Francesca Tramacere
Post Doc

About
Francesca Tramacere received her Master Degree in Biomedical Engineering (with honors) from the University of Pisa, in December 2009. In January 2013, she obtained her Ph.D. in Innovative Technologies of Info. & Com. Eng. and Robotics (with honors) from the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna di Pisa with a thesis on the study and analysis of adhesion mechanisms in nature for the development of innovative bioinspired adhesion devices. In 2012, she spent a period as a visiting researcher at the University of Kiel (Germany) collaborating with Pr. Stanislav Gorb. Since 2013, she is a Post-Doc at the Italian Institute of Technology, Center for Micro-BioRobotics (Pontedera). Her research interests are mainly related to robotic solutions inspired by biological systems. She was and still is the tutor of several Ph.D. students with different backgrounds (engineers, biologists, mathematicians, physicists, and biotechnologists). In 2017-18, she was the project manager of an industrial project (details reserved) aimed at the design and development of a robotic solution for harsh environments. She has noteworthy experience in the synthesis and analysis of scientific results and in making presentations for both scientific and not-specialized public. She acts as a reviewer for several international journals in the robotic and biological field.
She is currently the project manager of GrowBot, European project in the framework Horizon 2020 aimed at the development of robotic technologies inspired by climbing plants.
Projects
[GrowBot] (FETPROACT-01-2018, H2020-FETPROACT-2018-2020, Grant agreement no. 824074) - acting as project manager
[Industrial project] (details reserved) - acting as project manager
[RoboCom++] (H2020-FLAG-ERA with Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research) - acting as Post Doc
[Plantoid] (FET-Open, FP7-ICT-2011-C, Grant agreement no. 293431) - acting as Post Doc
[Biological Adhesives: from Biology to Biomimetics] (COST Action TD0906) - acting as Post Doc
IIT Publications
- 2020
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DOI
Climbing Plant-Inspired Micropatterned Devices for Reversible Attachment
Advanced Functional Materials, vol. 30, (no. 38) -
DOI
Plant root penetration and growth as a mechanical inclusion problem
International Journal of Non-Linear Mechanics, vol. 120 -
DOI
Taking inspiration from climbing plants: methodologies and benchmarks-a review
Bioinspiration and Biomimetics, vol. 15, (no. 3) -
DOI
The role of hairs in the adhesion of octopus suckers: a hierarchical peeling approach
Bioinspiration and Biomimetics, vol. 15, (no. 3) - 2019
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DOI
Octopus‐Inspired Soft Arm with Suction Cups for Enhanced Grasping Tasks in Confined Environments
Advanced Intelligent System, vol. 1, (no. 3) -
Octopus-inspired Technologies for Grasping and Manipulation Tasks
Conferenza Italiana di Robotica e Macchine Intelligenti - 2018
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DOI
Artificial system inspired by climbing mechanism of galium aparine fabricated via 3D laser lithography
Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 10928 LNAI, pp. 168-178 -
DOI
A study on plant root apex morphology as a model for soft robots moving in soil
PLoS ONE, vol. 13, (no. 6) -
DOI
From plant root's sloughing and radial expansion mechanisms to a soft probe for soil exploration
2018 IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics, RoboSoft 2018, pp. 71-76 -
DOI
Modular continuum manipulator: Analysis and characterization of its basic module
Biomimetics, vol. 3, (no. 1) -
Robots that grow like plants
American Physical Society - 2017
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DOI
A Biomechanical Characterization of Plant Root Tissues by Dynamic Nanoindentation Technique for Biomimetic Technologies
Lecture Notes in Computer Science -
DOI
Anchoring like octopus: Biologically inspired soft artificial sucker
Journal of the Royal Society Interface, vol. 14, (no. 135) -
DOI
Towards ultra-responsive biodegradable polysaccharide humidity sensors
Materials Today Chemistry, vol. 6, pp. 1-12 - 2015
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DOI
Octopus-like suction cups: From natural to artificial solutions
Bioinspiration and Biomimetics, vol. 10, (no. 3) - 2014
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DOI
Dielectric elastomer actuators for octopus inspired suction cups
Bioinspiration and Biomimetics, vol. 9, (no. 4) -
DOI
Hairy suckers: The surface microstructure and its possible functional significance in the octopus vulgaris sucker
Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology, vol. 5, (no. 1), pp. 561-565 -
DOI
Structure and mechanical properties of Octopus vulgaris suckers
Journal of the Royal Society Interface, vol. 11, (no. 91) -
DOI
Unveiling the morphology of the acetabulum in octopus suckers and its role in attachment
Interface Focus, vol. 5, (no. 1), pp. 1-5 - 2013
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Adhesion mechanism in Octopus vulgaris
COST - Biological adhesives: from biology to biomimetics -
DOI
Octopus-inspired innovative suction cups
Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 8064 LNAI, pp. 368-370 -
DOI
Octopus Suckers Identification Code (OSIC)
Marine and Freshwater Behaviour and Physiology, vol. 46, (no. 6), pp. 447-453 -
DOI
Osmotic actuation modelling for innovative biorobotic solutions inspired by the plant kingdom
Bioinspiration and Biomimetics, vol. 8, (no. 2) -
DOI
The Morphology and Adhesion Mechanism of Octopus vulgaris Suckers
PLoS ONE, vol. 8, (no. 6) -
DOI
What can we learn from the octopus?
Biological and biomimetic adhesives, Publisher: The Royal Society of Chemistry - 2012
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DOI
Artificial adhesion mechanisms inspired by octopus suckers
Proceedings - IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, pp. 3846-3851 -
DOI
Design of adhesion device inspired by octopus sucker
Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 7375 LNAI, pp. 400-401 -
What can we learn from Octopus?
COST - Biological adhesives: from biology to biomimetics - 2011
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DOI
Adhesion mechanisms inspired by octopus suckers
Procedia Computer Science, vol. 7, pp. 192-193 -
Study of the morphology of Octopus vulgaris sucker as a model for innovative artificial adhesion mechanisms
Euroceph meeting 2011: Cephalopod Biology Research in the 21st Century - A European Perspective
Awards
Living Machines Award for Best Demonstration
Octopus-inspired innovative suction cups
Living Machines 2013: The 2nd International Conference on Biomimetics and Biohybrid System, 29th July - 2nd August 2013, Natural History Museum, London.
Best interactive presentation
Octopus-inspired Technologies for Grasping and Manipulation Tasks
1st Italian Conference on Robotics and Intelligent Machines, 19th - 20th October 2020, Rome.