Robot Talk

Robot Talk will be back for Season 4 on the 29th September - make sure you're subscribed to be the first to hear the latest episodes.

Robotics, artificial intelligence and autonomous machines have become a necessity for our future world but what are the implications of robots for society and how much influence does science fiction have on how we embrace our new friends? In this special live recording at the Great Exhibition Road Festival, Claire chatted to Glyn Morgan (Science Museum), Bani Anvari (University College London) and...

This week, Claire chatted to Robert Richardson from the University of Leeds all about 3D printing, robot design, and infrastructure repair. Robert Richardson is Professor of Robotics in the School of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Leeds, and executive chair of EPSRC UK-RAS network. His research interests include robotics for civil infrastructure inspection and repair, making smart bod...

This week, Claire chatted to Sara Bernardini from Royal Holloway University of London all about decision-making, reconfigurable robots, and oceanography. Sara Bernardini is a Professor of AI at Royal Holloway University of London, the Principal Research Scientist in AI and Data Science at the National Oceanography Centre and a Fellow at the Alan Turing Institute. Her research in decision-making fo...

This week, Claire chatted to James Kell from Jacobs Engineering UK all about civil infrastructure, nuclear robotics and jet engine inspection. James Kell is Robotics Technical Director at Jacobs Engineering UK. He is responsible for the internal robotics technical strategy and is actively looking to apply the decades worth of robotics and remote handling experience that Jacobs has to the wider mar...

This week, Claire chatted to Elena De Momi from the the Polytechnic University of Milan all about surgical robotics, artificial intelligence, and the upcoming ICRA robotics conference in London.  Elena De Momi received her MSc in Biomedical Engineering in 2002, PhD in Bioengineering in 2006, and she is currently Associate Professor in the Electronic Information and Bioengineering Department (DEIB)...

This week, Claire chatted to Nick Hawes from the University of Oxford all about robot decision-making, long-term autonomy, and artificial intelligence. Nick Hawes is a Professor of AI and Robotics at the University of Oxford, where he directs the Oxford Robotics Institute (ORI). Within the ORI he leads the Goal-Oriented Autonomous Long-Lived Systems (GOALS) group which researches decision-making f...

This week, Claire chatted to Georgia Chalvatzaki from the Technical University of Darmstadt all about mobile assistive robots, learning, and planning.  Check out the trailer for the UK-RAS Network's one-of-a-kind livestream event, Robot Lab Live, returning to YouTube this June: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LC8LBdjCtD8 . Join us for Robot Talk Live Robot Talk will be returning for another live e...

This week, Claire chatted to Helmut Hauser from the University of Bristol all about soft robotics, sensing, and smart robot bodies. Check out the video of the swimming trout that Helmut talks about here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtuHgl35TT4&ab_channel=LauderLab   Join us for Robot Talk Live We're thrilled to announce that Robot Talk will be returning for another live episode recording in Ju...

This week, Claire chatted to Carlotta Berry from the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology all about robotics education, science outreach, and increasing participation.  Join us for Robot Talk Live We're thrilled to announce that Robot Talk will be returning for another live episode recording in June! Claire will be chatting about Robotics and Science Fiction with three very special guests at Imperi...

This week, Claire chatted to Francesco Giorgio-Serchi from the University of Edinburgh all about underwater robots, weather-proofing, and soft robotics. Join us for Robot Talk Live We're thrilled to announce that Robot Talk will be returning for another live episode recording in June! Claire will be chatting about Robotics and Science Fiction with three very special guests at Imperial College Lond...

This week, Claire chatted to Kat Thiel from Manchester Metropolitan University all about collaborative robots, micro-factories, and fashion manufacturing. Kat Thiel is a Senior Research Associate at Manchester Metropolitan University's Manchester Fashion Institute with a research focus on Fashion Practice Research and Industry 4.0., investigating agile cobotic tooling solutions for localised fashi...

This week, Claire chatted to Maitreyee Wairagkar from the University of California all about neurotechnology, artificial intelligence, and assistive robotics.  Maitreyee Wairagkar is a postdoctoral fellow at University of California, Davis, developing assistive neurotechnology using artificial intelligence to restore lost function in people with neurological disorders. She builds brain-computer in...

