Episodes
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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 and the people they will become a part of?
In this special live recording at the Victoria and Albert Museum as part of the Great Exhibition Road Festival, Claire chatted to Milia Helena Hasbani (Imperial College London), Benjamin Metcalfe (University of Bath) and Dani Clode (Cambridge University) about robotic prosthetics and human augmentation.
Milia Helena Hasbani is a researcher in assistive technology at Imperial College London. She is passionate about improving people’s lives through innovation in healthcare and technology in multi-disciplinary environments interfacing with engineers, clinicians, and patients. Her research focuses on the control of active prosthetic arms, combining user intention for wrist movements with a computer vision system for dynamically selecting the grasp type to be used.
Benjamin Metcalfe is a biomedical engineer who specialises in neural interfaces and implanted devices. He is Head of the Department of Electronic & Electrical Engineering at the University of Bath and Deputy Director of the Bath Institute for the Augmented Human. He is also Vice-President (Academic) of the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine. His interests explore the collision between technology and biology and the extent to which engineering can be used to augment and enhance human performance.
Dani Clode is an augmentation and prosthetics designer. She is the Senior Technical Specialist at the Plasticity Lab at Cambridge University and a collaborator of the Alternative Limb Project. Dani’s work investigates the future architecture of our bodies, challenging the perception and boundaries of extending the human form. Her main project the ‘Third Thumb’ is currently being utilised in collaboration with neuroscientists at Cambridge University, investigating the brain’s ability to adapt to human augmentation.
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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 her current research is addressing limitations in drug delivery through scalable magnetically enhanced drug transport. In 2014, she co-founded the spin-off MagnebotiX that offers electromagnetic control systems for wireless micromanipulation.
Join the live audience!
Robot Talk will be at the Great Exhibition Road Festival this Sunday (16th June) for 'Humans 2.0: Robotically Augmented People' at the V&A Museum.
Register for a FREE ticket: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/humans-20-robotically-augmented-people-tickets-879494560907
Win a Robot Talk T-shirt
For a chance to win your very own organic cotton Robot Talk t-shirt, all you have to do is:
Sign up to our newsletter Share our competition post on social media: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads or MastodonYou can enter across multiple platforms. One lucky winner will be randomly selected each month!
Find out more: https://www.robottalk.org/t-shirt-competition/.
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Missing episodes?
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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 as the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health. Professor Darzi leads a large multidisciplinary academic and policy research team, focused on convergence science across engineering, physical and data sciences, specifically in the areas of robotics, sensing, imaging and digital and AI technologies. He is Chair of the NHS Accelerated Access Collaborative, Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and the Royal Society, and Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.
Join the live audience!
Robot Talk will be at the Great Exhibition Road Festival in June for 'Humans 2.0: Robotically Augmented People' at the V&A Museum in London, at 1.30pm on Sunday 16th June.
Register for a FREE ticket: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/humans-20-robotically-augmented-people-tickets-879494560907
Win a Robot Talk T-shirt
For a chance to win your very own organic cotton Robot Talk t-shirt, all you have to do is:
Sign up to our newsletter Share our competition post on social media: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads or MastodonYou can enter across multiple platforms. One lucky winner will be randomly selected each month!
Find out more: https://www.robottalk.org/t-shirt-competition/.
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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 procedures. This experience sparked her interest in leveraging data-driven HF approaches in product design. Isabelle is also part of the Leadership team of Women in Robotics UK. This organization is committed to fostering an inclusive community for women and non-binary individuals in the robotics field in the UK.
Join the live audience!
Robot Talk will be at the Great Exhibition Road Festival in June for 'Humans 2.0: Robotically Augmented People' at the V&A Museum in London, at 1.30pm on Sunday 16th June.
Register for a FREE ticket: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/humans-20-robotically-augmented-people-tickets-879494560907
Win a Robot Talk T-shirt
For a chance to win your very own organic cotton Robot Talk t-shirt, all you have to do is:
Sign up to our newsletter Share our competition post on social media: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads or MastodonYou can enter across multiple platforms. One lucky winner will be randomly selected each month!
Find out more: https://www.robottalk.org/t-shirt-competition/.
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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 at CERN. The section is responsible for the design, construction, installation, operation and maintenance of robotic systems used for remote maintenance at the CERN accelerator complex. His research interests include tele-robotics, machine learning, and precise motion control in harsh environments.
Join the live audience!
Robot Talk will be returning for another live episode recording this June, as part of the Great Exhibition Road Festival in London. 'Humans 2.0: Robotically Augmented People' will be held at the V&A Museum at 1.30pm on Sunday 16th June.
Register for a free ticket now: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/humans-20-robotically-augmented-people-tickets-879494560907
Win a Robot Talk T-shirt
For a chance to win your very own organic cotton Robot Talk t-shirt, all you have to do is:
Sign up to our newsletter Share our competition post on social media: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads or MastodonYou can enter across multiple platforms. One lucky winner will be randomly selected each month!
Find out more: https://www.robottalk.org/t-shirt-competition/.
