Robot Talk

Claire chatted to Ella Maule from the Bristol Robotics Laboratory all about community robotics and the social side of robot design. Ella Maule is a PhD Student in Ethical & Sustainable Futures at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory and a co-lead of Women in Robotics UK. Grounded in the principles of Responsible Innovation, her research explores the concept of Community Robotics, which centres communit...

Claire chatted to Stephen Oram from Nudge the Future Fiction all about applied science fiction and the quirks and perils of new technology. Stephen Oram writes near-future science fiction, exploring the intersection of messy humans and imperfect technology. He also works with scientists and technologists on projects that explore possible future outcomes of their research through short stories. He...

Claire chatted to Patricia Shaw from Aberystwyth University about home assistance robots, and robot learning and development. Patricia Shaw is a Senior Lecturer in Computer Science and Robotics at Aberystwyth University. Her current research interests include technology for assistive living and she is currently leading on establishing a new Smart Home Lab at the university. This new lab will be us...

Claire chatted to Andrew Starr from Cranfield University all about robot maintenance and railway inspection robots. Andrew Starr holds a PhD in condition monitoring of robotic production systems and is a Chartered Engineer. His career started with British Aerospace, before working for the University of Manchester, University of Huddersfield, and the University of Hertfordshire. At Cranfield Univer...

Claire chatted to Antonia Tzemanaki from the University of Bristol all about hand exoskeletons, robotic hands, and teleoperation. Antonia Tzemanaki is Senior Lecturer in Robotics at the University of Bristol and the Bristol Robotics Laboratory. Prior to this, she was Lecturer in Mechatronics at the University of the West of England. Her research includes human and robot hands, hand exoskeletons, h...

Claire chatted to Edward Johns from Imperial College London, all about robotic manipulators, learning, and artificial intelligence. Edward Johns is the Director of the Robot Learning Lab at Imperial College London, where he is also a Senior Lecturer. He completed a PhD in Computer Vision at Imperial College and was then a Research Fellow in the Dyson Robotics Lab at Imperial College. In 2017, he w...

Claire chatted to Maria Jose (Marisé) Galvez Trigo from Cardiff University all about human-robot interaction, machine learning, and accessibility. Maria Jose Galvez Trigo (Marisé) is a Lecturer in the School of Computer Science and Informatics at Cardiff University, and part of the Human-centred Computing (HCC) Research Section and its Subgroup in Computational and Human-centred Robotics. Marisé i...

Claire chatted to Rafael Lopez from Robotnik Automation all about mobile robots, logistics, and inspection. Rafael Lopez has a degree in Telecommunications Engineering. He worked in research and development at Althea Productos Industriales before joining IBM as a System Engineer for wide area networks in Madrid and Barcelona. He co-founded Robotnik in 2002, where he was the Research and Developmen...

Claire chatted to Virginia Ruiz Garate from Mondragon University all about assistive robotics, mobility, and bio-inspired control. Virginia Ruiz Garate obtained her PhD in 2016 in bio-inspired control for leg exoskeletons at the Université Catholique de Louvain-la-Neuve in Belgium. Later, she worked on new bio-inspired grasping methods for robotic hands at the Italian Institute of Technology. She...

Claire chatted to Josh Caputo from Humotech all about robotic prostheses, exoskeletons and prototyping. Josh Caputo has a background as a multi-disciplinary engineer focused on robotics. He developed a passion for wearable technology working in the Experimental Biomechatronics Laboratory at Carnegie Mellon University. His early work focused on studying powered push-off in prosthetic foot and ankle...

Claire chatted to Elizabeth Sklar from the University of Lincoln all about agricultural robotics, human-robot teams, and sustainability. Elizabeth Sklar is a Professor of Agri-Robotics and Research Director at the Lincoln Institute for Agri-food Technology (LIAT), at the University of Lincoln, UK. Her research investigates the implementation of intelligent methodologies in the context of multi-rob...

Claire chatted to Rolf Mueller from Virginia Tech all about biomimicry, flapping-wing flight, sensing, and artificial intelligence. Rolf Mueller has studied bat biosonar from the perspectives of biophysics and bioinspired engineering for over 20 years. He has worked on statistical signal processing of sonar signals in complex, natural environments, biosonar beamforming, as well as biomimetic sonar...

