Speakers
Zhongkui Wang
A/Prof. Zhongkui Wang received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in mechanical engineering from Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, China, in 2000 and 2003 respectively, and the Ph.D. degree in robotics from Ritsumeikan University, Kusatsu, Japan, in 2011.,From 2011 to 2012 and 2012 to 2014, he was a Research Associate and a Postdoctoral Fellow, respectively, with Ritsumeikan University. During his Postdoc, he visited ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland, for six months as a Guest Researcher. From 2014 to 2019, he was an Assistant Professor with Ritsumeikan University, where he has been an Associate Professor since 2019. His research interests mainly include soft robotics, biomedical engineering, and tactile sensing.,Dr. Wang was the recipient of the Best Paper Award on Robotics at the 2018 IEEE International Conference on Real-time Computing and Robotics, and the Best Paper Award at IEEE 24th International Conference on Mechatronics and Machine Vision in Practice. He is an Associate Editor for IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters and an Editorial Board Member of the Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering.
Presentation
Soft robotics for sustainable agricultural food handling
Barbara Mazzolai
Prof. Barbara Mazzolai is Associate Director for Robotics and Director of the Bioinspired Soft Robotics Laboratory at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT). From February 2011 to March 2021 she was the Director of the IIT Center for Micro-BioRobotics (CMBR) in Pontedera. From July 2012 to 2017, she also covered the role of Deputy Director for the Supervision and Organization of the IIT Centers Network.
Her research activities are in the areas of biologically-inspired robotics and soft robotics. In this context, she is the pioneer of the fields of plant-inspired robots and growing robots.
She graduated in Biology at the University of Pisa (Italy) in 1995, obtained an International Master Diploma in Eco-Management in 1998 at the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna (SSSA), and in 2011 the Ph.D. in Microsystems Engineering from the University of Rome Tor Vergata. In the years 1999-2009, she was Research Assistant and then Assistant Professor in Biomedical Engineering at the SSSA Center for Research in Microengineering (CRIM Lab, now the BioRobotics Institute). In November 2009, she joined IIT at the Center for Micro-BioRobotics (CMBR) as Team Leader, and then from 2011 to 2021 she was the Director CMBR. In 2013, she started her research line on Bioinspired Soft Robotics as Principal Investigator.
She is member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (Tübingen and Stuttgart, Germany), since 2016; and member of the Advisory Committee of the Cluster on Living Adaptive and Energy-autonomous Materials Systems - livMatS (Freiburg, Germany), since 2019. She is Member of the International Research and Innovation Advisory Board (IRIAB) of the Università Campus Bio-Medico dì Roma (UCBM) since 2022.
In 2020, she has obtained the Italian National Scientific Qualification of Full Professor in Bioengineering.
Presentation
Bio-inspired soft robot for unstructured environment
Li Wen
Prof. Li Wen received the B.E. degree in mechatronics engineering from the Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China, in 2005, and the Ph.D. degree in mechanical engineering from Beihang University, Beijing, in 2011.,He was a Postdoctoral Fellow with Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA, from 2011 to 2013. He is a Full Professor with the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Beihang University. His current research interests mainly include bioinspired robotics, soft robotics, and comparative biomechanics.,Dr. Wen serves as an Associate Editor for Soft Robotics, IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, and Journal of Bionic Engineering. He is an Editorial Board Member of Bioinspiration Biomimetics. He received the Steven Vogel Young Investigator Award and the Xiong Youlun Young Scientist Award in 2020.
Presentation
Bio-inspired soft robot for sustainable environmental interaction
Clementine Boutry
A/Prof. Clementine Boutry is assistant professor at the Department of Microlelectronics, TU Delft, The Netherlands, where she leads the Biodegradable Technologies group at ECTM (Electronic Components, Technology and Materials Laboratory). She obtained her MSc in microengineering at EPFL Lausanne (CH) after a MSc thesis at Philips Research in Eindhoven (NL). In 2012, she obtained her PhD degree in biodegradable electronics from ETH Zurich (CH) awarded with the ETH Zurich Medal for outstanding PhD thesis. She then joined Philips Research in Shanghai (CN) working on biomedical diagnosis tools. Awarded with both EU and CH grants, she joined as a postdoc the group of prof. Z. Bao at Stanford University (USA), with a return phase in the groups of prof. S. Lacour and H. Altug at EPFL Lausanne (CH). Her group is working on the next generation of biodegradable MEMS for medical and environmental applications.
