Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia

About: Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia is a facility organization based out in Genoa, Italy. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Robot & Humanoid robot. The organization has 4561 authors who have published 14595 publications receiving 437558 citations. The organization is also known as: Italian Institute of Technology & IIT.

Hot-electron nanoscopy using adiabatic compression of surface plasmons

Abstract: Surface plasmon polaritons are a central concept in nanoplasmonics and have been exploited to develop ultrasensitive chemical detection platforms, as well as imaging and spectroscopic techniques at the nanoscale. Surface plasmons can decay to form highly energetic (or hot) electrons in a process that is usually thought to be parasitic for applications, because it limits the lifetime and propagation length of surface plasmons and therefore has an adverse influence on the functionality of nanoplasmonic devices. Recently, however, it has been shown that hot electrons produced by surface plasmon decay can be harnessed to produce useful work in photodetection, catalysis and solar energy conversion. Nevertheless, the surface-plasmon-to-hot-electron conversion efficiency has been below 1% in all cases. Here we show that adiabatic focusing of surface plasmons on a Schottky diode-terminated tapered tip of nanoscale dimensions allows for a plasmon-to-hot-electron conversion efficiency of ∼30%. We further demonstrate that, with such high efficiency, hot electrons can be used for a new nanoscopy technique based on an atomic force microscopy set-up. We show that this hot-electron nanoscopy preserves the chemical sensitivity of the scanned surface and has a spatial resolution below 50 nm, with margins for improvement.

Challenges and prospects of the role of solid electrolytes in the revitalization of lithium metal batteries

Abstract: The scientific community is continuously committed to the search for new high energy electrochemical storage devices. In this regard, lithium metal batteries, due to their very high electrochemical energy storage capacity, appear to be a highly appealing choice. Unfortunately, the use of lithium metal as the anode may lead to some safety hazards due to its uneven deposition upon charging, resulting in dendrite growth and eventual shorting of the battery. This issue may be successfully addressed by using intrinsically safer electrolytes capable of establishing a physical barrier at the electrode interface. The most promising candidates are solid electrolytes, either polymeric or inorganic. The main purpose of this review is to describe the present status of worldwide research on these electrolyte materials together with a critical discussion of their transport properties and compatibility with metallic lithium, hoping to provide some general guidelines for the development of innovative and safe lithium metal batteries.

Learning Physical Collaborative Robot Behaviors From Human Demonstrations

Abstract: Robots are becoming safe and smart enough to work alongside people not only on manufacturing production lines, but also in spaces such as houses, museums, or hospitals. This can be significantly exploited in situations in which a human needs the help of another person to perform a task, because a robot may take the role of the helper. In this sense, a human and the robotic assistant may cooperatively carry out a variety of tasks, therefore requiring the robot to communicate with the person, understand his/her needs, and behave accordingly. To achieve this, we propose a framework for a user to teach a robot collaborative skills from demonstrations. We mainly focus on tasks involving physical contact with the user, in which not only position, but also force sensing and compliance become highly relevant. Specifically, we present an approach that combines probabilistic learning, dynamical systems, and stiffness estimation to encode the robot behavior along the task. Our method allows a robot to learn not only trajectory following skills, but also impedance behaviors. To show the functionality and flexibility of our approach, two different testbeds are used: a transportation task and a collaborative table assembly.

Mirror neurons: from discovery to autism

Abstract: a report on asurprising set of neurons that we (Giuseppe Di Pellegrino,Luciano Fadiga, Leonardo Fogassi, Vittorio Gallese) hadfound in the ventral premotor cortex of the monkey. Thefundamental characteristic of these neurons was that theydischarged both when the monkey performed a certainmotor act (e.g., grasping an object) and when it observedanother individual (monkey or human) performing that or asimilar motor act (Di Pellegrino et al. 1992). These neuronsare now known as mirror neurons (Fig. 1).

Methylammonium Rotational Dynamics in Lead Halide Perovskite by Classical Molecular Dynamics: The Role of Temperature

Abstract: An interatomic model potential for molecular dynamics is derived from first-principles and used to study the molecular rotations and relaxation times in methylammonium lead halide, here considered the prototypical example of a hybrid crystal with a strong reorientational dynamics. Within the limits of a simple ionic scheme, the potential is able to catch the main qualitative features of the material at zero and finite temperature and opens the way to the development of classical potentials for hybrid perovskites. In agreement with experiments and previous theoretical findings, the molecule trajectories exhibit a transition from a dynamics dominated by high symmetry directions at low temperature to a fast dynamics at room temperature in which the molecule can reorient quasi-randomly. By computing the angular time correlation function we discuss the reorientational time as a function of temperature in comparison with existing literature, providing a simple model and a clear attribution of the relaxation tim...