Sitti, Metin (b. July 29, 1970, Kırşehir), scientist. In 2018, he received the Rahmi Koç Medal of Science from Koç University in recognition for his pioneer work in the fields of micro and nano biomedical robotic technologies.
He received BSc and MSc degrees in electrical and electronics engineering from Boğaziçi University in 1992 and 1994, respectively, and his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Tokyo, Japan (1999). He worked as a post-doc research scientist at University of California, Berkeley from 1999 to 2002 and as a professor at Carnegie Mellon University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering and Robotics Institute from 2002 to 2014. Metin Sitti is currently a director at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart, Germany, a position he has held since 2014. He is also an adjunct professor of Koç University School of Medicine and College of Engineering since September 2018.
His research interests include small-scale physical intelligence, mobile micro-robotics, bio-inspired materials and miniature robots, soft robotics, physical intelligence and micro-/nanomanipulation. Dr. Sitti has authored many articles and two books and has 11 published patents and over 20 patent applications pending approval. He is the inventor of a gecko-inspired elastic microfiber adhesive, which has found use in a large number of industrial applications and is marketed under the Setex® brand name by his startup company nanoGriptech. Dr. Sitti has been an IEEE Fellow since 2014 and is editor-in-chief of the Journal of Micro-Bio Robotics. In 2017, his recent book Mobile Microrobotics was published by MIT Press. He is the editor-in-chief of Progress in Biomedical Engineering and Journal of Micro-Bio Robotics and associate editor in Extreme Mechanics Letters, Advanced Material Technologies, and Biomimetics & Bioinspiration journals.
Professor Sitti received several awards, including the Best Paper Award in the IEEE/RSJ Intelligent Robot Systems Conference in 1998 and 2009, Best Video Award in the IEEE Robotics and Automation Conference (2002), Best Paper Award in Biomimetics in the IEEE Robotics and Biomimetics Conference (2004), National Science Foundation CAREER Award for his pioneer contributions to research and education in micro/nano-robotics (2005), SPIE Nanoengineering Pioneer Award (2011), the first prize in the World RoboCup Micro-Robotics Competition in 2012 and 2013, and IEEE/ASME Best Mechatronics Paper Award in 2014. He was an IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Distinguished Lecturer between the years 2006 and 2008. He has been an IEEE Fellow since 2014. He is also honorary professor at Stuttgart University.