02 — Background
About.
I trained as an architect in Italy, and I've worked between design and engineering ever since.
My early work was interactive installations, built with studios like Carlo Ratti Associati and Studio Folder and shown at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, La Biennale di Venezia, and ZKM Center for Art and Media. Some of it is now in the permanent collections of the V&A in London and CNAP in Paris.
At MIT Senseable City Lab and MIT CSAIL, I developed autonomous systems, from a robot that samples city sewers to self-driving boats on the canals of Amsterdam. Then I moved into products: at Zoox I shipped rider-experience features for the robotaxi, and today I'm at Amazon Lab126.
The work has been recognized with a Red Dot Design Award, a place on TIME's Best Inventions list, and a Special Mention at La Biennale di Venezia.
What I care about most is the moment a complex system becomes something people simply understand: a device in the living room, or a car that recognizes you at the curb.
Prizes
062019
2017
2015
2014
14th International Architecture Exhibition
La Biennale Di Venezia · Monditalia · Special Mention
about: Italian Limes2013
Centre national des arts plastiques
Centre National Des Arts Plastiques · furniture design · member of the permanent collection
about: ChaiseLounge2012
Patents
02Sep 24 2024
Feb 24 2009
Publications
062023
Tracking stolen bikes in Amsterdam
on: PLOS ONE
authors: Titus Venverloo, Fábio Duarte, Tom Benson, Pietro Leoni, Serge Hoogendoorn, Carlo Ratti
2023
Smart curbs: Measuring street activities in real-time using computer vision
on: Landscape and Urban Planning
authors: Arianna Salazar-Miranda, Fan Zhang, Maoran Sun, Pietro Leoni, Fábio Duarte, Carlo Ratti
about: Smart Curbs2022
Design of an Autonomous Latching System for Surface Vessels
conference: 2022 International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) · on: IEEE
authors: David Fernández-Gutiérrez, Niklas Hagemann, Wei Wang, Rens Doornbusch, Joshua Jordan, Jonathan Schiphorst, Pietro Leoni, Fábio Duarte, Carlo Ratti, Daniela Rus
about: Roboat2020
Roboat ii: A novel autonomous surface vessel for urban environments
conference: 2020 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) · on: IEEE
authors: Wei Wang, Tixiao Shan, Pietro Leoni, David Fernández-Gutiérrez, Drew Meyers, Carlo Ratti, Daniela Rus
about: Roboat2019
Trajectory planning for the shapeshifting of autonomous surface vessels
conference: 2019 International Symposium on Multi-Robot and Multi-Agent Systems (MRS) · on: IEEE
authors: Banti Gheneti, Shinkyu Park, Ryan Kelly, Drew Meyers, Pietro Leoni, Carlo Ratti, Daniela Rus
about: Roboat2018
conference: 2018 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) · on: IEEE
authors: W Wang, LA Mateos, S Park, P Leoni, B Gheneti, F Duarte, C Ratti, D Rus
about: Roboat