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Antonio Rapuano
Control engineer. I work on aerial robots and other autonomous systems — from modeling and control design to embedded implementation and testing.
Discipline
Control + Robotics
Currently
PhD @ Sapienza
Field
Aerial robotics
Based in
Rome, Italy
Featured
Selected work.
01 / 02
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Stingray — a tilt-tricopter VTOL for the SUAS Competition
With Sapienza Flight Team, designed planning and control architecture for vertical and transition flight modes, including safety features. Validated in simulation and field tests.
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Self-balancing two-wheeled robot
Built ground-up: 3D-printed chassis, hand-soldered circuit, Kalman-filtered state estimation, and a custom PID control law in C++. Runs on Arduino.
Archive
Research archive.
Publications and theses.
Feb '26
Nonlinear Predictive Control of the Continuum and Hybrid Dynamics of a Suspended Deformable Cable for Aerial Pick and Place
A. Rapuano, Y. Shen, F. Califano, C. Gabellieri, A. Franchi · Accepted at IEEE ICRA 2026
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Preprint
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Jul '25
Nonlinear predictive control of a suspended deformable cable for aerial pick and place
Master's thesis · Sapienza University of Rome · 110/110 cum laude
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Thesis · M.Sc.
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Feb '22
FPGA implementation of an electronic circuit controlling a mechanical arm
Bachelor's thesis · University of Sannio · 110/110 cum laude
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Thesis · B.Sc.
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Curriculum
Experience and education.
Experience
Co-founder — Volar Robotics
May '26 — Present
Co-founding a robotics startup focused on aerial manipulation.
Research Engineer — Sapienza
Aug '25 — Apr '26
SOAR-Touch project. Soft optical tactile sensing for energy-efficient aerial interactions. Control + tactile perception on a hexarotor.
Autopilot Engineer — Sapienza Flight Team
Oct '24 — Jul '25
Tilt-rotor VTOL for the SUAS Competition. Planning and control software for vertical and transition flight. Validated in simulation and field tests.
Race Timing Specialist & Lead — ICRON
Sep '18 — Present
Race-day timing setup and real-time results validation. Progressed from technician to team lead.
Education
Ph.D. in Automatic Control, Bioengineering & OR — Sapienza
Nov '25 — Present
Working on modeling and control for aerial manipulation.
M.Sc. in Control Engineering — Sapienza
Sep '22 — Jul '25 · 110/110 cum laude
Thesis on nonlinear predictive control of a suspended deformable cable for aerial pick-and-place.
B.Sc. in Electronic Engineering (Automation) — UniSannio
Sep '18 — Feb '22 · 110/110 cum laude
Thesis on FPGA implementation of an electronic circuit controlling a mechanical arm.
Contact