Last month I had the pleasure of attending the Smart City Robotics Competition in Milton Keynes, where I spoke to the organisers, competitors, exhibitors and attendees of this exciting 3-day event. Check out our conversations in this month's bonus episode! This bonus episode was sponsored by euRobotics, an international non-profit association that aims to boost European robotics research, development, and innovation. Thank you to euRobotics for their support! And thank you to Smart City Consultancy for inviting me to attend the competition. This is the first time I've recorded interviews at a live event like this, so I'd love to know what you think. Would you like to see more content like this in the future? Let me know! Listen to the full catalogue of bonus episodes here: https://www.patreon.com/collection/681853 Find out more about euRobotics: https://eu-robotics.net/ Learn more about the Smart City Robotics competition: https://www.smartcityconsultancy.co.uk/
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Episode 128: Making microrobots move - Ali K. Hoshiar
Claire chatted to Ali K. Hoshiar from the University of Essex about how microrobots move and work together. Ali Hoshiar is a Senior Lecturer in Robotics at the University of Essex and Director of the Robotics for Under Millimetre Innovation (RUMI) Lab. He leads the EPSRC-funded ‘In-Target’ project and was awarded the university’s Best Interdisciplinary Research Award. His research focuses on microrobotics, soft robotics, and data-driven mechatronic systems for medical and agri-tech applications. He also holds an MBA, adding strategic and commercial insight to his technical work. Support Robot Talk on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ClaireAsher
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Episode 127: Robots exploring other planets - Frances Zhu
Claire chatted to Frances Zhu from the Colorado School of Mines about intelligent robotic systems for space exploration. Frances Zhu has a degree in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from Cornell University. She was previously a NASA Space Technology Research Fellow and an Assistant Research Professor in the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology at the University of Hawaii, specialising in machine learning, dynamics, systems, and controls engineering. Since 2025, she has been an Assistant Professor at the Colorado School of Mines in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, affiliated with the Robotics program and Space Resources Program. Join the Robot Talk community on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ClaireAsher
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Robot Talk Season 6 coming soon!
Robot Talk will be back for a new season very soon — make sure you're subscribed to be the first to hear the latest episodes! Get more from Robot Talk (including monthly bonus episodes) by joining the Robot Talk community on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ClaireAsher
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Episode 126: Why are we building humanoid robots? - Robot Talk Live
Research into humanoid robots is a rapidly advancing field, with companies around the world striving to produce robots that look and act more like us. But what is it about recreating ourselves in robot form that we find so captivating? Why do humanoid robots both enthral and terrify us? And is our obsession with robotic humans just vanity, or could they play valuable roles in our future society? In this special live recording at Imperial College London as part of the Great Exhibition Road Festival, Claire chatted to Ben Russell (Science Museum), Maryam Banitalebi Dehkordi (University of Hertfordshire) and Petar Kormushev (Imperial College London) about humanoid robotics. Ben Russell has been the Science Museum’s Curator of Mechanical Engineering since 2004. He has curated six permanent galleries and temporary exhibitions at the museum, including Engineers (2023), Robots (2017), Cosmonauts (2015) and James Watt’s Workshop (2011). He is the author of James Watt: Making the World Anew, (Reaktion Books, 2014), and editor of Robots (Scala, 2017), as well as numerous published and conference papers. Maryam Banitalebi Dehkordi is a Senior Lecturer in Robotics and AI at the University of Hertfordshire. She has a master’s degree in Mechatronics and Automatic Control Engineering from the University Technology Malaysia and a Ph.D. in Perceptual Robotics from Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna in Italy. Her expertise spans assistive robots, mobile robots, agricultural robots, industrial robots, humanoid robots, parallel manipulators, navigation, and outdoor autonomous vehicles. Petar Kormushev is Director of the Robot Intelligence Lab at Imperial College London and an Associate Professor in Robotics at the Dyson School of Design Engineering. His research focus is on reinforcement learning algorithms and their application to autonomous robots. Petar’s long-term goal is to create robots that can learn by themselves and adapt to dynamic environments. His machine learning algorithms have been applied to a variety of humanoid robots, including COMAN and iCub. Join the Robot Talk community on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ClaireAsher Sign up to the newsletter: https://www.robottalk.org/newsletter/
Join us each week as we explore the exciting world of robotics, artificial intelligence, and autonomous machines. Each episode, Dr Claire Asher — science communicator and robot enthusiast — chats with roboticists from around the world to find out how their cutting-edge research is influencing the future of every aspect of science, technology, and engineering, from the mundane to the extraordinary.
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