Gepetto is a new research group created in 2006 from the RIA group. The scientific objective aims at understanding and modeling anthropomorphic system motions, for artificial entities (humanoid robots), virtual mannequins as well as human beings.

The study of the computational and integrative basis of sensori-motor functions at the origin of the motion are addressed from a robotics perspective dealing with:

• signal processing for motion analysis and perception,
• automatic control, and
• algorithms for motion and action modeling.

The research is structured along the study of three main research objects synergistically gathered around a same mechanical structure (the anthropomorphic body) characterized by its complexity expressed in terms of the number of degrees of freedom. They are:

•  the artificial motion for humanoid robotics: the goal here is to provide humanoid robots with motion autonomy by developing methods and software for motion planning and control. The key issue is to face the physical interaction between the robot and the real world.
• the virtual motion for digital actors: the objective is to simulate the human motion for applications in virtual reality (digital mockups) and graphics.
• the natural motion of the human being: this axis deals with a pluridisciplinary research (robotics and neuroscience) to explore the sensor-motor basis of the human motion.