Hello,

I am Cosimo Della Santina (Della Santina is the surname!). I am Associate Professor at CoR department, TU Delft, where I lead the Physical Intelligence Lab. I am also a researcher at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Munich, Germany, and founder and scientific advisor of the start-up Embodied AI AG.The easiest way to discuss opportunities, collaborations, and research (yours, mine, or someone else's) is to send an email (see below). I receive a lot of email, so please do not expect a reply sooner than two weeks.

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Research

The ultimate goal of my group’s research is to investigate the boundary of physics and intelligence in artificial systems. We strive to understand how physical and mechanical systems (e.g., robots) can be equipped with motor intelligence and - vice versa - how intelligence can arise from the physics.We speak all kinds of languages, both in the literal (Chinese, Italian, Farsi, German, Spanish, English, ...) and the technical (Machine Learning, Mechanical Hardware Design, Differential Geometry, Computational Methods, Material Science, ...) sense. Still, our Lingua Franca remains Nonlinear Dynamics and Control Theory!

We spend most of our time on
- (Model-based) control of soft robots
- Learning physically consistent dynamic models of physical systems (Robots, Fluids, ...) for use in closed-loop control
- Machine learning with provable guarantees (especially Imitation Learning)
- Nonlinear control of underactuated mechanical systems
- Artificial intelligence emerging from mechanical systems
- Developing robotic body parts that are physically intelligent without a body: robotic hands, feet, legs, ...
- Manipulation of deformable objects
- Articulated soft quadrupeds
- ...

And much other cool stuff. Our interests in the intelligence of mechanical systems include exoskeletons, flexible link robots, human body dynamics, and more standard rigid systems. Beyond that, we look at motor intelligence in physical systems ranging from fluids to epidemic spreading on social networks.

Many solutions that we propose are in the realm of soft robotics. These are innovative robotic systems inspired by the animal body to present intelligent behaviors already at the mechanical level. Find HERE a general definition of soft robots, and HERE an introduction to model-based control of soft robots.

Theses, internships, and
other visiting opportunities

I am glad to hear from students and researchers who would like to work with us, and I read every message. At the same time, space is limited, so I can host only a handful of people each year, and I have to say no to most requests. Please take this as a matter of capacity, not of merit.
Unfortunately, we have very limited badwidth for supervising students at companies, with the exception of Embodied AI.

Rules of Engagement

Applications are via direct email to me (see homepage). A reply can take a couple of weeks. Before writing, have a look at the research page and check that the topic matches what you have done so far. A targeted message helps both of us.When you contact me, please
- Include as an attachment the list of your exams with grades and your CV,
- let me know if you are a theoretical-minded person or if you are good with your hands,
- if available, provide examples of previous projects proving your skills in one direction or the other,
- use some informative subject something like "Application for MSc Thesis @ TU Delft", or "Application for Internship @ DLR", or ...
- state a preferred starting date,
- extra general information on your background and your interests is also welcomed.

Bio

Find my CV HERE.

I was born in Pontedera, Italy, on the 6th of October 1989. I hold a BSc in Computer Engineering and a MSc in Robotics and Control Theory from the University of Pisa. I was a Ph.D. student at the University of Pisa and IIT, a visiting researcher and postdoc at MIT-CSAIL, and a senior postdoc and later a lecturer at TUM. I am now Associate Professor at TU Delft (CoR, Mechanical Engineering), and a researcher at the German Aerospace Center (DLR). Since 2025, I am founder and scientific advisor of the robotics start-up Embodied AI AG.I have been awarded the 2020 Georges Giralt Ph.D. Award, the 2023 IEEE RAS Early Career Award, and an ERC Starting Grant in 2024. I am co-director of the Delft AI lab SELF, and a VENI laureate.I am passionate about supporting the growth our Robotics and Physical Intelligence community. Some of the service activies I engage with follow. I am the founding chair of the IEEE RAS Technical Committee on Robot Control, Senior Editor of IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters and of the International Journal of Robotics Research, and Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Robotics and Automation Magazine. I served as General Chair of IEEE RoboSoft 2025, Local Chair of R:SS 2024, and I organize the yearly Unconventional Robotics Symposium in Delft.

