Announcing the Winners of the 2017 Annual Soft Robotics Competitions

Dr. Emir Vela is currently a professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Peruvian University Cayetano Heredia - UPCH, Peru as well as laboratory lead for the Micro & Biorobotics, and the areas of ​​Biomechanical, BioRobotic and Rehabilitation of UPCH. With a diverse range of academic interest his work has included research in the field of micro-robotics, bio-robotics, applications for microfluidic devices, design and manufacturing of sensors and actuators, as well as automatic control. Dr. Vela has also participated in research in the field of micro robotics and opto-metronics in France, as well as in design and manufacture of bio-sensors and micro actuators in France and Switzerland.

Prof. Jonathan Rossiter is currently a Professor of Robotics at the University of Bristol and EPSRC Research Fellow as well as founder and head of the Soft Robotics Group at Bristol Robotics Laboratory. His research interests are in future robotics, especially the emerging fields of soft robotics and smart materials. He has held previous experience at The Royal Society and as a JSPS Research Fellow and has also developed new technologies including biodegradable robots, natural affective touch, camouflage smart skins, shape-fixing composites, and multi-degree-of-freedom soft actuators. Prof. Rossiter has also been awarded over £17 million in research funding and has published over 130 peer-reviewed articles, patents and commercial licensing.

Dr. O'Cearbhaill obtained his BE (Biomedical) and PhD from NUI-Galway. His doctorate focused on applying mechanical stimulation to MSCs for vascular tissue engineering applications. Subsequently, he worked for Veryan Medical, before joining Creganna-Tactx, where he worked in both manufacturing and design service roles, helping to establish their Specialty Needles Division in Marlborough, MA. Prior to joining UCD, Dr. O'Cearbhaill was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard Medical School (Harvard-MIT Health Sciences & Technology Division; Dept. of Medicine, Brigham & Women's Hospital), where his research focused on the conception and development of medical devices and the delivery of next generation therapeutics in the laboratory of Prof. Jeffrey Karp. Dr O'Cearbhaill's interests include medical device innovation, design and commercialization (including minimally invasive devices and delivery systems), cell biomechanics, bioreactor design & tissue engineering, organ-on-chip and lab-on-a-chip systems.

Prof. Polygerinos currently an assistant professor in the school of engineering at the Arizona State University Prof. Polygerinos research focuses on devices that have significant potential to improve patient care and human activity. As a Ph.D. candidate in the Centre for Robotics Research at King’s College London, Panagiotis designed, developed and evaluated miniature MRI compatible sensors for cardiac catheters under Prof. K. Althoefer. In 2012, he joined as a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard Biodesign Lab with focus on soft robotic systems and wearable devices for people with upper extremity disabilities under Prof. C. Walsh and in collaboration with the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University. He continued his research as a Wyss Postdoctoral Fellow of Technology Development and in collaboration with the Biodesign team developed new wearable assistive and medical technologies before going on to Arizona State University.

Through numerous interdisciplinary projects and collaborations, Dr. Galloway has built a multidisciplinary background that has grown to include mechanical design, materials science, advanced manufacturing, bioinspired design, human-centered design, robotics and medical devices. His current research interests include new approaches to design, rapid prototyping from the micro- to the macro-scale, active soft materials, and the manufacture and control of wearable robotic devices. Prior to joining Vanderbilt, Kevin worked closely with the Harvard Microrobotics Lab led by Prof. Rob Wood and the Harvard Biodesign Lab led by Prof. Conor Walsh to build an internationally recognized soft robotics platform and has held several PI/Co-PI roles.

Dr. Roche received her bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering from NUIGalway, and went on to work in the medical device industry (Mednova, Abbott Vascular and Medtronic) before receiving her MSc in Bioengineering from Trinity College Dublin. She completed her PhD at Harvard University under the guidance of Professor David Mooney in the Mooney Lab and Professor Conor Walsh in the Harvard Biodesign Lab. To date her research has focused on new approaches to cardiac device design as well as employing biomaterials to improve cell delivery and retention to the heart.

Iain Anderson is Group Leader for the Biomimetics Laboratory of the Auckland Bioengineering Institute and an Associate Professor in the Department of Engineering Science. After working as a product designer, engineer and research scientist in industry, Dr. Anderson returned in 2000 to the Department of Engineering Science as a staff member. He was one of the founding members of the Auckland Bioengineering Institute and the Biomimetics Laboratory which is focused on the control and self-sensing of artificial muscles and artificial muscle energy harvesting. In 2015, Dr. Anderson and his graduate students founded the Biomimetics Laboratory. The lab has a strong focus on dielectric elastomer artificial muscles with particular expertise in optimising the technology for applications such as wearable sensors and power generators. These stretchable soft capacitive sensors, perfect for measuring human body motion, were later commercialized by Dr. Anderson and two of his former students, creating StretchSense Ltd.

Dr. Jian Zhu is an assistant professor at the department of Mechanical Engineering, NUS. Before moving to Singapore, Dr. Zhu worked on climbing robots at City University of Hong Kong in 2002, which can take the place of human beings to clean the windows of the high-rise buildings. Dr. Zhu also worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University after receiving a Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering at University of Alberta, Canada in 2008. There he was awarded a NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. His current research interests lie in Soft Robots, Soft Active Materials, and Smart Materials and Structures.