Soft Robotics Podcast

Prof.Ali, an assistant professor at the Department of Biomechanical Engineering at the University of Twente and one of the tenure trackers of the 4TU Dutch Soft Robotics Program. After several years of working in the industry, he began his academic career as a lecturer and researcher at the Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Tehran (2004-2010), where he developed several service robots (e.g. power line pole climbing and domestic robots), as well as polymer micromachining facilities. His passion for soft robotics was born and grown at the Center for Micro-Bio Robotics of Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) where I worked from January 2010 to July 2019. During this period, he mainly focused on the design and unconventional manufacturing of soft-bodied robots, particularly inspired by biological models such as plants, sea urchin, and octopus. Inspired by plant movements, I pioneered the new concept of Growing Robots (robots moving and adapting by creating their own structure) and succeeded in inventing the world’s first examples of these robots by incorporating additive manufacturing technology as part of the robot structure.

What do kids think about Soft(Robotics)? I am impressed and proud of the amazing kids at istwente international school. In the trailer, they exposing their thoughts about robotics.

What is the philosophy of robotics technology? Can capitalism and socialism integrate for making sure the robots are not going to lead to social inequality? Very intriguing and thoughtful discussion with Prof.Peter-Paul Verbeek, The chairman of UNESCO’s World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology, The philosopher of technology, chair of the philosophy department at the University of Twente. Prof. Peter-Paul was one of the 18 members of this worldwide network of experts studying ethical issues related to science and technology. In this episode, we discussed the philosophy of robotics technology and ethical considerations for shaping the technology and how we can decrease social inequality while enhancing technology and more. I hope you would enjoy this episode.

Helge A Wurdemann " How soft robotics can be integrated into Autonomous Vehicle?". Helge and his collaborator are working on integrating soft robotics in the autonomous vehicles through designing a soft shape-changing driver's seat to inform the driver when it's necessary to change between different levels of autonomy.

Ian Buck: What Does High School Teacher Think about Robotics? A very informative and enjoyable discussion featuring how podcasting could be integrated into robotics education. Ian Buck is a podcaster and high school teacher focused on computer technology. He hosts the podcast The Extra Dimension, which explores the ethical and social implications of technology. He also narrated the audiobook Robots Will Steal Your Job, But That's OK.

What does Television presenter Think about Robotics? Very interesting and enjoyable discussion with Chris Berrow, Chris is a Presenter @BBCWorldService, @BBCRadio3 @BBCRadioLincsBBC Radio Lincolnshire. He also hosts the New gaming podcast! @nakedgamingpod. In this theme, we discussed many interesting broad points, I hope you would enjoy it.

Mark van Rijmenam: How do organizations think about Robotics and AI. In this episode, we are thrilled to have Dr.Mark Rijmenam, the founder of Datafloq. In this episode, Dr.Marc explains how do organizations think about Robotics and AI? Technology & Capitalism and its societal consequences and diverse related topics. Datafloq is the one-stop source for emerging tech, offering C-level Executives information, insights, knowledge and opportunities to drive innovation with data.

Helmut Hauser" New morphological soft bodies allow us to take a completely new approach to controller design. How you can change the morphology growing through interaction with the environment? you don't want to control every single degree of freedom and how this would affect the computation."

In this episode, we have an interesting discussion with Luuk van Laake, a PhD student in the Soft Robotic Matter Group led by Bas Overvelde, at AMOLF, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. He is currently working with the consortium (hybridheart.eu) which is a collaborative project among seven partners ( (AMC),(AMOLF), (SSSA), EM-TEC GMBH, XELTIS BV, TU/E) for more details about hybridheart.eu: https://www.hybridheart.eu/partners/).

We discussed intriguing projects about soft robotics, metamaterials, and more very interesting topics. I hope you find this episode useful

What do tech journalists think about robots? In this theme, we are delighted to have Evan Ackerman, the senior writer for IEEE Spectrum’s award-winning robotics blog, Automaton. Since 2007, he has written over 6,000 articles on robotics and emerging technology, In this episode, Evan interestingly illustrates how tech journalists report about robotics and make sure there is no hype. I would enjoy this theme.