Group

PostDocs

- Ebrahim Shahabi, working on innovative designs for mechanically intelligent soft robots
- Daniel Feliu Talegon, working on manipulation of large objects and the modeling and control of soft robots
- Maja Trumic, working on model-based control of soft robots.
- Arman Tekinalp, joining in October 2026.

PhD students

- Anton Bredenbeck working on soft aerial systems. Co-supervised with: Salua Hamaza.
- Chuhan Zhang, working on spiking neural networks. Co-supervised with: Wei Pan.
- Jingyue Liu, working on interpretable latent spaces for learning dynamics.
- Zhaoting Li, working on keeping humans in the robot learning loop. Co-supervised with: Jens Kober, Robert Babuska.
- Mariano Ramirez Montero, working at the intersection of dynamical systems and machine learning.
- Semanur Küçük, working at the intersection of multi-phase flows, control, and machine learning. Co-supervised with: Angeliki Laskari.
- Vito Perfetta, working on model-based control of soft robots.
- Giuseppe Vitrani, working on tactile sensing and soft robots. Co-supervised with: Michael Wiertlewski.
- Johanna Probst, working on intelligence for soft robots interacting with their environment.Mentoring/co-supervising:
- Arne Sachtler (TUM, DLR), working on combining geometry, machine learning, and nonlinear dynamics in motion control. Main supervisor: Alin Albu-Schaeffer.Visiting:
- Matteo Dalle Vedove (visiting Ph.D. student), from the University of Trento.

Alumni

- Maximilian Stölzle, now PostDoc at MIT.
- Jiatao Ding, now PostDoc at the University of Trento.
- Tomás Coleman, worked on bimanual manipulation of deformable objects for the agri-food industry. Co-supervised with: Jens Kober, Robert Babuska.
- Pietro Pustina (La Sapienza), now Control Engineer at MBDA.
- Giulio Evangelisti (TUM), now Control Engineer at MTU Aero Engines.
- Davide Calzolari (TUM, DLR), now Researcher at DLR.
- Francesco Stella (EPFL), now CEO of Embodied AI.
- Rodrigo Perez Dattari, now PostDoc at KTH.
- Giovanni Franzese, now Lead Researcher at TII.
- Kirsten Lussenburg, now PostDoc at Erasmus Medical Center.
- Pablo Luis Borja Rosales, now Associate Professor at Uppsala University.
- Sagar Joshi, now Mechatronics System Designer at ASML.
- Padmaja Kulkarni (Ph.D. student), now Data Scientist at Newcraft.Visiting:
- Zachary Patterson (visiting PostDoc), now Assistant Professor at Case Western.
- Mathew Jose Pollayil (visiting Ph.D. student @DLR), now a Robotics Engineer at YK-Robotics.
- Kyle Walker (visiting Ph.D. student), now PostDoc at EPFL.
- Xiangyu Shao (visiting Ph.D. student), now Assistant Professor at the Harbin Institute of Technology.
- Francesco Piqué (visiting Ph.D. student), now doing a postdoc at University of Pisa.
- Michele Pierallini (visiting Ph.D.), now PostDoc at the University of Pisa.
- Sonal Santosh Baberwal (visiting Ph.D. student), now finishing her PhD at Dublin City University.
- Domenico Dona (visiting Ph.D. student), now PostDoc at University of Padova.
- Victor Munoz Sanchez (visiting Ph.D. student), now finishing his PhD at Charles III University of Madrid.
- Marco De Simone (visiting Ph.D. student), from the University of Campania "L. Vanvitelli". Main supervisors: Ciro Natale, Marco Costanzo.
- Daniele Caradonna (visiting Ph.D. student), from SSSUP. Main supervisors: Egidio Falotico, Franco Angelini.
- Lorenzo Paiola (visiting Ph.D. student), from IIT. Main supervisors: Antonio Bicchi, Giorgio Grioli.
- Michele Martini (visiting Ph.D. student), from IIT. Main supervisor: Barbara Mazzolai.
- Maja Trumic (visiting Ph.D. student), now researcher at University of Belgrade.

