Dr Claudio Zito
Claudio Zito
- Job title
- Assistant Professor
- Role
- Assistant Professor
- Section
- School of Mathematical & Computer Sciences
About
Dr Claudio Zito is an Assistant Professor at the School of Mathematical and Computer Science in Heriot-Watt University Dubai since 2023. He teaches programming, databases, and intelligent robotics to UG and PG in AI and Data Sciences courses.
Prior to joining HWUD, Claudio was a Lead Scientist in Robot Control and Learning at the Technology Innovation Institute in Abu Dhabi. Previously, he was an Assistant Professor in AI and Computer Science at the University of Birmingham, UK.
Biography
Academic Leadership and Affiliations:
- Course leader for MSc Research Proposal course in HWUD
- IEEE member
- Member of UAE’s AI Expert board (2020-2023)
Qualifications
- PhD in AI and Robotics from the University of Birmingham, UK (2015)
- MPhil in AI and ML from the University of Pisa, IT (2010)
- BSc in Mathematical and Computer Science from the University of Siena, IT (2006)
Research
Dr. Claudio Zito’s primary research interest lies in Cognitive Robotics—the endeavor to equip a robot with intelligent behaviors for navigating uncertain and unfamiliar environments. His expertise spans several domains, including probabilistic robotics, robot planning and learning, robot manipulation, and generative models.
Dr. Zito has made significant contributions to the field. He participated in two European FP7 projects focused on robot manipulation (GeRT and PaCMan). Additionally, he collaborated on various cognitive robotics projects funded by the EPSRC, including a partnership with the UK National Nuclear Centre. At TII, he led the robot control and learning group.
His scholarly impact is evident through the publication of 20+ research papers in peer-reviewed academic journals and international conferences. Dr. Zito’s work continues to advance the field of Cognitive Robotics and shape the future of intelligent robotic systems.
Publications
ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-2943-3518
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=HUHD3p4AAAAJ&hl=en
ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Claudio-Zito
C. Zito and E. Ferrante. “One-shot learning for autonomous aerial manipulation”. Frontiers in Robotics and AI, 2022.
S. Veselic, C. Zito and D. Farina. “Human-Robot Interaction with Robust Prediction of Movement Intention Surpasses Manual Control”. Frontiers in Neurorobotics, 2021.
R. Howard and C. Zito. “Learning Transferable Push Manipulation Skills in Novel Contexts”. Frontiers in Neurorobotics, 2021.
J. Stüber, C. Zito and R. Stolkin. “Let's Push Things Forward: A Survey on Robot Pushing”. Frontiers in Robotics and AI, 7:8. 2020.
C. J. Rosales, F. Spinelli, M. Gabiccini, C. Zito and J. L. Wyatt. “GPAtlasRRT: A Local Tactile Exploration Planner for Recovering the Shape of Novel Objects”. Int’l Journal of Humanoid Robotics (IJHR). Volume 15, Issue 01, 27 pp. 2018.
K. Heiwolt, C. Zito, M. Nowak, C. Castellini and R. Stolkin. “Automatic Detection of Myocontrol Failures Based upon Situational Context Information”. Proc. of IEEE/RAS-EMBS Int’l Conf. on Rehabilitation Robotics (ICORR). 2019.
J. Stüber, M. Kopicki and C. Zito. “Feature-Based Transfer Learning for Robotic Push Manipulation”. Proc. of IEEE Int’l Conf. on Robotics and Automation (ICRA). 2018.
C. Zito, M. S. Kopicki, R. Stolkin, C. Borst, F. Schmidt, M. A. Roa and J. L. Wyatt. “Sequential Trajectory Re-Planning with Tactile Information Gain for Dextrous Grasping under Object-Pose Uncertainty”. Proc. of IEEE/RSJ Int’l Conf. on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), pp. 2013-2040. 2013.
C. Zito, R. Stolkin, M. Kopicki, J. L. Wyatt. “Two-level RRT Planner for Robotic Push Manipulation”. Proc. of IEEE/RSJ Int’l Conf. on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), pp. 678-685. 2012.