PLENARY TALKS

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Cecilia Laschi

Cecilia Laschi is full Professor of Biorobotics at the BioRobotics Institute of the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna in Pisa, Italy, where she serves as Rector’s delegate to Research. She graduated in Computer Science at the University of Pisa in 1993 and received the Ph.D. in Robotics from the University of Genoa in 1998. In 2001-2002 she was JSPS visiting researcher at Waseda University in Tokyo. Her research interests are in the field of biorobotics and she is currently working on soft robotics, humanoid robotics, and neurodevelopmental engineering. 

Koh H. Hosoda

Koh Hosoda received his PhD in mechanical engineering from Kyoto University in 1993. From 1993 to 1997, he was an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering for Computer-Controlled Machinery at Osaka University. From 1997 to 2010 he was an Associate Professor at the Department of Adaptive Machine Systems, Osaka University. From 2010 to 2014, he has been a Professor at the Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, Osaka University. Presently he is Professor at the Graduate School of Engineering Science at Osaka University. In his research, he hypothesize that the adaptive intelligence of biological beings emerges from complex interaction among a body, a brain, and an external environment. With his research group he is focusing on how it can be designed in robots and how the robots constructively explain the adaptive intelligence of biological beings.

Kwabena Boahen

 

Prof. Kwabena Boahen received his B.S. and M.S. in electrical engineering in 1989 from Johns Hopkins University and his PhD in computation and neural systems in 1997 from the California Institute of Technology. For his PhD thesis,Kwabena Boahen designed and fabricated a silicon chip emulating the functioning of the retina. After completing his PhD, Kwabena joined the faculty of University of Pennsylvania where he held the Skirkanich Term Junior Chair. In 2005 he moved to Stanford University. He is currently a professor of Bioengineering and Electrical Engineering at Stanford University where he directs the Brains in Silicon Lab.

Rebecca Kramer

Rebecca Kramer is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science at Yale University. She holds the degrees of B.S. from Johns Hopkins University, M.S. from the University of California at Berkeley, and Ph.D. from Harvard University. Prior to joining the faculty at Yale, she was an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University for four years. Her lab, the Faboratory, contains a leading facility for the rapid design, fabrication, and analysis of materially soft and multifunctional systems. Her research expertise is in stretchable electronics, responsive material actuators, soft material manufacturing, and soft-bodied control. Dr. Kramer currently serves as an Associate Editor and Editorial Board member of Frontiers in Robotics and AI: Soft Robotics. She has delivered over 50 international presentations, including an interactive presentation at NASA’s Technology Day on Capitol Hill. She has authored over 30 technical publications in journals, proceedings and books, and currently holds four US patents. She is the recipient of the NSF CAREER Award, the NASA Early Career Faculty Award, the AFOSR Young Investigator Award, the ONR Young Investigator Award, and was named to the 2015 Forbes 30 under 30 list.

Robert J. Full

Professor Robert J. Full directs the Poly-P.E.D.A.L. Laboratory, at Berkeley University,  which studies the Performance, Energetics and Dynamics of Animal Locomotion (P.E.D.A.L.) in many-footed creatures (Poly). His primary interests reside in the area of comparative biomechanics and physiology. His research laboratory applies the same techniques used in the study of human gait - 3D kinematic, force platform, and EMG analysis - but in miniature. His internationally recognized research program in comparative physiology and biomechanics has shown how examining a diversity of animals leads to the discovery of general principles of locomotion. General principles can then be used as hypotheses to explain the remarkable diversity in physiology and morphology in nature. His programmatic theme is Diversity Enables Discovery. Professor Full collaborates closely with engineers, mathematicians and computer scientists by providing biological principles to inspire the design of multi-legged robots, artificial limbs and muscles, novel control algorithms, and self-cleaning, dry adhesives.

INVITED TALK

Mark Setrakian

Mark Setrakian started his career at the age of nineteen at George Lucas’ Industrial Light and Magic.   In Hollywood, Mark creates cutting-edge creature animatronics and control systems for projects like Men In BlackMighty Joe YoungHellboyLady In The WaterHansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, Pacific Rim, and Stranger Things.   A legend in the world of robotic sports,  Setrakian is the former Heavyweight Champion of Robot Wars, a seven-time trophy winner at BattleBots, a two-time gold medalist at Robogames, and the creator of the humanoid fighting robots of Syfy's Robot Combat League.  Defying the boundary between art and engineering, Mark's work in robotics focuses on mesmerizing fluid motion.  Female Figure http://youtu.be/5sCDHEeNsxg caused a sensation in the art world and is a fascinating chapter in Setrakian's ongoing exploration of the relationship between human and machine.