L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, AUGUST 7, 2025 www.italoamericano.org 6 NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS t a l o A m e r i c a n o , P u c c i explains how our relationship with this technology is likely to change – dramatically and sooner than we might think. H o w w a s i R o n C u b 3 born, and where do you see it going? It's the evolution of several prototypes and is based on iCub3, which was developed a s a r e m o t e l y o p e r a t e d avatar. iCub3 is the latest g e n e r a t i o n o f t h e i C u b humanoid robot, the first of its kind developed by IIT. It w a s o r i g i n a l l y c r e a t e d i n 2009, not to fly but as a tool for engineers and neuroscien- tists studying the develop- m e n t o f i n t e l l i g e n c e . W e inherited its technological development in 2018, when we began writing the first e q u a t i o n s f o r a e r i a l humanoid robotics. Why make it fly? There are three main rea- sons. First, after a natural dis- aster – an earthquake, tsuna- m i , o r s i m i l a r – y o u ' r e dealing with collapsed build- ings, fires, floods, and sur- v i v o r s w h o n e e d h e l p . I n t h e s e s c e n a r i o s , f l i g h t becomes essential to over- come obstacles, land safely, move through complex envi- ronments, and use hands to open doors or shut off valves that are about to explode. We were looking for a platform that could combine flight, walking, and manipulation. Second, there's the research angle. So far, there are no humanoid robots that can fully respond to the chal - lenges of time, aerodynamics, and thermodynamics. Our work took us into uncharted territory. And third, we need ambitious flagship projects to attract talent from around the world. B e h i n d i R o n C u b 3 i s IIT, a shining example of Italian innovation shap- ing the future… At the Italian Institute of Technology, a center of excel- lence for robotics in both Italy and Europe, we've developed the iCub platform and its suc- cessors, including ErgoCub, a lab for testing technologies to a s s i s t w a r e h o u s e w o r k e r s who often suffer injuries from lifting heavy loads, and now iRonCub3, our aerial plat- form. IIT is a place where cut- ting-edge technology is born, and it has an ambitious goal: to create Europe's largest humanoid robotics spinoff, transferring IIT's proprietary technologies into a dedicated company capable of industri- alizing these robots so that Europe can rely on a secure and independent alternative. And that's the direc- tion you're heading in? Exactly. We're trying to industrialize the prototypes w e ' v e d e v e l o p e d o v e r t h e past 15 years. If you look at the current landscape, there are about 70 robotics star- tups, mostly concentrated in China and the US. The Euro- pean Union risks being over- run by non-European robots, which presents serious issues around security and techno- logical sovereignty. If Europe is excluded from the supply chain and loses control of the prototypes, we'll have a real problem. Despite these challenges, we've never accepted third- party funding that would strip us of intellectual prop- erty rights over our research. So Italian research can be highly competitive. Is it ready to take the lead? We're doing our best. It's n o t j u s t a b o u t r e s t o r i n g research to the center, but about enabling the technolo- gy transfer process that takes it to market. What we're try- ing to show is that it's possi- b l e t o s t a r t f r o m a b l a n k s h e e t o f p a p e r a n d , i n 1 5 years, arrive at a factory pro- ducing safe, European-made robots. F r o m a l g o r i t h m s t o humanoids. How much i s t h e w o r l d c h a n g i n g because of your work, and how do you person- ally envision the future? When we explain what we do, we often find ourselves having to explain why we do it. Let me give you two fig- ures. By the year 2100, the global population is expected to halve. If we don't act, the availability of goods and ser- vices will shrink: we'll face hospitals without nurses, schools without teachers, warehouses without workers. Even immigration won't be enough to offset the impact. If we look at the Total Fertili- ty Rate, declining birth rates are projected to affect even c o u n t r i e s l i k e N i g e r a n d Chad, where families today still average seven children, despite welfare policies. In the future, we risk facing a severe labour shortage, and this is precisely why China is investing heavily in robotics: to make up for the hands that will be missing. Even now, if we consider who's driving global output, the data tells us that 50% of g l o b a l G D P c o m e s f r o m manual labor, and 70% of those workers, on average, fall ill. That means our cur- rent production system is already under strain and will only worsen. In short, there's an urgent need to compen- sate for the coming labor g a p . O u r a n s w e r l i e s i n humanoid robots and inte- grated artificial intelligence. So we won't be able to do without intelligent machines. Do you think t h e y ' l l s o o n e n t e r o u r h o m e s , a n d w i l l w e develop a "one-to-one" relationship with robots? Absolutely. I'm convinced that humanoids will experi- e n c e a b o o m , m u c h l i k e mobile phones or personal computers once did. Some a r e a l r e a d y c a l l i n g t h e m "personal humanoids." A n d w h e n d o y o u think this will happen? W i t h i n t h e n e x t 3 t o 5 years, given the strong invest- ments being made in the US and China. But Europe and Italy have a major opportuni- ty here, thanks to a signifi- cant competitive advantage: we've been cultivating talent and developing this technolo- gy for the past 15 years. Now, it's essential that we find the economic resources to invest in robotics, a field where Italy has deep roots and strong potential. W i l l w e b e r e a d y t o i n t e r a c t w i t h t h e s e m a c h i n e s – m a c h i n e s that must be trained to b e c o m e i n c r e a s i n g l y social? Human beings have man- a g e d t o a d a p t t o m a n y changes over the course of six million years of evolution. I'm confident we'll also adapt to the presence of humanoid machines. But one thing we m u s t n ' t u n d e r e s t i m a t e i s technological acceptance, which is why we're working c l o s e l y w i t h p s y c h o l o g y research teams to understand w h a t r o b o t s s h o u l d a n d shouldn't do in order to be accepted in the workplace. A n d t o b u i l d t h e m , you're also looking back: to evolutionary biology, for example. Teaching t h e m t o w a l k r e m a i n s one of the greatest chal- lenges. An avatar isn't e n o u g h t o r e p l i c a t e human motion… W h e n a h u m a n s e e s a humanoid, they instinctively assume it can do what we can. But in reality, it only resembles us. We've replicat- ed human biomechanics, but the AI algorithms use motors in place of muscles. And soon wings? A l g o r i t h m s a l l o w u s t o define the robot's abilities. Wings will be designed to c o v e r l o n g e r d i s t a n c e s . Increasing the lift capacity of humanoid robots is one of the next frontiers. And what was it like to see iRonCub3 take flight? It was a great satisfaction. But, like lifting the World Cup, five minutes later the f e e l i n g b e c o m e s : " W h a t ' s next?"Starting the very next day, we go back to work, set- ting new goals and chasing the next breakthrough. "IIT is a place where cutting-edge technology is born, and it has an ambitious goal: to create Europe's largest humanoid robotics spinoff, so that Europe can rely on a secure and independent alternative." CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 Daniele Pucci with iRonCub3 (Photo: Bruno Trombetta/Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia IIT)

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