Associate Professor on Robotics and Biomechanics

Technical University of Cluj-Napoca

Biography

My name is Tassos Natsakis and I am an associate professor at the ROCON lab of Technical University of Cluj-Napoca. My background is in Mechanical engineering and I have done extensive research on the biomechanics of human locomotion. More specifically I studied the behaviour of the human foot in-vitro, with the goal to understand and improve surgical procedures and medical implants. My current research area is in the intersection of the rehabilitation and robotic fields, having lead various research projects for the development of a robotic rehabilitator.

I am also actively collaborating with .lumen, a romanian start-up that builds glasses that help the blind live a better life. My work there deals with feedback mechanisms and with bridging the gap between the engineering and clinical investigation teams.

Besides research, I am very interested in teaching methods, knowledge management, and productivity, in an attempt to make my research more efficient, pleasant, and easier for others to understand.

Interests

  • Biomechanics
  • Robotics
  • Teaching methods
  • Knowledge management
  • Productivity

Education

  • PhD in Biomedical Engineering, 2015

    KU Leuven, Belgium

  • MEng in Mechanical Engineering, 2010

    Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece

Publications

ROS-based Toolbox for Motor Parameter Identification of Robotic Manipulators

For many applications, a precise knowledge of the model of the robot is necessary for accurate and stable control. However, it is not …

Predicting Intention of Motion During Rehabilitation Tasks of the Upper-Extremity

Rehabilitation promoting “assistance-as-needed” is considered a promising scheme of active rehabilitation, since it can …

Recent Posts

Upgrading the robotics laboratory

Update: added some nice pictures from the lab and the robots

There is a small paradox at our department: we are teaching robotics to students, but we used to not have any robots around for them to play with. We actually did have one, that is very very dangerous to use close to people, so I slowly slowly phased it out of use.

But I had to find an alternative: a small, versatile, cheap, robot arm, that we could buy multiples of it and have one for each table of the laboratory. That was how the dream started, and finally, today, this dream came true! Today I finished assemblying and installing the 10th AL5D robot arm in our laboratory!

Wooden Robot Model

For quite some time now, I wanted to create a robot model to use it in the classroom. I started imagining it as a 3D printed model, then thought of making it out of styrofoam, converted the idea to carton, but was always stopped by the lack of materials around. Also, the fact that we’ve been teaching online for the past year and a half was not helping.

Last week, I thought of wood. And the moment I thought about it I was wondering how come I didn’t think about this all this time! It is the obvious solution, as there is always wood scraps readily available that I am saving from other projects, plus I have the tools to work with it. So, I spent ~2 years thinking about this, and eventually it took me around 20’ to make it! Here is the result.

Less Wrong Gems 2021

I don’t remember when did it exactly happen, but at some point I landed on a elegant looking community blog that is called Less Wrong. They advertise themselves as “[…] a community dedicated to improving our reasoning and decision-making” and the name is derived by the realisation that in order to learn, we must constantly err, but each time less and less.

It is basically a blog where anyone can post essays or ideas on the topic of rationality and real-world applications of it. Applications such as AI, decision making, or community structuring. The site offers a very nice way of commenting and ‘rating’ these essays, and in general it seems like a nice place to be, so I kept visiting it every now and then.

Projects

European Rover Challenge

An international space & robotics event of martian rovers.

TRUE REHAB

A two year long research project funded by UEFISCDI exploring ideas on robotic rehabilitation

SeaClear

A series of two Horizon projects on collecting litter from the seafloor

BETER REHAB

A two year long research project funded by UEFISCDI.

Research in Cluj

A meetup group for researchers from any field that are active in Cluj-Napoca.

Gait simulator

The gait simulator was the main experimental equipment that I developed during my PhD.

Alumni Business Camp

Alumni Business Camp is a yearly event that gathers Alumni of BEST to talk about… Business!

BEST

I was a volunteer at BEST (Board of European Students of Technology), for 5 years, being active in all levels of involvement

Hero Paides

Involved in the publishers team of an award winning high school newspaper

Teaching

I am responsible for the following courses at Technical University of Cluj-Napoca:

Courses (Bachelor level)

Starting from the second semester of 2020-2021, I am also teaching at the Babeș-Bolyai University, as the department of Physics as an external collaborator

Courses (Masters level)

If you are interested in a project, please read the thesis manifesto and check the list of student project ideas

Contact

  • t4ssos@natsakis.com
  • Calea Dorobanților 71-73, Cluj-Napoca, Cluj 400400
  • Enter Building on the right, climb on second floor, go at the end of corridor. Office number C23
  • Wednesday 10:00 to 14:00, email for appointment
  • Book an appointment
  • Chat on xmpp