We are pleased to announce that Professor Bruno Siciliano, Professor of Control and Robotics in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology at the University of Naples Federico II, Director of PRISMA Lab, Chair of the ICAROS Scientific Committee, Honorary Professor and Rudolf Kálmán Chair at Óbuda University, has been elected as an Academician of the World Academy of Artificial Consciousness (WAAC), in recognition of his important contributions to robot control, robotic manipulation, human–robot collaboration, service robotics, medical and surgical robotics, industrial robotics, aerial robotics, embodied intelligence, autonomous systems, robotics education, and international academic community building.
Professor Bruno Siciliano is an internationally influential scholar in contemporary robotics, automatic control, and human–robot collaboration. He has long been dedicated to robot modeling, planning, and control, and has systematically advanced the development of robotic manipulation control, force control, visual servoing, redundant robots, collaborative robots, flexible manipulators, dynamic manipulation, service robotics, medical robotics, and human–robot interaction. As a leading academic figure at PRISMA Lab of the University of Naples Federico II, Professor Siciliano has continuously promoted robotics research for industrial, service, medical, and social applications, emphasizing the ability of robots to perceive, act, collaborate, and adapt in real-world environments. He has served as President of the IEEE Robotics & Automation Society and is an IEEE Fellow, ASME Fellow, IFAC Fellow, AAIA Fellow, AIIA Fellow, and NAAI Fellow. He received the 2024 IEEE RAS Pioneer in Robotics and Automation Award and other major honors, making outstanding contributions to global robotics research, education, and the development of the international robotics community.
WAAC believes that the study of artificial consciousness requires not only advances in cognitive science, neuroscience, artificial intelligence, and philosophical theory, but also a deep understanding of how intelligent agents develop autonomous adaptive capabilities in the real world through embodiment, perception, action, control, feedback, and interaction. Professor Siciliano’s systematic work in robot control, human–robot collaboration, service robotics, medical robotics, and embodied intelligence provides important theoretical and engineering foundations for perception–action loops, embodied cognition, autonomous behavior generation, human–robot integration, physical intelligence, trustworthy robotic systems, and the construction of consciousness-like mechanisms in future artificial agents. His research path, spanning control theory, robotic systems, human–robot interaction, intelligent services, and medical applications, offers significant inspiration for connecting the theory of artificial consciousness with the practice of embodied intelligence.
In recognition of his outstanding contributions to robotics, automatic control, human–robot collaboration, service robotics, medical robotics, embodied intelligence, and the international robotics community, the World Academy of Artificial Consciousness has decided to confer upon Professor Bruno Siciliano the title of WAAC Academician.
- Global Collaboration and Academic Ecosystem
WAAC Academicians come from world-leading universities, national academy systems, and frontier research institutions, including Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford, the University of California, Columbia University, Princeton University, the University of Chicago, University College London, the University of Padua, the University of Queensland, the University of Exeter, the French Academy of Sciences, the German National Academy of Sciences, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the Royal Society, the Allen Institute for Brain Science, and the Max Planck Institute. The body of Academicians includes multiple Nobel Prize laureates, Turing Award laureates, members of national academies of sciences and engineering, Fellows of the Royal Society, and Fellows of internationally important academic organizations such as IEEE, AAAI, AAAS, and the British Academy. By bringing together leading scholars in natural consciousness research, machine consciousness modeling, brain science mechanisms, cognitive robotics, deep learning, brain-computer interfaces, and AI governance, WAAC has built an artificial consciousness research ecosystem that combines scientific depth, technological frontier orientation, philosophical insight, and global collaborative capacity, demonstrating its academic foundation and international influence in the emerging field of artificial consciousness science.
- About WAAC
The World Academy for Artificial Consciousness (https://www.waac.ac/) is a global academic institution established in Paris in 2025. Its mission is to advance frontier research and international collaboration in artificial consciousness through the integration of science, technology, and philosophy. The Academy publishes open research, policy recommendations, evaluation standards, and more. The current President is Academician Yucong Duan, and the Secretary-General is Dr. Yingbo Li. The Honorary Academician List: On May 3, 2025, WAAC released its first batch of Top 100 Honorary Academicians, recognizing scholars who have made foundational or leading contributions to the theory of artificial consciousness.