Master Students and Interns

Current Research Interns:
- None at the moment.Current MSc students (at and from TU Delft if not otherwise specified):
- Sofie Blankers. Daily supervisor: Vito Perfetta.
- Jasper van den Nouland. Daily supervisor: Semanur Küçük.
- Matei Drilea.
- Naida Purisevic, "Model-based reinforcement learning for soft robotic grasping."

PAST
If you have joined my lab as a research intern or for your MSc thesis and you do not see your name here, or you have spotted some error, I would greatly appreciate it if you could drop me an email!Past research interns:
- Ben Cornelisse, "A test platform for measuring the contact area of soft tentacles." Daily supervisor: Ebrahim Shahabi. This internship yielded a conference paper at RoboSoft 2026.
- Solange Gribonval (from Sorbonne University) "Efficient implementation of PVS models in Jax" Daily supervisors: Maximilian Stoelzle, Daniel Feliu Talegon
- Storm de Kam "Development of a small scale continuously soft quadruped"
- Peiyu Yang "Algorithms for quadrupedal locomotion"
- Fabio Boekel, "Design of parallel elastic mechanisms for quadrupeds"
- Vassil Atanassov, "Low level control of the quadruped Go1"
- Sara Boby, "Simulating a fluid perturbed by a soft element"
- Wesley Lagerweij, "Building a soft robot that can swim in a tank"
- Edoardo Panichi (@DLR), "Advancing the toolbox nEigenmodes (nonlinear oscillations in complex mechanical systems)"
- Filip Bjelonic (from TU Darmstadt), Internship@DLR, "Numerical Evaluation of Nonlinear Modes in Multi-Body Systems." Co-Supervised with: Arne Sachtler. This internship yielded this journal publication.
- Yannik Wotte (from UTwente), Internship@DLR, "Numerical Evaluation of Nonlinear Modes in Multi-Body Systems." Co-Supervised with: Arne Sachtler. This internship yielded a journal publication currently under review.Concluded MSc theses:
- Lefteris Mourelatos, "Soft robotic grasping." Daily supervisor: Ebrahim Shahabi.
- Arnout Dourleijn, "Active gravity compensation using tendon antagonism for Earth-based testing of space soft continuum robots." Daily supervisors: Ebrahim Shahabi, Daniel Feliu Talegon.
- Iván Lopez Broceño, "Model-based bimanual manipulation of deformable linear objects with learned oscillator dynamics." Daily supervisors: Maximilian Stoelzle, Daniel Feliu Talegon.
- Xavier Reparon, "Design, fabrication, and control of an octopus-inspired underwater soft robot." Daily supervisor: Ebrahim Shahabi. Co-supervised with: Javier Alonso-Mora.
- Qifan Luo, "An empirical study on auxiliary task joint-training for diffusion policy." Daily supervisor: Zhaoting Li. Co-supervised with: Jens Kober.
- Zi Huang, "Adaptive Reservoir Actor: auxiliary-objective-guided reservoir adaptation for RL in robot control." Daily supervisor: Chuhan Zhang. Co-supervised with: Luka Peternel.
- Ben Cornelisse, "TETRASCEND: design, fabrication, and validation of a sensorized soft climbing robot." Daily supervisor: Ebrahim Shahabi.
- Weilin Xia, "Ev2Act-Grasp: event-to-action deep RL for dynamic object grasping." Daily supervisor: Chuhan Zhang. Co-supervised with: Michael Wiertlewski.
- Nikhil Nair, "Optimal control of slender soft robots in low-stiffness regimes: a model-based approach." Daily supervisor: Daniel Feliu Talegon. Co-supervised with: Tamas Keviczky.
- Job Keijts, "Soft and intelligent reconfigurable robotic grasping." Daily supervisor: Ebrahim Shahabi.
- Storm de Kam, "Sensing and control of a tactile soft quadruped (TASQ)." Daily supervisor: Ebrahim Shahabi. Co-supervised with: Jens Kober.
- Peiyu Yang, "UPPS-RL: unified predictive and passive safety in quadrupedal locomotion control using RL." Daily supervisor: Jiatao Ding.
