Science fiction comes to life in Italian lab

At Italy’s Sant’Anna university, a bionic arm commanded by the human brain or a limb extension that allows rescuers to lift rubble after earthquakes are just some of the futuristic innovations in the pipeline.

“The idea is to get robots out of factories where they have shown their worth and to transform them into household machines which can live together with humans,” says Professor Paolo Dario, director of the college’s bio-robotics department.

The university in the historic town of Pisa in Tuscany is a veritable factory of ideas.

Researchers here are working on projects ranging from a robot that can come to your door to collect your recycling to tomatoes that slow the effects of ageing and plants that survive underwater to help flood-prone regions of the world.