)
- 1st Prize as Young Researcher at Ambient Assisted Living conference (2018)
- 1st Prize in Engineers in Business Competition (2019)
- RPL Summer School distinction (2022)
- "Vincenzo Tagliasco" Prize for robotics applications (2018)
From 2021-2024, Semeraro served as Graduate Teaching Assistant for eight advanced courses including Cognitive Robotics and Foundations of Machine Learning, while securing competitive funding through the UKRI EPSRC/BAE Systems collaboration and Horizon Europe initiatives. His research integrates user study design with machine learning to create trustworthy robotic systems for industrial applications.
Embedded within the Manchester Centre for Robotics and AI, Semeraro collaborates across the RAI Centre for Robotics and Artificial Intelligence project, contributing to multi-institutional efforts in developing cognitive architectures for human-robot teams. His current work explores computational trust metrics and triadic interaction frameworks to enable seamless human-robot co-production in dynamic manufacturing settings.
