From neuromechanics to synthesising robots on-the-fly

Robotics is coming of age, placing man-made devices in uncontrolled environments. The challenge facing the next generation of robotics engineers is to design and control reliable and robust physical behaviours in the field. The goals of engineering coincide with those of biomechanics researchers who seek to analyse the principles of neuromechanical control and create quantitative and predictive models of animal movement. Some of these models contain new insights waiting to be applied in robotics.

The talk will outline contributions to robotics from recent research in neuromechanics, leading from fundamental science, through applied mathematics and control theory to the construction of a novel class of modular robots, whose bodies are synthesised on-the-fly.