University of Cambridge’s Andre Rosendo presents “Intelligence by Interaction” as a faculty candidate in the School of Mechanical Engineering. The event will be held in the MRDC Building, Room 4211, from 3-4 p.m. 

Abstract

Biological forms started primitively, and eventually, some of these forms evolved and reached intelligence. Although current artificial intelligence explores learning techniques to create thinking machines, is thinking really a condition for existence? Instead of creating intelligent computer programs to later interact with the physical world, my research will start with physical interactions and create intelligence from there, as achieved by humans. I will start with the locomotion of pneumatic biomimetic robots to later present my results with Mother Robot, a robot capable of creating children robots, which are smaller soft robots with the capacity of growing their bodies according to cues from the interaction with the environment. Additionally, I will talk about robots capable of simultaneously altering their morphology and control and compare this method with other design ramifications, such as solely altering control parameters. The future of robotics remains uncertain, but the capacity of adapting their self-design and altering their morphology to fulfill tasks more effectively can be a driving force for future Soft Robotics.

Bio

Andre Rosendo received his Bachelor's degree at Bahia Federal University and his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from Hokkaido University and Osaka University, in 2011 and 2014, respectively. In 2014 he was hired as a specially appointed assistant professor in the Adaptive Robotics Laboratory at Osaka University, and in 2015, he started his role as a research associate at the Bio-inspired Robotics Laboratory at the University of Cambridge.

Rosendo’s research interests are related to evolutionary robotic systems and to the locomotion of soft robots by means of hopping, walking, and running. When studying the morphological evolution of robots, he seeks to understand how machines can create other machines, the influence of evolution and development on the performance of robots, and the results of human-free robotic design. From a locomotion perspective, he studies the contribution of soft actuators—such as muscles and springs—to create higher stability and energy efficiency, and the positive influence of such bio-inspired designs on locomotion.