Alessandro Roncone

Alessandro Roncone is an Assistant Professor in the Computer Science Department at the University of Colorado Boulder, directing the Human Interaction and RObotics (HIRO) Group. He holds dual roles as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Lab0, a logistics-focused startup, and academic researcher. His work focuses on human-robot interaction (HRI), artificial intelligence, and robot control, aiming to create robots that collaborate naturally with humans in unstructured environments.

Education: B.Sc. (Summa Cum Laude) in Biomedical Engineering (2008), M.Sc. (Summa Cum Laude) in NeuroEngineering (2011) from Università degli Studi di Genova, Italy. Ph.D. in Robotics, Cognition, and Interaction Technologies (2015) from Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) and Università degli Studi di Genova. Postdoctoral research at Yale University (2015-2018) and IIT (2011-2014).

Research Interests: Developing human-aware robotics systems through advancements in tactile sensing, motion planning, and AI-driven decision making. Key areas include peripersonal space modeling, collaborative manipulation, and robot autonomy in dynamic environments. His work emphasizes scalable, robust systems with applications in manufacturing, healthcare, and logistics.

Awards: Best Technical Paper Award at HRI 2023; IIT Researcher of the Week (2013, 2014); IEEE Spectrum Video Friday feature for tactile calibration work. Over 50 peer-reviewed publications in top venues like ICRA, IROS, HRI, and IEEE Transactions.

Grants: Lead on $3.5M in funding including Army Research Lab (ARL) grants for human-AI teaming research, NSF Institute on Student-AI Teaming ($20M), and CU Boulder interdisciplinary research initiatives.

Lab & Leadership: HIRO Group at CU Boulder with ~20 students. Projects include tactile skin design (GenTact Toolbox), collaborative robotics (HRC Model Set), and AI-driven HRI systems. Active in startup development through Lab0, focusing on industrial autonomy solutions.