Nicola Saltarelli
Robotics & AI Engineer
About Me
I am a Robotics & AI Engineer with a strong academic foundation in Automation Engineering (M.Sc. with Honors). My expertise lies at the intersection of classical control theory and modern artificial intelligence applied to robotics.
Currently working as a Research Fellow, I specialize in Autonomous Systems, focusing on Reinforcement Learning and Computer Vision. I am driven by the challenge of building robust robotic systems that can perceive, learn, and act in dynamic environments.
Education
Politecnico di Bari
M.Sc. in Automation Engineering
Politecnico di Bari
B.Sc. in Computer and Automation Engineering
I.T.E.T. Blaise Pascal
High School Diploma (Administration & Marketing)
Experience
Research Fellow
Politecnico di Bari
Conducting R&D activities focused on producing scientific papers in the fields of Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, and Computer Vision.
MSc Research Intern (Master Thesis)
Politecnico di Bari
Thesis: "Online Reinforcement Learning for Adaptive Gain Tuning in Image-Based Visual Servoing".
- Designed a high-fidelity ROS 2 (Jazzy) / Gazebo environment for a UR5e manipulator.
- Implemented real-time Cartesian velocity control using MoveIt Servo.
- Developed a Continuous Action Q-Learning (CAQL) algorithm for adaptive IBVS.
- Integrated YOLO and AprilTag (OpenCV) for robust tracking in dynamic environments.
Selected Projects
Online RL for Adaptive Gain Tuning in IBVS
Adaptive IBVS controller for UR5e manipulator based on Reinforcement Learning.
LPBF thermal monitoring deep learning
Engineered a Computer Vision pipeline based on a modified ResNet-18 architecture to monitor Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) processes, classifying laser power and scanning speed from thermal images.
Turtlebot3 Autonomous Exploration
Autonomous exploration system implementation using TurtleBot3, ROS2, and Gazebo.
Motion Control with NN
Motion control of a 6-DOF manipulator using Neural Networks.
Snake on FPGA DE10-Lite
Hardware implementation of the Snake game on FPGA using VHDL.
Position Control of Linear Actuator
Design and implementation of a position control system for a linear actuator.
Trajectory Planning Niryo Ned 2
Trajectory planning algorithms and code for the Niryo Ned 2 robot.
JustChat
Real-time messaging web application similar to WhatsApp Web.