Click on a speaker to go to their webpage and learn more about them.
NOTE: The short bio's presented here are taken from each respective speaker's website.
Paolo Dario - Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna (Advanced Robotics Technology and Systems Laboratory and Center for Research in Microengineering)
Hiroshi Kimura - Kyoto Institute of Technology (Division of Mechanical and System Engineering)
Hunter Peckham - Case Western Reserve University (Department of Biomedical Engineering)
Roger Quinn - Case Western Reserve University (Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering)
Paolo Dario - Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna (Advanced Robotics Technology and Systems Laboratory and Center for Research in Microengineering)
Paolo Dario received his Dr. Eng. Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pisa, Italy, in 1977. He is currently a Professor of Biomedical Robotics at the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna in Pisa. He also teaches courses at the School of Engineering of the University of Pisa and at the Campus Biomedico University in Rome. He has been Visiting Professor at Brown University, Providence, RI, USA, at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland, at Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan, at the College de France, Paris, at the Ecole Normale Superieure de Cachan, France, and at Zhejiang University, China. He was the founder of the ARTS (Advanced Robotics Technologies and Systems) Laboratory and is currently the Co-ordinator of the CRIM (Center for the Research in Microengineering) Laboratory of the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, where he supervises a team of about 70 researchers and Ph.D. students. He also serves as Director of the Polo Sant'Anna Valdera of the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna.
His main research interests are in the fields of medical robotics, bio-robotics, mechatronics and micro/nanoengineering, and specifically in sensors and actuators for the above applications, and in robotics for rehabilitation. He is the coordinator of many national and European projects, the editor of two books on the subject of robotics, and the author of more than 200 scientific papers (more than 160 on ISI journals). He is Editor-in-Chief, Associate Editor and member of the Editorial Board of many international journals. He has been a plenary invited speaker in many international conferences. Prof. Dario has served as President of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society in the years 2002-2003. He has been the General Chair of the IEEE RAS-EMBS BioRob'06 Conference and of the 2007 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA'07). He is also the General Chair of the 6th Conference of the International Society for Gerontechnology (ISG08).
Prof. Dario is an IEEE Fellow, a Fellow of the European Society on Medical and Biological Engineering, and a recipient of many honors and awards, including the Joseph Engelberger Award. He is also a member of the Board of the International Foundation of Robotics Research (IFRR).
Hiroshi Kimura - Kyoto Institute of Technology (Division of Mechanical and System Engineering)
Dr. Kimura is studying on biologically inspired legged robots. He tried to make quadruped robots named "Tekken series" walk dynamically on irregular terrain by using CPGs (Central Pattern Generators) and reflexes. Especially, self-contained (power autonomous) Tekken2 succeeded in walking on natural ground on Mar. 2004. He is also studying on running in a bound gait of a quadruped robot and splitbelt treadmill walking of a biped robot these days. He moved from University of Electro-Communications to Kyoto Institute of Technology on Feb. 2008.
Hunter Peckham - Case Western Reserve University (Department of Biomedical Engineering)
The major area of Dr. Peckham's research is in rehabilitation engineering and neuroprostheses. Dr. Peckham's research effort focuses on functional restoration of the paralyzed upper extremity in individuals with spinal cord injury. He and collaborators have developed implantable neural prostheses which utilize electrical stimulation to control neuromuscular activation. They have implemented procedures to provide control of grasp-release in individuals with tetraplegia. This function enables individuals with central nervous system disability to regain the ability to perform essential activities of daily living. His present efforts concern the integration of technological rehabilitation and surgical approaches to restore functional capabilities.
Roger Quinn - Case Western Reserve University (Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering)
The Biologically Inspired Robotics Lab at Case Western Reserve University is directed by Dr. Roger Quinn. We are dedicated to the advancement of the field of robotics using insights gained through the study of biological mechanisms. Data from biological organisms such as the Deathhead Cockroach and crickets are used to create robots that can flexibly traverse irregular terrain. The resulting robots are also serving as models for understanding the dynamics of biological systems.