Leveraging Bioinspiration, Soft Robotics and Morphological Computation for the design of robotic systems for extreme aquatic environments
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Leveraging Bioinspiration, Soft Robotics and Morphological Computation for the design of robotic systems for extreme aquatic environments
Fri, 28/03/2025 - 14:00 to 14:30
Location:
Speaker:
Dr Valentina Lo Gatto
Affiliation:
HWU
Synopsis:
Extraterrestrial oceans are distant, harsh, hardly accessible environments and still our best shot at finding life beyond Earth. To, one day, be able to explore such environments we will need extremely highly efficient, robust and adaptable systems. In this talk we will briefly present novel principles, and some robotics prototypes developed to highlight such principles, that could potentially help develop the underwater space probes of the future.
Biography:
Dr. Valentina Lo Gatto is an Assistant Professor in Aerospace Engineering at Heriot-Watt University. She holds a PhD in Robotics and Autonomous Systems, which she achieved within the FARSCOPE CDT program at the Bristol Robotics Lab (BRL), where she was a member of the Morphological Computation Group and the SoftLab. Before moving to the UK, Valentina obtained a BSc in Aerospace Engineering and an MSc in Space Engineering at the Sapienza University of Rome. Her research interests include the application of bioinspired designs in conjunction with the use of soft robotics and embodied intelligence principles for exploratory probes destined for extreme environments (in outer space and/or remote areas on Earth). She is particularly interested in developing novel underwater systems to explore extraterrestrial liquid environments (e.g., Europa’s subsurface ocean, Titan’s lakes).