- Francesca Poli (Visiting from University of Pisa), "Mixing spiking neurons and mechanical oscillators in reservoir computing." Daily supervisor: Chuhan Zhang.
- Vito Daniele Perfetta, "Model based control of a soft tentacle with complex tendon routing." Daily supervisors: Daniel Feliu Talegon, Ebrahim Shahabi.
- Kian Heus, "Learning inertia decoupling coordinate transformations for underactuated mechanical systems." Daily supervisor: Jingyue Liu. The thesis has yielded a conference paper currently under review.
- Fabio Boekel, "Co-learning of body and brain of a novel quadruped using reinforcement learning" Daily supervisor: Jiatao Ding. The thesis has yielded a paper that is currently under preparation.
- Mia Choi, "Multi-agent RL for optimal portfolio investing." Thesis at Robeco.
- Gabriele Di Marzo (Visiting from Sapienza University of Rome), "Imitation Learning with multi-stable dynamical systems" Daily Supervisors: Maximilian Stoelzle, Rodrigo Perez Dattari, Mariano Ramirez Montero. The thesis has yielded a paper under preparation.
- Lennard Dalenberg, "Adaptive control of soft manipulators holding heavy objects" Daily supervisors: Pietro Pustina
- Sahánd Wagemakers, "Eigenmanifold excitation in underactuated mechanical systems" Daily supervisor: Pietro Pustina
- Justin Vervloet "Visual Servoing for Soft Robotic Handovers" Daily supervisor: Francesco Stella.
- Ricardo Valadas, "Combining symbolic regression and physics informed learning for soft robots." Daily supervisors: Maximilian and Jingyue. The thesis has yielded this conference paper.
- Josh Pho (@University of Pisa) "A Soft Articulated quadruped learning to jump" Main supervisors: Franco Angelini, Manolo Garabini.
- Georgios Apostolides "Learning effective locomotion in articulated soft quadrupeds" Co-supervised with Jens Kober. Daily supervisor: Jiatao. The thesis yielded a conference paper at IROS 2025.
- Ario Maleeq, "A sensorized soft foot for intelligent quadrupeds." Co-Supervised with Michael Wiertlewski.
- Martijn Oetelmans (@University of Freiburg), "A VSA gripper based on an innovative bistable meta-material." Main Supervisor: Edoardo Milana.
- Seb Tiburzio, "Bimanual manipulation of deformable object with non-negligible dynamic response." Daily supervisor: Tomás Coleman. This thesis yielded a journal paper in IEEE Transactions on Robotics.
- Joost van der Heijden (@TUM), "Design of a multi-synergistic robotic hand" Main supervisor: Cristina Piazza.
- Riccardo Sepe (Visiting from PoliTo) "Controlling HSA robots with deep RL." Daily supervisor: Maximilian. External supervisor: Giuseppi Averta.
- Christiaan Wiers (in collaboration with Firefighters Rotterdam) "SLAM in smoky environments for the robot Brutus II"
- Vassil Atanassov, "Deep RL for learning to jump without demonstrations." Daily supervisor: Jiatao. The thesis yielded this journal paper.
- Ghanishtha Bhatti "Model-based control of soft robots." Daily supervisor: Pietro Pustina
- Edoardo Panichi "Jump and landing on uneven terrains with an articulated soft quadruped." Daily supervisor: Jiatao Ding. The thesis yielded this journal paper.
- Gioele Buriani "Learning low dimensional continuous approximations of high dimensional hybrid systems." Daily supervisor: Jingyue Liu
- Sara Boby, "Learning-based control of particles suspended in a fluid through a soft tentacle." Co-supervised with: Angeliki Laskari
- Sam Bekkers (at DLR) "Visual-inertial SLAM with a lunar rover"
- Giovanni Corvi (at the company Fizyr), "Learning to stack packages via reinforcement learning"
- T. Verburg, "Towards the development of a passive adaptive variable stiffness exosuit." Daily supervisor: Sagar Joshi. This thesis yielded a conference paper at BioRob 2024.
