Department of Computer Science · University of Salerno

Complex Robot Programming Laboratory

We design the software that lets robots perceive, reason and act in complex, changing environments — from multi-robot coordination and human–robot interaction to learning-based control and verifiable autonomy.

Explore our research Join the lab

RoboticsManipulators, mobile & humanoid platforms

AIPlanning, learning and perception

SoftwareROS 2, simulation and DevOps for robots

PeopleHuman–robot interaction & safety

// about the lab

Programming robots for the real world

The Complex Robot Programming Laboratory (CRP Lab) is a research and teaching laboratory of the Department of Computer Science (Dipartimento di Informatica) at the University of Salerno, on the Fisciano campus.

Robots that work alongside people must handle uncertainty, coordinate with other agents, and behave predictably. Our work sits at the intersection of software engineering, artificial intelligence and robotics: we build programming abstractions, tools and algorithms that make complex robotic behaviour easier to specify, develop, test and trust.

The lab hosts students, doctoral candidates and researchers, and collaborates with industry and other research groups on applied projects.

ResearchMethods and tools for designing, verifying and deploying robot software.
EducationHands-on courses, theses and internships with real robotic platforms.
CollaborationJoint projects with companies, institutions and international partners.
Open scienceOpen-source software, datasets and reproducible experiments.

// research areas

What we work on

Six interconnected themes, all aimed at making robots more capable, more adaptable and more reliable.

Multi-robot systems

Coordination, task allocation and communication for fleets of heterogeneous robots.

swarmdistributed planning

Human–robot interaction

Social and collaborative robots that understand intent, communicate clearly and adapt to people.

cobotssocial robotics

Robot learning

Reinforcement and imitation learning, sim-to-real transfer and foundation models for embodied agents.

RLsim-to-real

Robot software engineering

Domain-specific languages, model-driven development and architectures for robot applications.

ROS 2DSLs

Verification & safety

Testing, runtime monitoring and formal methods to make autonomous behaviour dependable.

runtime verificationtesting

Perception & navigation

Computer vision, SLAM and motion planning for robots operating in unstructured spaces.

SLAMmotion planning

// projects

Selected projects

A snapshot of ongoing activity in the lab.

ongoing

Assistive social robots

Behaviour programming for robots that support people in healthcare and home settings.

ongoing

Collaborative manipulation

Safe, intuitive programming of industrial cobots through demonstration and natural language.

ongoing

Autonomous mobile fleets

Coordinated navigation and task scheduling for teams of mobile robots in logistics.

ongoing

Simulation-based testing

Automated scenario generation and testing pipelines for ROS 2 applications.

// teaching & theses

Learn by building robots

The lab supports courses, Bachelor's and Master's theses, internships and PhD research within the Computer Science programmes of the University of Salerno.

Hands-on lab sessionsProgram real platforms and validate in simulation before deploying.
Thesis projectsWork on open research problems with lab researchers as supervisors.
Internships & PhDJoin collaborative projects with industry and academic partners.

# a first lab exercise: pick and place
import rclpy
from crp_lab.skills import Arm, Vision

def main():
    rclpy.init()
    arm, eye = Arm("cobot"), Vision("rgbd")

    for obj in eye.detect("cube"):
        arm.move_to(obj.grasp_pose())
        arm.grip()
        arm.place("bin_A")

    arm.home()