Masi-Funaioli Graduation Award

The Department of Industrial Engineering of the Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna has established a Graduation Award named in memory of Professors Francesco Masi and Ettore Funaioli, Professors of Applied Mechanics at this University.

The prize is awarded to young master’s degree graduates who have completed a course of study in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Bologna with outstanding academic results, to be assessed based on:

• Bachelor’s degree obtained with a weighted GPA of at least 107 out of 110;
• Master’s degree obtained with a weighted GPA of at least 109 out of 110;
• Master's thesis, assessed for completeness, originality and scientific-methodological rigour.

The award consists of a diploma issued by the chancellor and a prize of between €1,000 and €1,500.

The call for applications for the current academic year is available in the announcement section of this website and on the website bandi.unibo.it.

Past winners

Anno 2026

• Anna Berger
  Master's thesis: “System integration for automated wall painting on a deployable cable-driven parallel robot” (27/03/2026)

Anno 2022

• Riccardo Mancini
  Master's thesis: “Optimizing cardboard-blank picking in a packaging machine by using reinforcement learning algorithms” (23/03/2022)

Anno 2021

• Ivan Savini
  Master's thesis: “Automated assembly of a functional subgroup of an automatic machine: design and optimization of the servo-system of an industrial robot.” (16/12/2021)

2020

• Marco Speziali
  Master's thesis: “Robust grasp with compliant multi-finger hand” (13/03/2020)
• Claudio Berti
  Master's thesis: “Development of a design variant of an automatic machine for weighing pharmaceutical products” (16/07/2020)

2019

• Giuliano Caroli
  Master's thesis: “Design of a mobile robotic platform for industrial handling applications” (14/03/2019)
• Roberto Di Leva
  Master's thesis: “Synthesis and kinematic analysis of a passive 6-dof parallel mechanism for human-robot interaction” (14/03/2019)

2018

• Mattia Chianura
  Master's thesis: “Vision-based enhancement of the pose accuracy of a redundantly actuated cable driven parallel robot” (15/03/2018)
• Alessandro Franceschi
  Master's thesis: “Development of a mathematical model for assessing the longitudinal dynamics of a 48 V hybrid electric vehicle” (15/03/2018)
• Michele Zavatta
  Master's thesis: “Vision-based homing procedure for an overconstrained cable-driven parallel robot” (15/03/2018)

2017

• Edoardo Idà

Master's thesis: “Rest-to-rest trajectory planning of underactuated cable-suspended parallel robots” (14/03/2017)

 2016

• Eros Monti

Master's thesis: “Performance analysis of 8-cable parallel robots under different control schemes” (16/03/2016)

• Tommaso Petrini

Master's thesis: “Industrialisation of a family of mechanical components according to the principles of Industry 4.0” (16/03/2016)