Partner 5: EL (EdgeLab s.r.l, Italy)
EdgeLab s.r.l. is a hi-tech research and consultancy start up SME working in the fields of underwater robotics/sea technologies, micro-systems / bi-systems and media production. EdgeLab’s background comes from the expertise of her partners, the strength of network connections and the linkage with academic and research environment. The company mission is to provide innovative equipment and solution responding to customer demand in the field of sea technology, microsystems/biosystems and multimedia technologies.
The Company has been recently founded as a spinoff result of two CNR-ISTI projects on marine technologies and sea robotics, aiming at the realization of cooperating school of AUVs for underwater research and maritime monitoring systems for marine Parks (sensor network, buoys).
About marine technologies, EdgeLab s.r.l. is also working on the following topics, related to new innovative approaches to sea robotics and underwater monitoring; i.e. wreck search and sea bottom mapping (magnetometer, side scan sonar, ROV, AUV) for archaeological and environmental purposes, wreck data base, sea bottom 3D modelling, sea technology applied to multidisciplinary marine scientific research, ocean engineering training courses, mooring and oceanographic buoy design, pressure vessel design and development techniques, underwater communication hub for acoustic and oceanographic sensors, underwater measuring platform with embedded systems for real time satellite communications, customer oriented solutions for advanced sea environment scientific experiments, diving technology. EdgeLab has a wide knowledge in the fields of signal processing, image understanding and artificial vision, in both theoretical and applicative contexts. The aim of the company is to develop its activities dynamically, becoming part of the national and international networks in the field of automated vision. Her main expertise cover many different topics like: Computational Intelligence in Computer Vision, Statistical Signal Processing, Computational and Conformal Geometry, Vision Machines and Systems, Diagnostic Imaging, and Computational Biology.
Michele Cocco, Ph.D., graduated in Physics at the University of Pisa, with a thesis on the application of radio frequency- spectroscopy techniques for studying the adsorption/desorption properties of polymer surfaces. He earned the Ph.D. in Microsystem Engineering at the Scuola Superiore S. Anna, Pisa, working on the realization of a matrix of micro-manufactured neural electrodes for the interface of Peripheral Nervous System with external prostheses. From the scientific point of view his interests are focused on silicon micromechanical technologies and microsensors. In these fields he is author of more than thirty publications and papers on reviews, books and conference proceedings. Michele Cocco has a wide experience in EU Project coordination: he has coordinated two EU Projects in 4th FP and he has participated as a Partner in more than twenty other EU projects, all successfully accomplished. He has been working for universities and privately-owned companies as a Scientific Advisor for drawing up, organization and management of basic and applied research projects, both National and international. From Sept. 2009 he is coordinating the 7th Project ARGO MARINE (Automatic Oil-Spill Recognition and Geopositioning integrated in a Marine Monitoring Network) on behalf of the National Park of the Tuscany Archipelago, at Isle of Elba, Italy, where he lives.
Lavinio Gualdesi, Dott. Ing., graduated from the Naval Academy, Livorno as Officer of the Italian Navy was then awarded the Naval Architecture Master Degree at the University of Trieste. As Technical Director of Intermarine Shipyard in Sarzana, Italy, he contributed to the design of various fibreglass mine-countermeasure vessels. As Head of Ocean Engineering Branch of the Nato Research Centre in La Spezia he has worked on buoy technology, towed body and underwater structure prototypes and their construction for 26 years. He contributed to the diffusion of ocean engineering technologies as consultant in various international institutions. Among the most important: IMEDEA (Balearic Islands) to initiate the spin-off firm “Albatros”, University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria : Master in Esperto de Puertos, INFN (Istituto Nazionale Fisica Nucleare, Italy): sea station for the neutrino underwater telescope, University of Genova and Pisa: Master in Ocean Engineering, MDS (Marine Desalination Systems) St. Petersburg Florida: chief engineer during the construction of a novel desalination pilot plant to sequester CO2.