Show Notes
Claire chatted to Heather Knight from Oregon State University about applying methods from the performing arts to robotics. Heather Knight runs the CHARISMA Robotics research group. Her education includes a PhD on Expressive Motion for Low Degree of Freedom Robots from Carnegie Mellon University, and M.S. and B.S. degrees in EECS from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She has worked at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Aldebaran Robotics, and produced the Robot Film Festival, a Cyberflora robot flower garden, robot comedy on TED.com, and a two-floor Rube Goldberg machine for OK Go that won a British Video Music Award. This episode is sponsored by Soft Robotics for Healthcare, a national platform for accelerating the clinical adoption of soft robotic technologies. Their upcoming event: SoRoH 2026 'Shaping the Future of Soft Robotics in Health' is coming to Bristol on the 19th and 20th of January. Register at softroboticshealth.org.uk
More from Robot Talk
Claire chatted to Rika Antonova from the University of Cambridge about using artificial intelligence to develop complimentary robot hardware and algorithms.
Claire chatted to Kushant Patel from Brookhaven National Laboratory about robots that work in scientific facilities, such as particle accelerators.
Last month, Claire hosted a panel discussion at AUV 2026 exploring how progress in marine autonomy resonates with different audiences, from engineers who are developing the technology, to the end users in science, industry and defence, and the young people who will become the next generation of engineers. She was joined by five panellists: Gwyn Griffiths, Daniel Hook, Emma Curtis, Sara Aldhaheri, and Edith-Clare Hall. This bonus episode is brought to you by the IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society and the AUV Southampton organising committee, in partnership with Cellula Robotics and Sonardyne International. Get access to the full catalogue of bonus episodes by becoming a supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ClaireAsher
During my recent visit to The National Robotarium in Edinburgh, I was lucky enough to get the chance to speak to some of the Robotarium's resident companies. In this interview, I talked to Niall McGrath, CEO of Robocean, a company building and deploying robots to restore seagrass meadows – one of the most important marine ecosystems on Earth. This episode was made possible by UK RAS STEPS, a programme supporting Research Technical Professionals in robotics and autonomous systems in the UK.
Claire chatted to Michelle Lu from Vsim Technology about using simulation and artificial intelligence to teach robots new skills.