The champions of Italian robotics awarded in the Campidoglio

Innovation, training, fun and challenge. These are the keywords XVI edition of the RomeCup where thousands of students from schools of all levels populated theUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, putting himself to the test, building robots and playing with technology. The multi-event ended on Friday 5 May promoted by Fondazione Mondo Digitale with the award ceremony in the Campidoglio for young researchers who carry out activities in Italian centres, bodies, institutes, universities or public and private structures on the topics of robotics and artificial intelligence.

"Our corridors were invaded by the robots of the boys who arrived from all over Italy for the competitions in progress and talking to them and looking around I tried to understand what they were doing and I went back over the years. In the 70s I was an engineering student to elaborate a program we had to punch cards in a univa center and after three or four hours insert our cards hoping there weren't any mistakes. - told the President UCBM Carlo Tosti, adding that "it is essential to have people who have the human qualities required to interact in our social system. The hope is that young people can be supported by training of this type. In its thirtieth anniversary, this university looks to the future and looks to training from from high school".

Established for the first year in collaboration UCBM, the prize "Advancing Technology for Humanity. Most promising researcher in Robotics and AI” was delivered to Martha Lagomarsino for the SOPHIA European project (Socio-physical Interaction Skills for Cooperative Human-Robot Systems in Agile Production), which explores the socio-physical interaction between humans and robots to improve workers' productivity and health/well-being. Genoese, 27 years old, PhD student, she has a degree in Biomedical Engineering and Robotic Engineering from the University of Genoa and collaborates with the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) and the Milan Polytechnic. 
They competed for the 2023 edition of the award 135 researchers from all over Italy, active in 21 universities and six research institutions, which have all presented projects on a wide range of topics relevant to the challenge of Advancing Technology for Humanity with the perspective of an E4-Sustainability: Ecological, Energy, Economic and Ethical-social. 

"All the candidates in the ranking have presented proposals of the highest level and possess a remarkable Curriculum Vitae and best interpret the spirit of this year's Award, with particular reference to the projects of excellence of the very first in the ranking, focused on topics such as automation for waste disposal (Alberto Bacchin, University of Padua), plant biorobotics for the development of plantoids (Isabella Fiorello, IIT), the new robotic hand for advanced prosthetics for fine manipulation (Avinash Kumar Singh, Federico II University of Naples). - has ofchiarato the Rector UCBM Eugenio Guglielmelli - the winner submitted the best excellent project focused on the issues of bio-cooperative robotics (CoBots) to improve the quality and safety of working life, a topic of high strategic importance at national and international level, as recently recalled by the President of the Republic Mattarella on Labor Day. The project stands out for its innovativeness, scientific solidity and in particular for the timeliness with which it tackles one of the great current challenges for work: how to best manage the collaboration between humans and robots in a scenario where the coexistence between nature and artificial, also - but not only - in the manufacturing sector, is becoming an increasingly relevant reality". 

At the end of the final stages of the competitions, which saw 120 teams from Italian and Maltese schools challenge each other, the prizes were also awarded to the winning teams of the eight categories in the competition. 

The winners of the XVI City of Rome International Trophy:

  • For the Rescue Line category, the Roboys Team of the IIS Galileo Galilei of Catania;
  • For Explorer Junior the ES9K team of the IIs Cicerone of Sala Consilina (SA)
  • For Senior Explorer the Robot Shock team of the IIs Cicerone of Sala Consilina (SA)
  • For On Stage Preliminary the Octopus Story Robot team of IC Nitti in Rome
  • For On Stage Advanced the Astra team of the IIS Majorana of Avezzano (AQ)

The first classified for the national selections of the RoboCup 2023:

  • for the Soccer Open League the Go for broke team of the Manetti Porciatti technological hub of Grosseto (1st place), the Carpa team of the IIS Piazza della Resistenza and IIS Pacinotti Archimede of Rome (2nd place), the Ikaro team of the IIS Pacinotti Archimedes of Rome
  • for the Soccer Light Weight the SPQR 2 team of ITIS Galileo Galilei of Rome (1st place), the SPQR 1 team of ITIS Galileo Galilei of Rome (2nd place)
  • for the Rescue Simulation the Fall Itis team of IITS Vito Volterra of San Donà di Piave (Ve) in first place and the Bob's Brains team of IITS Vito Volterra of San Donà di Piave (Ve) in second.

To deliver the prizes Monica Lucarelli, councilor of Roma Capitale, present at the awards Mirta Michilli e Alfonso Molina, respectively General Director and Scientific Director of Fondazione Mondo Digitale, Eugenio Guglielmelli, UCBM Rector, Renato Brunetti, President of the Digital World Foundation and CEO of Unidata, Carlo Tosti, President ofUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Daniel Nardi, Professor of Artificial Intelligence Sapienza University of Rome, Riccardo Corbucci, president of the Roma Capitale, Statute and Technological Innovation Commission.

>> Watch the video and relive the best moments of the RomeCup 2023
>> Check out the photo gallery of the event