This week, Claire chatted to Thom Kirwan-Evans from Origami Labs all about computer vision, machine learning and robots in industry.   Thom Kirwan-Evans is a co-founder at Origami Labs where he applies the latest AI research to solve complex real world problems. Thom started as a physicist at Dstl working with camera systems before moving to an engineering consultancy and then setting up his own c...

This week, Claire chatted to Alessandra Rossi from the University of Naples all about social robotics, theory of mind, and robots playing football. Alessandra Rossi is Assistant Professor at the University of Naples Federico II in Italy. Her PhD thesis was part of the Marie Sklodowska-Curie ETN SECURE project at the University of Hertfordshire in the UK, and she is now a Visiting Lecturer and Rese...

This week, Claire chatted to Edward Timpson from QinetiQ all about robots in the military, uncrewed vehicles, and cyber security.  Ed Timpson joined QinetiQ in 2020 after 11 years serving in the Royal Navy as a Weapons Engineering Officer (Submarines) across a number of ranks. Joining QinetiQ Target Systems as a Project Engineer and also managing the Hardware team, he had success in developing new...

This week, Claire chatted to Maria Bauza Villalonga from DeepMind all about robot learning, transferable skills, and general AI.  Maria Bauza Villalonga is research scientist at DeepMind. In 2022, she earned her PhD in Robotics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, working with Prof. Alberto Rodriguez. Her research focuses on achieving precise robotic generalization by learning probabilist...

This week, Claire chatted to Jonathan Aitken from the University of Sheffield all about manufacturing, sewer inspection, and robots in the real world. Jonathan Aitken is a Senior University Teacher in Robotics at the University of Sheffield. His research is focused on building useful, useable, and expandable architectures for future robotics systems. Most recently this has involved building comple...

This week, Claire chatted to   Yang Gao from the University of Surrey all about space robotics and planetary exploration. Yang Gao is Professor of Space Autonomous Systems and Founding Head of the STAR LAB that specializes in robotic sensing, perception, visual guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) and biomimetic mechanisms for industrial applications in extreme environments. She brings over 20...

This week, Claire chatted to Ignazio Maria Viola from the University of Edinburgh all about aerodynamics, dandelion-inspired drones, and swarm sensing.  Ignazio Maria Viola is Professor of Fluid Mechanics and Bioinspired Engineering at the School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh, and Fellow of the Royal Institution of Naval Architects. He is the recipient of the ERC Consolidator Grant Dandi...

This week, Claire chatted to Emily S. Cross from the University of Glasgow and Western Sydney University all about neuroscience, social learning, and human-robot interaction. Emily S. Cross is a Professor of Social Robotics at the University of Glasgow, and a Professor of Human Neuroscience at the MARCS Institute at Western Sydney University. Using interactive learning tasks, brain scanning, and d...

This week, Claire chatted to Sabine Hauert from the University of Bristol all about swarm robotics, nanorobots, and environmental monitoring. Sabine Hauert is Associate Professor of Swarm Engineering at University of Bristol. She leads a team of 20 researchers working on making swarms for people, and across scales, from nanorobots for cancer treatment, to larger robots for environmental monitoring...

This week, Claire chatted to Dan Stoyanov from University College London all about robotic vision, surgical robotics, and artificial intelligence. Dan Stoyanov , FREng, FIET, is a Professor at UCL Computer Science holding a Royal Academy of Engineering Chair in Emerging Technologies. He is Director of the Wellcome/EPSRC Centre for Interventional and Surgical Sciences (WEISS), a large research cent...

This week, Claire chatted to Mollie Claypool from Automated Architecture all about robot house-building, zero-carbon architecture, and community participation. Mollie Claypool is CEO of AUAR Ltd, a tech company revolutionising house building using automation. Mollie is a leading architecture theorist focused on issues of social justice highlighted by increasing automation in architecture and desig...

This week, Claire chatted to Chris Atkeson from Carnegie Mellon University all about humanoid robots, human-aware environments and the future of AI and robotics. Chris Atkeson is a professor in the Robotics Institute and Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. His research focuses on developing humanoid and super-human robots. His work inspired aspects of the design of...