Nature unveils its secrets in bioinspired robotics and smart materials
Event details
| Date | 24.03.2014 |
| Hour | 14:00 |
| Speaker | Dr. Barbara Mazzolai, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia |
| Location | |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
Nature has spent 3,8 billion years on “R&D” projects and offers many solutions that humans can use as inspiration to develop materials, devices, behavioral controls, or computing that aim to improve their quality of life. Among living organisms, plants represent valuable biological models to illustrate physical principles or develop mechanical devices. The role of plants in our ecosystems is well understood. Plants are crucial for our survival because they produce oxygen, and plants are located at the lowest level in the food chain, and thus they are fundamental in the life cycle and ecosystems. Plants are often considered to be passive organisms that are unable to move, communicate, and escape from hostile environments. In recent years, engineers, and material and computer scientists have shown an increased interest in plants.
There are many examples of technological solutions that were inspired by plants. I will give a brief overview of some attempts to translate various plant features into artificial solutions, including plant root-like robotic devices, actuators, and materials. A consequence of the static lifestyle of plants is the well-organized sensing system, which allows them to explore efficiently the environment and to react rapidly to potential dangerous circumstances. Below ground, each single root has to move through the substrate, orienting along the gravity vector, negotiating obstacles, and locating resources. An entirely new generation of robotics and ICT hardware and software technologies can be designed, developed and validated basing robotic research on such original cues. New concepts of artefacts inspired from plant roots, called PLANTOIDS and endowed with distributed sensing, actuation, and intelligence for environmental exploration, rescue and medical tasks will be presented.
Bio: Barbara Mazzolai is Coordinator of the Center for Micro-BioRobotics (CMBR) of the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), in Pontedera (Pisa), Italy and Deputy Director for the Supervision and Organization of the IIT Centers Network since July, 2012. She received her MSc in Biology at the University of Pisa (Italy) in 1995 and her Ph.D. in Microsystems Engineering at the University of Rome Tor Vergata. She was co-founder of the Research Centre on Sea Technologies and Marine Robotics of SSSA in Livorno. From November 2009 to February 2011 she was Team Leader at the CMBR. In 2013 she was awarded the Medal of the Senate of the Italian Republic for her scientific activities in biomimetics and biorobotics.
There are many examples of technological solutions that were inspired by plants. I will give a brief overview of some attempts to translate various plant features into artificial solutions, including plant root-like robotic devices, actuators, and materials. A consequence of the static lifestyle of plants is the well-organized sensing system, which allows them to explore efficiently the environment and to react rapidly to potential dangerous circumstances. Below ground, each single root has to move through the substrate, orienting along the gravity vector, negotiating obstacles, and locating resources. An entirely new generation of robotics and ICT hardware and software technologies can be designed, developed and validated basing robotic research on such original cues. New concepts of artefacts inspired from plant roots, called PLANTOIDS and endowed with distributed sensing, actuation, and intelligence for environmental exploration, rescue and medical tasks will be presented.
Bio: Barbara Mazzolai is Coordinator of the Center for Micro-BioRobotics (CMBR) of the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), in Pontedera (Pisa), Italy and Deputy Director for the Supervision and Organization of the IIT Centers Network since July, 2012. She received her MSc in Biology at the University of Pisa (Italy) in 1995 and her Ph.D. in Microsystems Engineering at the University of Rome Tor Vergata. She was co-founder of the Research Centre on Sea Technologies and Marine Robotics of SSSA in Livorno. From November 2009 to February 2011 she was Team Leader at the CMBR. In 2013 she was awarded the Medal of the Senate of the Italian Republic for her scientific activities in biomimetics and biorobotics.
Practical information
- General public
- Free
Organizer
- Lirot Mayra <[email protected]>
Contact
- Lirot Mayra <[email protected]>