Associate Professor
Address: National Technical University of Athens,
Heroon Polytechniou 9, 15780 Zografou, Athens, Greece,
School of Mechanical Engineering, Section of Mechanical
Design & Automatic Control, Building Ε, Office E.312.
Tel. (+30) 210 772-3491, (+30) 210 772-3595
email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Personal Homepages: www.minasliarokapis.com | www.newdexterity.org
Studies
| 2014 | Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, NTUA |
| 2010 | Diploma in Information Technologies in Medicine and Biology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens |
| 2008 | Diploma in Computer Engineering & Informatics, University of Patras |
Professional Experience
| 2025 - today | Associate Professor, School of Mechanical Engineering, NTUA |
| 2025 - today | Honorary Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, The University of Auckland, New Zealand |
| 2025 - today | CEO, Acumino (www.acumino.ai) |
| 2024 - today | CTO, Acumino (www.acumino.ai) |
| 2024 - today | Founder, Humanoid Olympiad (www.humanoidolympiad.org) |
| 2021 - today | Founder, Acumino (www.acumino.ai) |
| 2017 - today | Director, New Dexterity research group (www.newdexterity.org) |
| 2013 - today | Founder, OpenBionics (www.openbionics.org) |
| 2023 - 2025 | Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, The University of Auckland, New Zealand |
| 2023 - 2024 | Chair, New Zealand Robotics, Automation, and Sensing |
| 2023 - 2024 | Chief Scientist, Acumino (www.acumino.ai) |
| 2022 - 2023 | Senior Lecturer – Above the Bar, Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Auckland, New Zealand |
| 2020 - 2022 | Senior Lecturer, Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Auckland, New Zealand |
| 2017 - 2020 | Lecturer, Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Auckland, New Zealand |
| 2014 - 2016 | Postdoctoral Research Associate, Yale University, USA |
| 2009 - 2014 | Ph.D. Candidate / Research Associate, School of Mechanical Engineering, NTUA |
Research
Robot dexterity, robot grasping and dexterous manipulation, human robot interaction, human machine interfaces, humanoid robots, autonomous robot vehicles.
Distinctions
| 2023 | Top Lecturer (Student’s Choice), Faculty of Engineering, University of Auckland |
| 2022 | Outstanding Reviewer Award - 2022 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) |
| 2022 | 2nd place of the Manufacturing track of the Robotic Grasping and Manipulation Competition of the 2022 IEEE\RSJ International Conference on Robotics and Intelligent Systems (IROS) |
| 2022 | 3rd place of the Manufacturing track of the Robotic Grasping and Manipulation Competition of the 2022 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) |
| 2021 | IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Best Paper Award on Robot Mechanisms and Design |
| 2020 | Top Lecturer (Student’s Choice), Faculty of Engineering, University of Auckland |
| 2020 | 1st Place – 2020 Hackaday Prize, United Cerebral Palsy of Los Angeles - Open Challenge on Assistive Devices |
| 2020 | Finalist for Best Paper Award in Robotic Mechanisms and Design at IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems |
| 2019 | 1st Prize in the Robotic Grasping and Manipulation Competition (Manufacturing Track) of the IEEE\RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, Macau (China) |
| 2018 | Top Lecturer (Student’s Choice), Faculty of Engineering, University of Auckland |
| 2015 | 1st Place - Robotdalen International Innovation Award |
| 2015 | 2nd Place - 2015 Hackaday Prize (out of 900 projects from 50 countries) |
| 2014 | Sarafis Award, Best PhD Dissertation, National Technical University of Athens |
Member of:
Technical Chamber of Greece (TEE), IEEE Senior Member
Current Duties
Teaches at NTUA
Undergraduate: Electromechanical Systems.
Postgraduate: Mechatronics.