- L. van den Bent, "Robotic grasping of vine tomatoes: a learning approach." Main supervisor: Robert Babuska. Daily supervisor: Tomás Coleman.
- Jasper van den Berg (at SSSUP), "Intelligent control of a multi-fingered prosthesis"
- Eveline Drijver (at the company BluePrint Automation), "Reactive Optimal Scheduling for Packaging Tasks." Daily supervisors: Rodrigo Perez Dattari and Zlatan Ajanovic. The thesis yielded this conference paper.
- Maxime Croft "Graph Neural Network for predictive management of pandemics." which yielded this journal paper.
- Mees van Löben Sels "ILC for compliant yet precise locomotion." Co-supervised with: Jiatao Ding, Franco Angelini. This thesis yielded this journal paper.
- Emilio Tavia y Cabrera "Passivity-based Control of Soft Robots with a learned model." Daily supervisor: Pablo Borja. The thesis yielded this conference paper.
- Fernão Bracelly "Non-prehensile manipulation with quadrupeds." Main supervisor: Joris Sijs.
- Francesco Vezzi (from the University of Pisa) "Learning explosive jumping with Reinforcement Learning" Co-supervised with Jens Kober. This thesis yielded this conference paper.
- Milan Akim (from TU Munich), MSc@DLR, "Visual servoing with a soft robotic neck." Co-Supervised with Bastian Deutschmann. This thesis yielded this conference paper.
- Jens Zuurbier (at the company Aris), "Autonomous picking of tomato trusses." Main supervisors: Robert Babuska, and Tomas Coleman.
- Marco Lepri (from University of Pisa), "Deep compression of high-dimensional mechanical systems." Co-Supervised with Davide Bacciu. This thesis yielded this journal paper.
- Thom Konijnenberg (at the company Keygene), "Handling plant cultures in Petri dishes."
- Jingyue Liu "Learning soft robots' dynamics with Lagrangian priors." Co-supervised with Pablo Borja. This thesis yielded this journal publication.
- Rick Elfferich, "Design of a Soft Gripper for Harvesting Small Fruits." Co-supervised with Dimitra Dodou. This thesis yielded this and this journal publications.
- Sjoerd Drost (at the company Moba), "Handling eggs with a flexible arm." Co-Supervised with Gerwin Smit. This thesis yielded this conference publication.
- Lucas Novak Ribeiro (from TU Munich), MSc@DLR, "Model-based control of a tendon-driven soft robot." Co-Supervised with Bastian Deutschmann. This thesis yielded this journal publication.
- Grace Lee, "Synergy-based teleoperation of the SoftHand 2."
- Willem Heeringa, MSc, "Sensorized grippers optimized for fast pick and place." Co-Supervised with: Gerwin Smit. This thesis yielded this conference publication.
- Pietro Pustina (from the Sapienza University of Rome), "Gravity compensation in underactuated models of continuum soft robots," Co-Supervised with Prof. Alessandro De Luca. This thesis yielded this journal publication.
- Lars Besselaar, "Manipulation of Soft Objects." This thesis yielded this conference publication.
- Markus Wagner (from TU Munich), MSc@DLR, "Dynamic Locomotion of the Quadruped Bert using DCM Framework." Co-Supervised with: Dr. Johannes Englsberger, George Mesesan, Prof. Alin Albu-Scheffer.
- Luigi Bono Bonacchi (from Politecnico di Milano), MSc@DLR, "Repetitive control for efficient pick and place motions." Co-Supervised with: Dr. Maximo Roa. This thesis yielded this journal publication.
- Francesco Stella, "Stiffness control in Soft Robotics." This thesis yielded this journal publication.
- Emanuele Rosi (from UniGenova), "Soft Robotic Proprioception through Vision and Models.'' This thesis yielded this conference publication.
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