Aim: ‘BioRobotics (Bio-inspired robotics design and operation)’ is a new subcategory of bio-inspired design. It is about learning concepts from nature and applying them to the design and operation of robotics system. Bio-inspired roboticists are usually interested in biosensors (e.g. eye), bioactuators (e.g., muscle), or biomaterials (e.g., spider silk). Recently, nature has successfully been used to address the practical challenges, for example, biological attachment mechanisms such as gecko feet, burrs, and bird feathers can handle the complex assembly tasks. Collaboration mechanism from Ants’ team can inspire the multi-robots collaboration for object transportation. Despite the significance of bio-inspired design, no standardized methodology currently exists to help designers adequately learn from nature, especially for complex tasks such as assembly or object transportation collaboration. Therefore, this online workshop aims to bring the roboticists specified in bio-inspired design and operation together to explore further the opportunities and challenges of bio-inspired design and operation.
Time: 10th April 2026, 9:30-5:00pm
Venue: Riddle Halls, Belfast
Organisers:
Dr. Mien Van, Queen's University Belfast, UK
Dr. Erfu Yang, University of Sheffield, UK
Dr. Shan Luo, King's College London, Uk
Invited Expert SPEAKERs:
Prof. Shigang Yue, University of Leicester, UK