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Launching in Fall 2022

Giuseppe Loianno

Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

Email: loiannog@berkeley.edu

Giuseppe Loianno is an associate professor at the UC Berkeley, USA and director of the Agile Robotics and Perception Lab (https://arplaboratory.github.io/) working on autonomous robots. He received a Ph.D. in robotics from University of Naples ”Federico II”, Italy in 2014. Prior joining UC Berkeley he was an associate professor at NYU and prior to that he was post-doctoral researcher, research scientist and team leader at the GRASP Lab at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, USA. Dr. Loianno has published more than 70 conference papers, journal papers, and book chapters. His research interests include perception, learning, and control for autonomous robots. He received the NSF CAREER Award in 2022 and DARPA Young Faculty Award in 2022. He is recipient of the IROS Toshio Fukuda Young Professional Award in 2022, Conference Editorial Board Best Associate Editor Award at ICRA 2022, Best Reviewer Award at ICRA 2016, and he was selected as Rising Star in AI from KAUST in 2023. He is also currently the co-chair of the IEEE RAS Technical Committee on Aerial Robotics and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. He was the the general chair of the IEEE International Symposium on Safety, Security and Rescue Robotics (SSRR) in 2021 as well as program chair in 2019, 2020, and 2022. His work has been featured in a large number of renowned international news and magazines.

Research Description

Giuseppe Loianno develops perception, learning, and control algorithms that enable agile, autonomous robots—especially aerial robots—to navigate complex, dynamic environments. His research advances perception, learning, and control for agile and collaborative autonomous robots with minimal human supervision. Loianno’s work links rigorous control theory with data-driven perception and real-time systems, producing open-source tools and benchmarks that transfer from laboratory settings to field deployments. Applications include autonomous inspection, search-and-rescue, and human–robot collaboration.

Loianno is an Associate Professor in UC Berkeley’s Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences. Previously at NYU, he has led academic–industry collaborations and serves on editorial boards in robotics. His expertise centers on autonomous robot perception and control, combining visual sensing, machine learning, and systems

Research Centers

Research Interests

  • Robotics, artificial intelligence, visual perception

Education

  • Ph.D., Computer and Control Engineering, University of Naples “Federico II”
  • M.S., Automation Engineering, University of Naples “Federico II”
  • B.S., Automation Engineering, University of Naples “Federico II”