Claire chatted to Kris Dorsey from Northeastern University all about wearable soft robots, healthcare and rehabilitation. Kris Dorsey is an associate professor in the departments of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Physical Therapy, Movement, and Rehabilitation Sciences and a core faculty member at the Institute for Experiential Robotics at Northeastern University. Her current research inte...

Claire chatted to Jims Marchang from Sheffield Hallam University all about security, privacy, and trust in healthcare robots. Jims Marchang completed his Ph. D. from the CSCAN Research Laboratory, University of Plymouth, UK. He is currently a Sr. Lecturer in Cybersecurity and leads a Secure Intelligent Cyber research cluster and co-lead Digital, AI, and Robotics at Advanced Wellbeing Research Cent...

Claire chatted to Katarzyna Szopinska from KUKA all about all about software and hardware for medical robotics. Katarzyna Szopinska studied medical and mechanical engineering in both Warsaw and Munich. She got her first professional experience at Brainlab in Munich and then at KUKA where she started as mechanical engineer to later switch to portfolio and product management for the medical robotics...

Claire chatted to Rav Chunilal from Sellafield all about robotics and AI for nuclear decommissioning. Rav Chunilal is the Head of Robotics & Artificial Intelligence at Sellafield Ltd, the UK's largest nuclear site. He is responsible for developing and deploying Robotics and AI technologies to decommission the site safely, efficiently, and cost-effectively. Under Rav's leadership, Sellafield Ltd an...

Claire chatted to Ayse Kucukyilmaz from the University of Nottingham about collaboration, conflict and failure in human-robot interactions. Ayse Kucukyilmaz is Assistant Professor in the School of Computer Science at the University of Nottingham and a founding member of the CHART research group. Her research focus is human-centered robotics, where she specialises in haptic shared and traded contro...

Claire chatted to Jorvon (Odd-Jayy) Moss from Digikey about making robots at home, and robot design and aesthetics. Commonly known as Odd-Jayy, Jorvon Moss is an accomplished Maker best known for his Robotic Oddities. Jayy's art background, BFA in Illustration, and self-taught electronics skills have combined to help launch his career and promote the wonderful world of STEAM (Science, Technology,...

Claire chatted to Masoumeh (Iran) Mansouri from the University of Birmingham about culturally sensitive robots and planning in complex environments. Masoumeh Mansouri is an Associate Professor in the School of Computer Science at the University of Birmingham. Her research includes two complementary areas: (i) developing hybrid robot planning methods for unstructured environments shared with humans...

Claire chatted to Carl Strathearn from Edinburgh Napier University all about humanoid robots, realistic robot faces and speech. Carl Strathearn is a researcher interested in creating assistive social humanoid robots with embodied AI systems that appear, function, and interact like humans. He believes that creating realistic humanoid robots is significant to humanity as the human face is the most n...

Claire chatted to Ffion Llewellyn from Oshen about sea-faring robots and ocean sensing. Ffion Llewellyn graduated from Imperial College London in 2022 with a masters in Aeronautical Engineering. Following this, she joined Oshen who are building low cost, autonomous micro-vessels for remote ocean sensing. Ffion has been focused on the integration and testing of sensors onto Oshen's autonomous micro...

Claire chatted to Lorenzo Jamone from Queen Mary University of London all about robotic hands, dexterity, and the sense of touch. Lorenzo Jamone is a Senior Lecturer in Robotics at Queen Mary University of London, where he is the founder and director of the CRISP group: Cognitive Robotics and Intelligent Systems for the People. He received a PhD degree in humanoid technologies at the Italian Insti...

Claire chatted to Kate Devlin from King's College London about the social and ethical implications of robotics and AI. We touch on a range of different topics from concerns over job losses and privacy to issues of inequality, trust and power. In the second half of the interview, we talk a bit about robotics, AI and relationships. The conversation isn't explicit, but if you'd prefer to give that pa...

Claire chatted to Guillaume Doisy from Dexory about autonomous warehouse robots, mobile robotics, and software. Guillaume Doisy is the current Lead Systems Architect at Dexory , the leading UK robotics and AI company building state-of-the-art fully autonomous mobile robots for use in warehouses. Guillaume has a wide range of responsibilities including building the robots ability to function autono...

Claire chatted to Sara Adela Abad Guaman from University College London about adaptable robots inspired by nature. Sara Adela Abad Guaman is a Lecturer at University College London's Mechanical Engineering Department. She is also the head of the Adaptable Robotics Lab. Inspired by biological organisms, Sara aims to develop robots and mechanical systems with enhanced adaptability to variable enviro...