The winner of the second edition of the Research Award received the Young Speaker Award at ICRA 2026
The international career of Mihai Dragusanu, a young researcher at the University of Siena and winner of the second edition of the Most Promising Researcher in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence award, organised by the Fondazione Mondo Digitale as part of RomeCup, continues.
In Vienna, during the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) 2026, Mihai received the Young Speaker Award at the workshop The SOFT Frontier 3: Soft or Rigid? New Trends in Wearable Robotics, dedicated to the new frontiers of wearable robotics.
During the workshop, Mihai presented his research in a talk entitled Upper-Limb Exoskeletons: From Rigid to Soft — Perspectives of a Researcher and End-User. The research is being conducted in collaboration with Professor Monica Malvezzi at the SIRSLab Robotics Laboratory at the University of Siena, directed by Professor Domenico Prattichizzo.
The presentation focused on the innovative solutions developed for upper-limb exoskeletons and, more generally, the prospects for wearable robotics applied to assistive technologies. This is a field where research, design and social impact converge in a particularly significant way, as it concerns devices designed to support people, increase independence and improve quality of life.
The recognition received at ICRA confirms the value of Mihai’s work and the strength of a scientific trajectory that the Fondazione Mondo Digitale has been following for some time: from winning the Research Award to the publication of his thesis with Springer, right through to subsequent accolades and opportunities for international exchange.
“Receiving this award in such a prestigious international scientific setting is a great honour and a strong motivation to continue research into wearable robotics and person-centred assistive technologies,” Mihai wrote on his LinkedIn profile, thanking the workshop organisers and the scientific community with whom he was able to engage in Vienna.
Mihai’s journey perfectly encapsulates the philosophy of the Most Promising Researcher in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence: to recognise young researchers capable of combining scientific excellence, an interdisciplinary vision and a concrete focus on people’s needs. An award that does not end with the ceremony, but accompanies and highlights research stories that continue to grow, in Italy and around the world.
