Pietro ValdastriView profile
Professor
Professor Pietro Valdastri is a Full Professor and Chair in Robotics & Autonomous Systems at the University of Leeds. He directs the Science and Technologies Of Robotics in Medicine (STORM) Lab, the Institute of Robotics, Autonomous Systems and Sensing (IRASS), and the Robotics at Leeds network. His expertise spans surgical robotics, robotic endoscopy, and magnetic manipulation, with a focus on developing soft magnetic surgical robots (SMSRs) for minimally invasive medical procedures. Valdastri holds a Laurea in Electronic Engineering (University of Pisa, 2001) and a PhD in Biomedical Engineering (Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, 2006). He previously served as Assistant Professor at Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna (2006–2011) and Vanderbilt University (2011–2016) before joining Leeds in 2016. His research aims to leverage magnetic actuation for surgical navigation, with applications in cancer therapy and endoscopy. Key awards include the NSF CAREER Award (2015), ERC Consolidator Grant (2019), and KUKA Innovation Award (2019). He is a Royal Society Wolfson Research Fellow, IEEE Fellow, and editor for IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters. His work has been featured in major media outlets like the BBC, New Scientist, and WIRED. Valdastri has secured over £25M in grants from NSF, NIH, ERC, EU-H2020, and industry partnerships. He co-founded WinMedical srl (acquired in 2017) and Atlas Endoscopy Limited, advancing robotic colonoscopy platforms. Current research emphasizes autonomous robotic systems, magnetic tentacles for lung therapy, and patient-specific surgical tools.










