Organisers:

Giacinto Barresi (Bristol Robotics Laboratory, UWE Bristol, UK) & Maria Elena Giannaccini (School of Computer Science, University of Nottingham, UK), with the support of the UK-RAS Network for Robotics and Autonomous Systems in the UK.

This workshop will discuss the intersection of bio-inspired robotics and human factors (aka ergonomics, the study and the improvement of the interactions between humans and other elements of a system) according to the unique opportunity to leverage biomimetic principles to improve human-centred robotic systems. An excellent example is the morphological computation principle, which employs the shape and materials of robots to simplify control and intelligent interaction with the environment. This helps both physical ergonomics and cognitive ergonomics in robotics, and other fields like neurorobotics. Further examples are offered by swarm robotics that can help optimising distributed teamwork and decision-making in organizational ergonomics. The workshop will also investigate challenges in bio-inspired robotics that ergonomics can help address. For example, in the field of soft wearable robots there is a trade-off between effectiveness and safety in physical human robot interaction, compounded by the difficulty in controlling soft robots. While approaches like morphological computation can simplify control, co-design of these robots with users is necessary to obtain intuitive and adaptable control. Further examples can be the uncanny valley in social robotics, requiring human-centred design interventions to foster the user trust, and the challenging usability in swarm control. 

This event of Living Machines 2025 (LM2025) will feature expert talks. Afterwards, the participants (speakers and attendees) will engage in an interactive discussion based on a SWOT analysis. The presented topics will be analysed for their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, fostering a multidisciplinary discussion on future research and applications of truly human-centred biorobotic solutions. 

Link to access the event through MS Teams: https://tinyurl.com/lm2025wserg 

Link to access the SWOT Analysis Workspace: https://tinyurl.com/lm2025swot