Publications

  • G. LOIANNO, Y. Mulgaonkar, and V. Kumar, “Description Systems, devices and methods for on-board sensing and control of Micro Aerial Vehicles”, accepted, 2018.
  • G. LOIANNO, D. Thakur, W. Liu, J. Wang, and V. Kumar, “Unmanned Aerial Systems for Exploring Hazardous Environments”, provisional filed, pending, 2017. 2/12
  • J. Cacace, A. Finzi, V. Lippiello, G. LOIANNO, and D. Sanzone, “Aerial Service Vehicles for Industrial Inspection: Task Decomposition and Plan Execution”, Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence, Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg, Germany, 2013. International Journal Papers
  • J. Cacace, A. Finzi, V. Lippiello, G. LOIANNO, and D. Sanzone, “Aerial Service Vehicles for Industrial Inspection: Task Decomposition and Plan Execution”, Applied Intelligence, Springer, 2014.
  • J. Thomas, G. LOIANNO, J. Polin, K. Sreenath, and V. Kumar, “Toward autonomous avian-inspired grasping for micro aerial vehicles”, Bioinspiration and Biomimetics, vol. 9, no. 2, p. 025010, June 2014.
  • G. LOIANNO, G. Cross, C. Qu, Y. Mulgaonkar, J. A. Hesch, and V. Kumar, “Flying Smartphones: Automated Flight Enabled by Consumer Electronics”, IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine, June 2015.
  • R. Tron, J. Thomas, G. LOIANNO, K. Daniilidis, and V. Kumar, “A Distributed Optimization Framework for Localization and Formation Control with Applications to Vision-Based Measurements”, IEEE Control Systems Magazine, 2016.
  • J. Thomas, M. Pope, G. LOIANNO, E. W. Hawkes, M. A. Estrada, H. Jiang, M. R. Cutkosky, and V. Kumar, “Aggressive Flight for Perching on Inclined Surfaces”, Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics, 2016.
  • J. Thomas, G. LOIANNO, K. Daniilidis, and V. Kumar, “Visual Servoing of Quadrotors for Perching by Hanging from Cylindrical Objects”, IEEE RA-L Robotics and Automation Letters, January, 2016.
  • M. Saska, T. Baca, J. Thomas, J. Chudoba, L. Preucil, T. Krajnik, J. Faigl, G. LOIANNO, and V. Kumar, “System for Stabilization of Micro Aerial Vehicle Swarms using onboard Visual Relative Localization”, Autonomous Robots, 2016.
  • M. Saska, V. Vonásek, J. Chudoba, J. Chudoba, J. Thomas, G. LOIANNO, and, V. Kumar, “Swarm Distribution and Deployment for Cooperative Surveillance by Micro-Aerial Vehicles”, Journal of Intelligent & Robotic Systems, 2016.
  • G. LOIANNO, C. Brunner, G Mcgrath, and V. Kumar, “Estimation, Control and Planning for Aggressive Flight with a Small Quadrotor with a Single Camera and IMU”, IEEE RA-L Robotics and Automation Letters and ICRA, 2017.
  • G. LOIANNO, Y. Mulgaonkar, C. Brunner, D. Ahuja, A. Ramanandan, M. Chari, S. Diaz, and V. Kumar, “Autonomous Flight and Cooperative Control for Reconstruction using Aerial Robots Powered by Smartphones”, The International Journal of Robotics Research, IJRR, accepted, 2018.
  • A. Santamaria–Navarro, G. LOIANNO, J. Solà, V. Kumar, and J. Andrade–Cetto, “Autonomous Navigation of Micro Aerial Vehicles using Fast and Low-cost Sensors”, Autonomous Robots, minor revision, 2017.
  • J. Thomas, J. Welde, G. LOIANNO, K. Daniilidis, and V. Kumar, “Autonomous Flight for Detection, Localization, and Tracking of Moving Targets with a Small Quadrotor”, IEEE RA-L Robotics and Automation Letters, 2017 and IROS 2017. 3/1213. T. Ozaslan, G. LOIANNO, J. Keller, C. J. Taylor, and V. Kumar , “Autonomous Navigation and Mapping for Inspections of Penstocks and Tunnels with MAVs”, IEEE RA-L Robotics and Automation Letters, 2017 and IROS 2017.
  • K. Mohta, S. Liu, M. Watterson, ···, G. LOIANNO, and V. Kumar, “Estimation, Control and Planning for High Speed Flight with a Quadrotor using On–board Sensing” Journal of Field Robotics, 2017.
  • G. LOIANNO and V. Kumar, “Cooperative Transportation using Small Quadrotors using Monocular Vision and Inertial Sensing”, IEEE RA-L Robotics and Automation Letters and ICRA, 2018.
  • A. Weinstein, A. Cho, G. LOIANNO, and V. Kumar, “VIO-Swarm: A Swarm of 250g Quadrotors”, IEEE RA-L Robotics and Automation Letters and ICRA, 2018, accepted.
  • G. LOIANNO, V. Spurny, T. Baca, J. Thomas, D. Thakur, T. Krajnik, A. Zhou, A. Cho, M. Saska, and V. Kumar, “Localization, Grasping, and Transportation of Magnetic Objects by a team of MAVs in Challenging Desert like Environments”, IEEE RA-L Robotics and Automation Letters and ICRA, 2018.
  • T. Baca, S. Petr, V. Spurny, D. Hert, R. Penicka, M. Saska, J. Thomas, D. Thakur, G. Loianno, and V. Kumar, “Autonomous Landing on a Moving Vehicle with an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle”, Journal of Field Robotics, 2017, minor revision.
  • V. Spurny, T. Baca, M. Saska, R. Penicka , T. Krajnik, J. Thomas, D. Thakur, G. Loianno, and V. Kumar, “Cooperative Autonomous Search, Grasping and Delivering in a Treasure Hunt Scenario by a Team of UAVs”, Journal of Field Robotics, 2018, accepted.
  • G. LOIANNO, D. Scaramuzza, and V. Kumar, “Special Issue on High-Speed VisionBased Autonomous Navigation of UAVs”, Journal of Field Robotics, 2018.