Presentation
Biodegradable micro-electro-mechanical systems for environmental monitoring
Dr. Boutry’s research focuses on biodegradable technologies. These devices are designed to operate for a predefined period of time and then disappear naturally without leaving a trace. They are fully degradable, including actuators and electrical circuits, opening up fascinating perspectives in many application areas. Her presentation will focus on biodegradable robotics, more precisely biodegradable MEMS, a new class of micro-electro-mechanical systems made entirely of biodegradable materials, including actuators, but also sensors and electric circuits, for environment and biodiversity monitoring.
Hyeong-Joon Joo
Mr Hyeong-Joon Joo is a PhD student in the Robotic Materials Department at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, where he focuses on developing cutting-edge robotics solutions through the utilization and advancement of high-performance artificial muscles. He earned his B.S. and M.S. degrees in mechanical engineering from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (Daejeon, South Korea) in 2016 and Seoul National University (Seoul, South Korea) in 2018, respectively.
Presentation
A versatile jellyfish-like underwater robotic platform for ocean conservation
The urgent need for ocean conservation calls for innovative underwater solutions that minimize ecological footprint and maximize efficiency. Soft robotics presents a promising avenue for tackling these issues, offering novel materials, design approaches, and embodied intelligence. This talk will describe how we explore the potential of soft robots for ocean conservation, focusing on the development of a versatile platform capable of operating in fragile ecosystems with minimal impact. Drawing inspiration from nature, we developed a jellyfish-like robotic platform designed for effective underwater propulsion and manipulation. By leveraging electrohydraulic actuators and bioinspired locomotion, our prototype demonstrates quick, energy-efficient, noise-free propulsion and gentle interaction with underwater species, enabling safer environmental monitoring and intervention. We further show this platform achieving a wide range of practical functions for diverse real-world applications, hoping to inspire the next generation of underwater vehicles for environmental sustainability.
Mirko Kovač
Prof. Mirko Kovac is Director, Laboratory of Sustainability Robotics at Empa Switzerland and Aerial Robotics Laboratory at Imperial College, London UK. He is also an adjunct professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) in the School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering (ENAC).
He is internationally recognized leader in aerial robotics and working on a mission on development of minimally invasive robotics and AI technologies to measure and modify environments and deliver sustainable outcomes. His research focuses on the development of novel, biologically inspired flying robots for distributed sensing in air and water and autonomous robotic construction for digital infrastructure systems for industry 5.0 applications. His research group is specialized in robot design, hardware development and multi-modal robot mobility. At Laboratory of Sustainability Robotics, Empa, we are developing novel materials allowing tight integration to robot functionality and operational robustness and allow development of robotic organs and an associated full integration of embodied artificial intelligence in future engineering systems. The group research is also focuses on developing bio-hybrid systems integrating biological materials such as muscle cells, functional cellulose, fungi substrate with robotic systems.
Prof. Kovac has over 15 years of research experience from Imperial College, London and at Harvard University He has been awarded >12.4m Euro for his cross-disciplinary projects and has published >100 peer-reviewed articles in leading robotics journals and at conferences (including, Nature, Science, Nature Machine Intelligence and Science Robotics). Prof. Kovac’s research work has received >1100 media mentions, and he regularly acts as an advisor to robotics investment funds and government including a consultation to the UK House of Lords. He has received the prestigious Royal Society Wolfson award in 2018 and an ERC Consolidator grant (funded by SERI) in 2021. Prof. Kovac is also Director of Centre of Excellence in Infrastructure Robotics Ecosystems (Ceire) at Imperial College London.
Presentation
Bioinspired Drones for Environmental Sensing and Manufacturing