Biography
Professor Perla Maiolino completed BEng, MEng and PhD in the department of Informatics, Bioengineering, Robotics and Systems Engineering at University of Genova (Italy), where she worked primarily on Technological aspect of tactile sensing and development of Large Area Tactile Sensors for robots. She worked as PostDoc at University of Cambridge where she investigated aspects related to soft sensing and soft robotics.
Perla moved to Oxford in September 2018 as Associate Professor at the Engineering Science Department and member of Oxford Robotics Institute.
Research Interests
Dr Perla Maiolino is interested in providing robots with the sense of touch. It is an essential modality that allows humans to interact with environment and people. it is used in manipulation and grasping of objects, whole body interaction, in exploration and in reactive behaviour (reflexes). Furthermore it is important for assessing contact parameters such as shape, texture, stiffness and temperature of the touched surface, for developing awareness of the body and for automatic responses (grasp force regulation). Sense of touch is also crucial for guiding motor behaviour (e.g, from controlling the body to perceiving the environment, as well as learning about and interacting with it).
New generations of robots are expected to operate in the dynamic and unstructured environment even more in collaboration with humans. Robots operating in these conditions must exhibit advanced forms of interaction with objects and humans requiring novel solutions in human-robot interaction processes. In this respect soft robotic devices are of particular interest to the robotics community because they have advantageous properties such as easy fabrication, low-cost, light weight, high flexibility, etc., but characterising and predicting their behaviour is challenging due to the non-linear nature of the hyper-elastic
material and their internal pressure. In order to control them it is necessary to monitor their kinematics, their interaction forces with objects in the environment and their internal pressure.
For these reasons, Perla's research is focused on the design of new technological solutions for tactile sensors to be integrated on soft robots. These soft tactile sensors will improve tactile based control of soft robots and will allow to investigate aspects such as sensory-motor coordination and how action and perception are coupled in a soft embodiment which are at the base of the effective utilisation of touch sensing for improving cognitive skills of robots.
Research Groups
Recent Publications
A proxy-tactile reactive control for robots moving in clutter
Caroleo G, Giovinazzo F, Albini A, Grella F, Cannata G et al. (2025), 733-739
BibTeX
@inproceedings{aproxytactilere-2025/1,
title={A proxy-tactile reactive control for robots moving in clutter},
author={Caroleo G, Giovinazzo F, Albini A, Grella F, Cannata G et al.},
booktitle={2024 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems},
pages={733-739},
year = "2025"
}
Design, Fabrication and Calibration of an Embroidery Textile Tactile Sensor Array
Hou N, Pontin M, Costi L & Maiolino P (2025), 15051, 327-338
BibTeX
@misc{designfabricati-2025/,
title={Design, Fabrication and Calibration of an Embroidery Textile Tactile Sensor Array},
author={Hou N, Pontin M, Costi L & Maiolino P},
year = "2025"
}
Touch-to-Touch Translation -- Learning the Mapping Between Heterogeneous Tactile Sensing Technologies
Grella F, Albini A, Cannata G & Maiolino P (2024)
BibTeX
@misc{touchtotouchtra-2024/11,
title={Touch-to-Touch Translation -- Learning the Mapping Between Heterogeneous Tactile Sensing Technologies},
author={Grella F, Albini A, Cannata G & Maiolino P},
year = "2024"
}
Reinforcement Learning Controllers for Soft Robots using Learned Environments
Berdica U, Jackson M, Veronese NE, Foerster J & Maiolino P (2024)
BibTeX
@misc{reinforcementle-2024/10,
title={Reinforcement Learning Controllers for Soft Robots using Learned Environments},
author={Berdica U, Jackson M, Veronese NE, Foerster J & Maiolino P},
year = "2024"
}
The design of a sensorized laryngoscope training system for pediatric intubation
Hou N, He L, Albini A, Halamek L & Maiolino P (2024), 00, 2414-2420
BibTeX
@inproceedings{thedesignofasen-2024/10,
title={The design of a sensorized laryngoscope training system for pediatric intubation},
author={Hou N, He L, Albini A, Halamek L & Maiolino P},
booktitle={2024 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)},
pages={2414-2420},
year = "2024"
}
TacLink-Integrated Robot Arm toward Safe Human-Robot Interaction
Luu QK, Albini A, Maiolino P & Ho VA (2024), 00, 12356-12362
BibTeX
@inproceedings{taclinkintegrat-2024/10,
title={TacLink-Integrated Robot Arm toward Safe Human-Robot Interaction},
author={Luu QK, Albini A, Maiolino P & Ho VA},
booktitle={2024 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)},
pages={12356-12362},
year = "2024"
}
Morpho-mechanics of pressurized cellular sheets
Chandler TGJ, Ferria J, Shorthose O, Allain J-M, Maiolino P et al. (2024)
BibTeX
@misc{morphomechanics-2024/9,
title={Morpho-mechanics of pressurized cellular sheets},
author={Chandler TGJ, Ferria J, Shorthose O, Allain J-M, Maiolino P et al.},
year = "2024"
}
Toward Onboard Proportional Control of Multi-Chamber Soft Pneumatic Robots: A Magnetorheological Elastomer Valve Array.
Wang S, Zhang P, He L & Maiolino P (2024), Soft robotics, 11(4), 617-627
BibTeX
@article{towardonboardpr-2024/8,
title={Toward Onboard Proportional Control of Multi-Chamber Soft Pneumatic Robots: A Magnetorheological Elastomer Valve Array.},
author={Wang S, Zhang P, He L & Maiolino P},
journal={Soft robotics},
volume={11},
pages={617-627},
year = "2024"
}
Exploring kinematic bifurcations and hinge compliance for in-hand manipulation: how could thick-panel origami contribute?
Liu C, He L, Wang S, Williams A, You Z et al. (2024), Advanced Intelligent Systems, 6(6)
BibTeX
@article{exploringkinema-2024/4,
title={Exploring kinematic bifurcations and hinge compliance for in-hand manipulation: how could thick-panel origami contribute?},
author={Liu C, He L, Wang S, Williams A, You Z et al.},
journal={Advanced Intelligent Systems},
volume={6},
number={2300691},
publisher={Wiley},
year = "2024"
}
Reinforcement Learning Controllers for Soft Robots Using Learned Environments
Berdica U, Jackson M, Veronese NE, Foerster J & Maiolino P (2024), 00, 933-939
BibTeX
@inproceedings{reinforcementle-2024/4,
title={Reinforcement Learning Controllers for Soft Robots Using Learned Environments},
author={Berdica U, Jackson M, Veronese NE, Foerster J & Maiolino P},
booktitle={2024 IEEE 7th International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft)},
pages={933-939},
year = "2024"
}