  • T. Ozaslan, G. LOIANNO, J. Keller, C. J. Taylor, and V. Kumar , “Spatio-Temporally Smooth Local Mapping and State Estimation inside Generalized Cylinders with Micro Aerial Vehicles”, IEEE RA-L Robotics and Automation Letters, 2018 and IROS 2018.
  • V. Lippiello, G. LOIANNO and B. Siciliano “MAV Indoor Navigation Based on a Closed-Form Solution for Absolute Scale Velocity Estimation Using Optical Flow and Inertial Data”, IEEE International conference on Decision and Control December 2011, Orlando, Florida.
  • V. Lippiello, G. LOIANNO, and B. Siciliano “MAV Indoor Obstacles Avoidance Based on the Online Computation of the Absolute Depth Map Using Optical Flow and Inertial Data” Accepted to: IFAC SYROCO International Symposium on Robot Control September, 2012 Dubrovnik Croatia
  • J. Cacace, A. Finzi, V. Lippiello, G. LOIANNO, and D. Sanzone, “Aerial Service Vehicles for Industrial Inspection: Task Decomposition and Plan Execution” , 26th International Conference on Industrial, Engineering and other Applications of Applied Intelligent Systems, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2013. Nomination for the Best Paper Award
  • J. Cacace, A. Finzi, V. Lippiello, G. LOIANNO, and D. Sanzone, “Integrated Planning and Execution for an Aerial Service Vehicle”, 23rd International Conference on Auto4/12mated Planning and Scheduling, Workshop on Planning and Robotics, Rome, Italy, June 2013.
  • J. Thomas, J. Polin, G. LOIANNO, K. Sreenath, and V. Kumar, “Avian-Inspired Grasping for Quadrotor MAVs”, RSS Robotics Science and Systems Conference, Workshop on Aerial Mobile Manipulation, 24-28 June 2013, Berlin, Germany.
  • F. Cordella, F. Di Corato, G. LOIANNO, L. Zollo, and B. Siciliano, “Robust Pose Estimation Algorithm for Wrist Motion Tracking”, IEEE/RSJ Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 3-7 November 2013, Tokyo, Japan. 7. G. LOIANNO, V. Lippiello, C. Fischione and B. Siciliano, “Visual and Inertial MultiRate Data Fusion for Motion Estimation via Pareto-Optimization”, IEEE/RSJ Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 3-7 November 2013, Tokyo, Japan.
  • G. LOIANNO, J. Thomas, K. Mohta, K. Sreenath, and V. Kumar, “From autonomous grasping and navigation to cooperative localization for micro aerial vehicles”, IEEE/RSJ Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, Workshop From RemotelyControlled to Autonomous Collaborative Robots, 3-7 November 2013, Tokyo, Japan.
  • G. LOIANNO, J. Thomas, K. Mohta, S. Shen, K. Sreenath, and V. Kumar, “Vision based navigation, grasping and localization for micro aerial vehicles”, IEEE/RSJ Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, Workshop Vision-based Closed-Loop Control and Navigation of Micro Helicopters in GPS-denied Environments, 3-7 November 2013, Tokyo, Japan.
  • G. LOIANNO, V. Lippiello, and B. Siciliano, “Fast Localization and 3D Mapping using a RGB-D Sensor”, IEEE International Conference on Advanced Robotics, 25-29 November 2013, Montevideo, Uruguay.
  • J. Thomas, G. LOIANNO, K. Sreenath, and V. Kumar, “Toward Image Based Visual Servoing for Aerial Grasping and Perching”, IEEE/ICRA International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 31 May-7 June 2014, Hong Kong, China.
  • M. Saska, J. Chudoba, L. Precil, J. Thomas, G. LOIANNO, A. Tresnak, V. Vonasek, and V. Kumar, “Autonomous deployment of swarms of micro-aerial vehicles in cooperative surveillance”, International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (ICUAS), Orlando, USA, 2014.
  • M. Saska, J. Chudoba, L. Precil, J. Thomas, G. LOIANNO, and V. Kumar, “Plume Tracking by a Self-Stabilized Group of Micro Aerial Vehicles”, Modelling and Simulation for Autonomous System Workshop, Rome, 2014.
  • R. Tron, J. Thomas, G. LOIANNO, J. Polin, V. Kumar, and K. Daniilidis, “Vision-based Formation Control of Aerial Vehicles”, RSS Robotics Science and Systems, Distributed Control and Estimation for Robotic Vehicle Networks, Berkeley, USA, July 2014.
  • G. LOIANNO, J. Thomas and V. Kumar, “Cooperative Localization and Mapping of MAVs using RGB-D Sensors”, IEEE/ICRA International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 26-30 May 2015, Seattle, USA.
  • J. Thomas, G. LOIANNO, M. Pope, E. W. Hawkes, M. A. Estrada, H. Jiang, M. R. Cutkosky, and V. Kumar, “Planning and Control of Aggresive Maneuvers for Perching on Inclined and Vertical Surfaces”, International Design Engineering Technical Conferences & Computers and Information in Engineering Conference (IDETC/CIE), 2015. 5/12
  • G. LOIANNO, Y. Mulgaonkar, C. Brunner, D. Ahuja, A. Ramanandan, M. Chari, S. Diaz, and V. Kumar, “Smartphones Power Flying Robots”, IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 28 September-2 October 2015, Hamburg, Germany.
  • A. Belenguer, G. LOIANNO, V. Kumar, and J. Civera, “Visual-Inertial Direct SLAM”, IEEE/ICRA International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Stockholm, 2016.