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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 SLAM for a small swarm of drones. Margarita has given invited keynotes at the World Economic Forum in Davos, TEDx, and ICRA, and she was featured in Robohub's 2016 list of "25 women in Robotics you need to know about". In 2023, she won the ERC Consolidator Grant to research advanced robotic perception.
Join the live audience!
Robot Talk will be returning for another live episode recording this June, as part of the Great Exhibition Road Festival in London. 'Humans 2.0: Robotically Augmented People' will be held at the V&A Museum at 1.30pm on Sunday 16th June.
Register for a free ticket now: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/humans-20-robotically-augmented-people-tickets-879494560907
Win a Robot Talk T-shirt
For a chance to win your very own organic cotton Robot Talk t-shirt, all you have to do is:
Sign up to our newsletter Share our competition post on social media: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads or MastodonYou can enter across multiple platforms. One lucky winner will be randomly selected each month!
Find out more: https://www.robottalk.org/t-shirt-competition/.
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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 studying unique interactive experiences. He directs the EPSRC-funded Horizon Centre for Doctoral Training and the University’s newly founded Cobot Maker Space that is exploring human interaction with robots. He is also a keen musician.
Join the live audience!
Robot Talk will be returning for another live episode recording this June, as part of the Great Exhibition Road Festival in London. 'Humans 2.0: Robotically Augmented People' will be held at the V&A Museum at 1.30pm on Sunday 16th June.
Win a Robot Talk T-shirt
For a chance to win your very own organic cotton Robot Talk t-shirt, all you have to do is:
Sign up to our newsletter Share our competition post on social media: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads or MastodonYou can enter across multiple platforms. One lucky winner will be randomly selected each month!
Find out more: https://www.robottalk.org/t-shirt-competition/.
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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 decentralized systems that we still call intelligent? She did a Master in epistemology and history of science where she addressed what embodiment principles tell us about biological and artificial systems' design and behaviour. Building on this, her PhD research aims to contribute to finding the ingredients for adaptive, 'life-like' behaviours in novel artificial systems."
Check out the MorphoTalks YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@morphologicalcomputation/playlists
Join the live audience!
Robot Talk will be returning for another live episode recording this June, as part of the Great Exhibition Road Festival in London. 'Humans 2.0: Robotically Augmented People' will be held at the V&A Museum at 1.30pm on Sunday 16th June.
Win a Robot Talk T-shirt
For a chance to win your very own organic cotton Robot Talk t-shirt, all you have to do is:
Sign up to our newsletter Share our competition post on social media: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads or MastodonYou can enter across multiple platforms. One lucky winner will be randomly selected each month!
Find out more: https://www.robottalk.org/t-shirt-competition/.
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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 Talk will be returning for another live episode recording this June, as part of the Great Exhibition Road Festival in London. 'Humans 2.0: Robotically Augmented People' will be held at the V&A Museum at 1.30pm on Sunday 16th June.
Win a Robot Talk T-shirt
For a chance to win your very own organic cotton Robot Talk t-shirt, all you have to do is:
Sign up to our newsletter Share our competition post on social media: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads or MastodonYou can enter across multiple platforms. One lucky winner will be randomly selected each month!
Find out more: https://www.robottalk.org/t-shirt-competition/.
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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 the driving performance of autonomous vehicles. Vassia has a degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering and MSc in Neuroscience from Imperial College London. She thrives on solving hard problems and building high-performing teams of engineers and scientists focusing on AI applications.
Join the live audience!
Robot Talk will be returning for another live episode recording this June, as part of the Great Exhibition Road Festival in London. 'Humans 2.0: Robotically Augmented People' will be held at the V&A Museum at 1.30pm on Sunday 16th June.
Win a Robot Talk T-shirt
For a chance to win your very own organic cotton Robot Talk t-shirt, all you have to do is:
Sign up to our newsletter Share our competition post on social media: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads or MastodonYou can enter across multiple platforms. One lucky winner will be randomly selected each month!
Find out more: https://www.robottalk.org/t-shirt-competition/.
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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 of their carefully controlled laboratory environments and into the real world, pursuing applications for robot swarms in marine exploration and in forest monitoring. Research on resilient robots that he has collaborated on has been featured on the front cover of the Nature magazine and received widespread media coverage.
Join the live audience!
Robot Talk will be returning for another live episode recording this June, as part of the Great Exhibition Road Festival in London. 'Humans 2.0: Robotically Augmented People' will be held at the V&A Museum at 1.30pm on Sunday 16th June.
Find out more: https://www.greatexhibitionroadfestival.co.uk/event/humans-20-robotically-augmented-people/
Win a Robot Talk T-shirt
For a chance to win your very own organic cotton Robot Talk t-shirt, all you have to do is:
Sign up to our newsletter Share our competition post on social media: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads or MastodonYou can enter across multiple platforms. One lucky winner will be randomly selected each month!
Find out more: https://www.robottalk.org/t-shirt-competition/.
