Robot Talk

Claire chatted to Gisela Reyes-Cruz from the University of Nottingham about how humans interact with, trust and accept robots. Gisela Reyes-Cruz investigates human-computer and human-robot interaction to understand everyday life interactions with technologies, as well as trust in them and public acceptance. These technologies include autonomous and robotic systems: from mobile apps that have, or m...

Claire chatted to John Leonard from Massachusetts Institute of Technology about autonomous navigation for underwater vehicles and self-driving cars.  John Leonard is a Professor of Mechanical and Ocean Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a member of the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). His research addresses the problems of navigation...

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Robotics is helping to rehabilitate and increase human abilities in areas like mobility and stamina. Innovations in robotic devices, exoskeletons, and wearable tech aim to offer disabled people different perspectives and new experiences, as well as supporting humans more widely to access, inhabit and work safely in dangerous and extreme conditions. What does the future hold for these technologies...

Claire chatted to Simone Schuerle from ETH Zürich all about microrobots, medicine and science. Simone Schuerle is Assistant Professor at ETH Zurich in Switzerland, where she heads the Responsive Biomedical System Lab. With her team, she develops diagnostic and therapeutic systems at the nano- and microscale with the aim of tackling a range of challenging problems in medicine. One major focus of he...

Claire chatted to Lord Ara Darzi from Imperial College London all about robotic surgery - past, present and future. Ara Darzi is Co-Director of the Institute of Global Health Innovation at Imperial College London and holds the Paul Hamlyn Chair of Surgery. In 2002, he was knighted for his services to medicine and surgery and in 2007 was introduced as Lord Darzi of Denham to the UK's House of Lords...

Claire chatted to Isabelle Ormerod from the University of Bristol all about human-centred design and women in robotics. Isabelle Ormerod is a PhD student at Bristol Robotics Lab in the Design and Manufacturing Futures Lab. Her professional path began in the medical product design industry, where she observed firsthand the application of human factors (HF) processes for dextrous and high-risk proce...

Claire chatted to Mario Di Castro from CERN all about robotic inspection and maintenance in hazardous environments. Mario Di Castro has a Master's degree in electronic engineering from the University of Naples Federico II in Italy and a PhD in robotics and industrial controls from the Polytechnic University of Madrid in Spain. Since 2011 he has led the Mechatronics, Robotics and Operation section...

Claire chatted to Margarita Chli from the University of Cyprus all about vision, navigation, and small aerial drones. Margarita Chli is a professor of Robotic Vision and the director of the Vision for Robotics Lab, at the University of Cyprus and ETH Zurich. Her work has contributed to the first vision-based autonomous flight of a small drone and the first demonstration of collaborative monocular...

Claire chatted to Steve Benford from the University of Nottingham all about art, dance, and cat sitting robots. Steve Benford is the Dunford Professor of Computer Science at the University of Nottingham where he co-founded the Mixed Reality Laboratory. His research explores artistic applications of digital technologies through performance-led methods that engage artists in creating, touring and st...

Claire chatted to Estelle Raffy from the University of Bristol all about animal behaviour, intelligence, and life-like artificial systems. Estelle Raffy is a PhD student at the University of Bristol. During her Bachelor's degree in neuroscience and cognitive science, the "brained body" of the octopus kept her wondering: how can nature start with similar basic principles and end up with massive dec...

Claire chatted to Chang Liu from Extend Robotics all about teleoperation, virtual reality, and software. Chang Liu is an entrepreneur from academia and high-tech start-ups. He is the founder, CEO and Chief Designer of Extend Robotics . He was previously a research associate in Imperial College London and University of Southampton on autonomous aerial robot navigation. Join the live audience! Robot...

Claire chatted to Vassia Simaiaki from Wayve all about computer vision, artificial intelligence, and self-driving cars. Vassia Simaiaki is passionate about taking research into application and has spent the last decade of her career in computer vision. She leads AI research in vision and graphics at Wayve . Her focus is pushing the boundaries of novel view synthesis and continuing to accelerate th...

Claire chatted to Danesh Tarapore from the University of Southampton all about fault detection, division of labour, and robot swarms. Danesh Tarapore is an Associate Professor at the School of Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton. Danesh has addressed a diverse range of challenges in fault detection and recovery in robot swarms. He is also keen to push robot swarms out...

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...