  • G. LOIANNO, M. Watterson, and V. Kumar, “Visual Inertial Odometry for Quadrotors on SE(3)”, IEEE/ICRA International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Stockholm, 2016.
  • G. LOIANNOandV.Kumar, “Vision-based Fast Navigation of Micro Aerial Vehicles”, SPIE conference, Baltimore, April 2016.
  • J. Thomas, G. LOIANNO, K. Daniilidis and V. Kumar, “The Role of Vision in landing, Perching and Grasping for MAV”, SPIE conference, Baltimore, April 2016.
  • G. LOIANNO, Y. Mulgaonkar, C. Brunner, D. Ahuja, A. Ramanandan, M. Chari, S. Diaz, and V. Kumar, “A Swarm of Flying Smartphones”, IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 10-14 October 2016, Daejeon, South Korea.
  • R. Tron, J. Thomas, G. LOIANNO, K. Daniilidis, and V. Kumar, “Bearing-Only Formation Control with Auxiliary Distance Measurements, Leaders, and Collision Avoidance”, IEEE International Conference on Decision and Control 2016, Las Vegas, USA.
  • T. Baca, G. LOIANNO, M. Saska, “Embedded Model Predictive Control of Unmanned Micro Aerial Vehicles”, IEEE 21st International Conference on Methods and Models in Automation and Robotics (MMAR), Miedzyzdroje, Poland, 2016.
  • M. Saska, T. Baca, V. Spurny, G. LOIANNO, J. Thomas, T. Krajnik, P. Stepan, and V. Kumar, “Vision-based high-speed autonomous landing and cooperative objects grasping- towards the MBZIRC competition”, IEEE/RSJ Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, Workshop High-Speed Autonomous Navigation of UAVs, 10-14 October 2016, Daejeon, South Korea.
  • W. Liu, G. LOIANNO, K. Mohta, K. Daniilidis, and V. Kumar, “Semi-Dense VisualInertial Odometry and Mapping for Quadrotors with SWAP Constraints”, IEEE/ICRA International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2018.
  • J. Svacha, K. Mohta, G. LOIANNO, and V. Kumar, “Inertial Velocity Estimation for Quadrotors”, IEEE/RSJ Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 2018.
  • J. Svacha, K. Mohta, G. LOIANNO, and V. Kumar, “Inertial Velocity Estimation for Quadrotors”, IEEE/RSJ Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 2018.
  • T. Baca, D. Hert , G. Loianno, V. Kumar and M. Saska, “Model Predictive Trajectory Tracking and Collision Avoidance for Reliable Outdoor Deployment of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles”, IEEE/RSJ Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 2018.
  • G. Loianno, D. Thakur, W. Liu and V. Kumar, “Nuclear Environments Inspection with Micro Aerial Vehicles: Algorithms and Experiments”, International Symposium on Experimental Robotics, 2018.
  • G. LOIANNO, “Flying Robots: Agile Autonomous Navigation, Transportation and 6/12Physical Interaction”, IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, Workshop on Vision-based Agile Autonomous Navigation of UAVs, Vancouver, Canada, September, 2017.
  • G. LOIANNO, “Research Challenges and Opportunities for Autonomous Inspection of Penstocks and Agile Navigation with MAVs”, IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, Workshop on Perception and Planning for Robotic Inspection, Vancouver Canada, September, 2017.
  • G. LOIANNO, “Vision-based Fast and Aggressive Navigation with MAVs”, IEEE International Confenrence on Decision and Control (CDC), Perception, Control and Planning for Agile Autonomous Agents Workshop, Las Vegas, December 2016.
  • G. LOIANNO, “MBZIRC competition: Challenges, Results and Social Impacts of the 2017 competition”, Workshop Challenges in Robot Competitions, IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, Daejeon, October, 2016.
  • G. LOIANNO, “Vision-based Fast Localization and Environment Interaction with MAVs”, Vision-based High Speed Autonomous Navigation of UAVs, IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 2 October 2015, Hamburg, Germany.
  • G. LOIANNO, “Flying Robots: Fast Autonomous Navigation and Physical Interaction”, Temple University, Sbarro Research Center, Philadelphia, March 2016.
  • G. LOIANNO, “Flying Robots: Fast Autonomous Navigation and Physical Interaction”, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, February 2016.
  • G. LOIANNO, “Aerial Manipulation of Suspended Payloads”, Aerial Manipulation and Load Transportation Workshop, IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Seattle, 2015.
  • G. LOIANNO, “Fast Localization and Environment Interaction with MAVs”, Visionbased Control and Navigation of Small Lightweight UAVs workshop, IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 2 October 2015, Hamburg, Germany.
  • G. LOIANNO, “Vision-based Navigation, Planning and Control of Micro Aerial Vehicles”, University of Mayland College Park, April 2015.
  • G.LOIANNO,”Smartphones Power Flying Robots”, RSSRobotics Science and Systems, Workshop on Resource-efficient Integration of Planning and Perception for True Autonomous Operation of Micro Air Vehicles (MAVs), Berkeley, July 2014.
  • G. LOIANNO, “Visual Navigation, 3D Mapping and Reconstruction for MAVs”, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, April 2013.