Category: Team members

Thomas Voisin

Technician

Email: thomas.voisin@inria.fr
Address:
IRISA, INRIA Rennes – Bretagne Atlantique
Campus Universitaire de Beaulieu
35042 Rennes, France

Short bio

Après un BTS dans l’imprimerie en apprentissage à Grafipolis et 3 années à travailler dans ce domaine j’ai pris la décision de rajouter une dimension aux compétences que j’ai pu acquérir et de me reconvertir dans l’impression 3D.

Cela m’a amené à faire une formation de « maker » à Buroscope en 2020 où j’ai appris les bases de la modélisation et de l’impression 3D pendant 6 mois. J’ai ensuite continuer à explorer le domaine de la fabrication additive en m’autoformant et en effectuant des stages dans les fablabs de Bretagne.

Depuis septembre 2022, j’ai le plaisir de faire partit de l’équipe RAINBOW pour travailler sur le projet DORNELL.

Maxime Manzano

PhD Student

Email: maxime.manzano@inria.fr
Address:
IRISA, INRIA Rennes – Bretagne Atlantique
Campus Universitaire de Beaulieu
35042 Rennes, France

Supervisors

Marie Babel (Rainbow team, Irisa Rennes, marie.babel@irisa.fr)

Sylvain Guégan (Rainbow team, LGCGM, INSA de Rennes, sylvain.guegan@insa-rennes.fr)

Ronan Le Breton (LGCGM, INSA de Rennes, ronan.le-breton@insa-rennes.fr)

Bio

I discovered my interest in mechatronics during my high school, enjoying to participate to some projects (and starting my endless relationship with Arduino ♥).

Since then, I’ve never stop studying mechatronics, specializing myself in robotics. Indeed, I participated in electronics, mechanics and computer science courses as well as some projects at the department of mechatronics of the ENS Rennes between 2018 and 2022. To specialize myself in robotics, I did a mobility in Nantes in 2021 to follow the M2 CORO IMARO at the École Centrale de Nantes.

In 2020, I obtained the mechatronics « agrégation » that enables me to get some teaching positions.

I started my Ph.D in 2022. I work on a robotic solution to support people with muscle weaknesses in the upper-limb to continue performing their activities of daily living in autonomy. I work on a new mechanical design that would better support the arm and a shared-control framework to reduce the user’s cognitive load to control it.

José Eduardo Aguilar Segovia

PhD

Email: jose-eduardo.aguilar-segovia@inria.fr
Address:
IRISA, INRIA Rennes – Bretagne Atlantique
Campus Universitaire de Beaulieu
35042 Rennes, France

Short bio

Born in Mexico City, Mexico. I have particular interests in medical sector, haptic technologies, control, system mechanics and materials.

Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, specializing in Mechatronics in 2022 from Compiègne Technological University.

PhD student since October 2022 at the National Institute of applied sciences (INSA) and Inria Rennes. 

Thesis subject: “Design of haptic feedback using innovative shapeable materials” within the DORNELL project. 

PhD’s supervisors:

• Marie Babel (Rainbow team, Irisa Rennes, marie.babel@irisa.fr) 
• Sylvain Lefebvre (MFX team, Inria Nancy, sylvain.lefebvre@inria.fr) 
• Sylvain Guégan (ECSR team, LGCGM, INSA de Rennes, sylvain.guegan@insa-rennes.fr)

The aim of the Dornell project (Inria Challenge) is to propose an innovative multisensory, multimodal, smart haptic handle that can be easily plugged onto a wide range of mobility aids, including white canes, precanes, walkers, and power wheelchairs.

The goal of my PHD project is to design and fabricate a multimodal, multisensory, ergonomic, soft, compact, portable, customizable handle able to provide multiple haptic sensations (related to the sense of touch) as well as sense how the user interacts with it. The handle should provide a rich multimodal haptic feedback, i.e., controlled vibration and pressure sensation as well as the ability to actively modify the perceived stiffness of the handle. One of the challenges of my PhD project will be to ensure all these functionalities with low energy consumption, as the handle aims at being wireless.

The handle will make use of innovative shapeable materials, 3D/4D printing techniques, multimodal actuation technologies, and perceptual illusions to deliver complex yet intuitive haptic sensations.

Mandela Ouafo Fonkoua

PhD

Email: mandela.ouafo-fonkoua@inria.fr
Address:
IRISA, INRIA Rennes – Bretagne Atlantique
Campus Universitaire de Beaulieu
35042 Rennes, France

Short bio

Marco Ferro

Postdoctoral Researcher

Email: marco.ferro@irisa.fr
Address:
IRISA, INRIA Rennes – Bretagne Atlantique
Campus Universitaire de Beaulieu
35042 Rennes, France

Short bio

Marco Ferro is a postdoctoral researcher at the Institut de Recherche en Informatique et Systèmes Aléatoires (IRISA) in Rennes, France. His current research focuses on developing haptic shared control strategies and optimization techniques for small-scale magnetic robots, with applications in medical robotics and micromanipulation. He leads the work package on “Cognitive human-robot interfacing and interactions” as part of the European RĔGO project.

Marco holds a Ph.D. in Automatica, Bioengineering, and Operations Research from Sapienza University of Rome. As part of his Ph.D., Marco completed research visits at IRISA in Rennes, where he contributed to projects on visual perception and robotic systems, and at LIRMM in Montpellier, where he worked on autonomous vehicle navigation with humanoid robots. These experiences provided hands-on involvement in collaborative research across different domains of robotics.

His expertise spans robotic systems, medical robotics, haptic feedback, and vision-based navigation. Marco has published extensively in journals such as IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering and IEEE Transactions on Haptics, and has contributed to multiple international research projects. He also engages in teaching and mentoring Ph.D. and Master’s students in robotics and control engineering.

In addition to his academic and research activities, Marco serves as an Associate Editor for robotics conferences, including ICRA 2025 and IROS 2024.

CV

The Curriculum Vitae, with an updated list of publications, can be found here (pdf).

Antonio Marino

PhD Student

Email: antonio.marino@irisa.fr
Address:
IRISA, INRIA Rennes – Bretagne Atlantique
Campus Universitaire de Beaulieu
35042 Rennes, France

Short bio

I obtained my bachelor’s degree in automation engineering at the University of Naples Federico II in 2018 and my master’s degree in robotics engineering at the University of Genova in 2020. During my studies, I have covered different topics in robotics like mechanics, control and machine learning, developing a strong passion for control and robotic systems. My past experiences include Research engineer at the University of Leeds and Robotics Engineer at UnmannedLife.

I joined the Rainbow team at IRISA/ Inria Rennes as a PhD student in September 2022, under the supervision of Paolo Robuffo Giordano and Claudio Pacchierotti, working on learning-based multi-robot formation control.