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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 communities as users of, and stakeholders in, robotic technology innovation. She is passionate about increasing equity, accessibility and inclusivity in robotics and, alongside her Women in Robotics UK colleagues, has developed and delivered workshops and events across the country.
Win a Robot Talk T-shirt
For a chance to win your very own organic cotton Robot Talk t-shirt, all you have to do is:
Sign up to our newsletter Share our competition post on social media: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads or MastodonYou can enter across multiple platforms. One lucky winner will be randomly selected each month!
Find out more: https://www.robottalk.org/t-shirt-competition/.
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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 is published in several anthologies, including the Best of British Science Fiction 2020 and 2022, and has two published novels and three collections of sci-fi shorts. His recent collection – Extracting Humanity – includes stories from the projects with scientists.
Robot Talk will be taking a break next week, but we’ll be back in April with more interesting guests and cool robots.
Win a Robot Talk T-shirt
For a chance to win your very own organic cotton Robot Talk t-shirt, all you have to do is:
Sign up to our newsletter Share our competition post on social media: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads or MastodonYou can enter across multiple platforms. One lucky winner will be randomly selected each month!
Find out more: https://www.robottalk.org/t-shirt-competition/.
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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 used to research, develop and test a wide range of sensing technology for monitoring activities in the home as well as robots ranging from companions to assistants around the home. She strongly supports public engagement and has been coordinating regional robotics week events for the last 6 years.
Win a Robot Talk T-shirt
For a chance to win your very own organic cotton Robot Talk t-shirt, all you have to do is:
Sign up to our newsletter Share our competition post on social media: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads or MastodonYou can enter across multiple platforms. One lucky winner will be randomly selected each month!
Find out more: https://www.robottalk.org/t-shirt-competition/.
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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 University he is Professor of Maintenance Systems, and former Head of the Centre for Life-cycle Engineering and Management. His research is in monitoring of mechanical systems with special interests in railways, aero gears, sensor systems, and maintenance optimisation through data fusion.
Win a Robot Talk T-shirt
For a chance to win your very own organic cotton Robot Talk t-shirt, all you have to do is:
Sign up to our newsletter Share our competition post on social media: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads or MastodonYou can enter across multiple platforms. One lucky winner will be randomly selected each month!
Find out more: https://www.robottalk.org/t-shirt-competition/.
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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, haptics and wearable robotics, especially with applications in surgery, preventative medicine, rehabilitation, physiotherapy and dexterous tele-operation, as well as extreme environments (nuclear and space).
Win a Robot Talk T-shirt
For a chance to win your very own organic cotton Robot Talk t-shirt, all you have to do is:
Sign up to our newsletter Share our competition post on social media: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads or MastodonYou can enter across multiple platforms. One lucky winner will be randomly selected each month!
Find out more: https://www.robottalk.org/t-shirt-competition/.
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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 was awarded a prestigious Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellowship. Since founding the Robot Learning Lab in 2018, he and his team have been developing efficient methods for robots to learn new skills for physically interacting with objects, with a particular emphasis on everyday tasks.
Win a Robot Talk T-shirt
For a chance to win your very own organic cotton Robot Talk t-shirt, all you have to do is:
Sign up to our newsletter Share our competition post on social media: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads or MastodonYou can enter across multiple platforms. One lucky winner will be randomly selected each month!
Find out more: https://www.robottalk.org/t-shirt-competition/.
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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 is interested in Robotics, Human-Robot Interaction, Human-Computer Interaction and applications of Machine Learning in those areas, with accessibility and co-design as key aspects of her research. Within those areas, her research explores how the uptake of robotics systems can be improved.
Win a Robot Talk T-shirt
For a chance to win your very own organic cotton Robot Talk t-shirt, all you have to do is:
Sign up to our newsletter Share our competition post on social media: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads or MastodonYou can enter across multiple platforms. One lucky winner will be randomly selected each month!
Find out more: https://www.robottalk.org/t-shirt-competition/.
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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 Development Manager, participating in and managing many EU projects. After the acquisition of Robotnik by United Robotics Group in 2023, he became Managing Director of the company. In 2017 he joined the board of Directors of the Spanish robotics technology platform Hisparob.
Win a Robot Talk T-shirt
For a chance to win your very own organic cotton Robot Talk t-shirt, all you have to do is:
Sign up to our newsletter Share our competition post on social media: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads or MastodonYou can enter across multiple platforms. One lucky winner will be randomly selected each month!
Find out more: https://www.robottalk.org/t-shirt-competition/.
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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 then became Associate Professor in assistive robots at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory. Currently, she is a Lecturer and Researcher in Robotics at Mondragon University. Her research interests include robotic grasping and manipulation, bio-inspired control, assistive robotics and human-robot interfaces.
Win a Robot Talk T-shirt
For a chance to win your very own organic cotton Robot Talk t-shirt, all you have to do is:
Sign up to our newsletter Share our competition post on social media: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Mastodon, BlueSky or Threads.You can enter across multiple platforms. One lucky winner will be randomly selected each month!
Find out more: https://www.robottalk.org/t-shirt-competition/.
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