Curriculum Vitae

Current role at University College London includes (since 2016):

  • Head of the UCL Soft Haptics & Robotics Lab (www.SoftHaptics.website) with over 15 researchers.
  • Co-Director of the Intelligent Mobility at UCL (IM@UCL) lab.
  • Co-General Chair of the 2023 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) in London.
  • Core roboticist at UCL Robotics developing innovative robotic hardware demonstrated by my contributions to world leading premium robotic conferences and journals.
  • My research interest focuses on the hardware design and application of soft material robotic systems.
  • I create and embed innovative stiffness-controllable mechanisms as well as combine advanced Artificial Intelligence with control strategies in robotic prototypes.
  • My research is application-driven and informed by close collaboration with experts from, e.g., transport engineering, medicine and industrial sectors.
  • Consultant and Reviewer for national research projects.
  • I have authored over 100 research articles and given over 50 keynote/invited talks.
  • Lecturer of the “Control & Instrumentation” and “Vibrations, Acoustics & Control” courses.
  • Member of the UCL MechEng Equality and Diversity Committee, Biomechanical Engineering Group, UCL Robotics and UCL Healthcare Engineering.

Previous role at King’s College London (from 2012-2015):

  • Co-Investigator (Co-I) on two EU projects (FP7 and H2020) with a budget of more than £1.5m.
  • Co-Supervisor of two PhD students creating soft, stiffness-controllable manipulators and stiffness sensing for haptic feedback.
  • Leader of the Haptics Lab and Soft Robotics Lab of the Centre for Robotics Research.
  • Coordinator and leader of research activities within the EU FP7 project STIFF-FLOP (total budget: £5.3m, interdisciplinary team of 12 partners)
  • Advisor/mentor of BSc, MSc and PhD students and RAs at King’s CoRe.
  • (Co-)Author of over 25 peer-reviewed papers in refereed journals and in international premium conference proceedings in rob
  • Research Associate responsible for hard- and software integration of embedded sensors into a medical soft manipulator in ROS (Robot Operating System).
  • Teaching Assistant for undergraduate/postgraduate courses giving lectures/tutorials/lab demonstrations: Computer-Aided Design (CAD), Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM), Robotic Systems.
  • Lecturer/mentor for post-16 students from under-represented groups teaching “Mobile robots” (Hands-on lectures using the Khepera mobile robot), K+ widening participation.
  • Member of the NMS Equality and Diversity Committee and the NMS Self Assessment Team preparing Athena SWAN silver application.
  • Member of organising committees of several international conferences and workshops and organiser of invited STIFF-FLOP demonstrations at the Science Museum, the SCHUNK Expert Days & the British Science Festival.
  • Organiser of the 2015 Innovative Surgical Robotics Forum in London in collaboration with the European Commission, the Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN) and Innovate UK.

Research Associate, 11/2011 – 11/2013
Centre for Robotics Research, Department of Informatics, King’s College London, UK
Project Title: Cost-driven adaptive factory based on modular self-contained factory units
PIs: Prof. Kaspar Althoefer, Prof. Lakmal Seneviratne

Research Assistant, 03/2011 – 07/2012
Centre for Robotics Research, Department of Informatics, King’s College London, UK
Project Title: Application of dexterous hands for deboning operation
PI: Prof. Jian S Dai

Academic Qualifications:

PhD in Mechatronics and Robotics, 2012
Centre for Robotics Research, Department of Informatics, King’s College London, UK
Thesis title: Statistical Macroscopic Model for Creating Physical Structure from Disarray

Dipl.-Ing. in Electrical Engineering, 2008
Leibniz University Hanover, GER (including two study abroad periods at LU, UK/AUT, NZ)
Thesis title: Observation of the Cardial Function and Tracking of a Chicken Embryo Heart

Visiting researcher, 2007
Mechatronic Research Centre, Wolfson School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Loughborough University, UK
Thesis title: Feedback Algorithm for a Smart Planing System using Spindle Vibrations