Episode 136: Making driverless vehicles smarter - Shimon Whiteson
Release Date: 12/05/2025
Episode 138: Robots in the environment - Stefano Mintchev
Robot Talk
Claire chatted to Stefano Mintchev from ETH Zürich about robots to explore and monitor the natural environment. is an Assistant Professor of Environmental Robotics at ETH Zürich in Switzerland. He has a Ph.D. in Bioinspired Robotics from Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Italy, and conducted postdoctoral research at EPFL in Switzerland, focused on bioinspired design principles for versatile aerial robots. At ETH Zürich, Stefano leads a research group working at the intersection of robotics and environmental science, developing robust and scalable bioinspired robotic technologies for...
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Episode 137: Getting two-legged robots moving - Oluwami Dosunmu-Ogunbi
Robot Talk
Claire chatted to Oluwami Dosunmu-Ogunbi from Ohio Northern University about bipedal robots that can walk and even climb stairs. (Wami) is an Assistant Professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Ohio Northern University. Her research focuses on controls with applications in bipedal locomotion and engineering education. She is the first Black woman to receive a PhD in Robotics at the University of Michigan. During her Ph.D., she developed the Biped Bootcamp technical document, which she is transforming into an undergraduate curriculum —introducing students to bipedal robotics...
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Episode 136: Making driverless vehicles smarter - Shimon Whiteson
Robot Talk
Claire chatted to Shimon Whiteson from the University of Oxford and Waymo about machine learning for autonomous vehicles. is a Professor of Computer Science at the University of Oxford and a Senior Staff Research Scientist at Waymo UK. His research focuses on deep reinforcement learning and imitation learning, with applications in robotics and video games. He completed his doctorate at the University of Texas at Austin in 2007. He spent eight years as an Assistant and then an Associate Professor at the University of Amsterdam before joining Oxford as an Associate Professor in 2015. His...
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Episode 135: Robot anatomy and design - Chapa Sirithunge
Robot Talk
Claire chatted to Chapa Sirithunge from the University of Cambridge about what robots can teach us about human anatomy, and vice versa. is a Marie Sklodowska-Curie fellow in robotics at the University of Cambridge. She has an undergraduate degree and PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of Moratuwa. Before joining the University of Cambridge in 2022, she was a lecturer at Sri Lanka Technological Campus and a visiting lecturer at the University of Moratuwa Sri Lanka. Her research interests span assistive robotics, soft robots and physical human-robot interaction. In addition...
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Episode 134: Robotics as a hobby - Kevin McAleer
Robot Talk
Claire chatted to Kevin McAleer from kevsrobots about how to get started building robots at home. Kevin McAleer is a hobbyist robotics fanatic who likes to build robots, share videos about them on YouTube and teach people how to do the same. Kev has been building robots since 2019, when he got his first 3d printer and wanted to make more interesting builds. Kev has a degree in Computer Science, and because his day job is relatively hands-off, this hobby allows his creativity to have an outlet. Kev is a huge fan of Python and Micropython for embedded devices, and has a website - where you can...
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Episode 133: Creating sociable robot collaborators - Heather Knight
Robot Talk
Claire chatted to Heather Knight from Oregon State University about applying methods from the performing arts to robotics. runs the CHARISMA Robotics research group. Her education includes a PhD on Expressive Motion for Low Degree of Freedom Robots from Carnegie Mellon University, and M.S. and B.S. degrees in EECS from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She has worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Aldebaran Robotics, and produced the Robot Film Festival, a Cyberflora robot flower garden, robot comedy on , and a two-floor Rube Goldberg machine for OK Go that...
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Episode 132: Collaborating with industrial robots - Anthony Jules
Robot Talk
Claire chatted to Anthony Jules from Robust.AI about their AI-driven autonomous robots that work alongside humans. Anthony Jules is the CEO and co-founder of , a leader in AI-driven warehouse automation. The company’s flagship product Carter™, is built to work with people in their existing environments, without disrupting their workflows. Anthony has a career spanning over 30 years at the intersection of robotics, AI, and business. An MIT-trained roboticist, he was part of the founding team at Sapient, held leadership roles at Activision, and has built multiple startups, bringing a unique...
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Episode 131: Empowering game-changing robotics research - Edith-Clare Hall
Robot Talk
Claire chatted to Edith-Clare Hall from the Advanced Research + Invention Agency (ARIA) about accelerating scientific and technological breakthroughs. is a PhD student at the University of Bristol, Frontier Specialist at ARIA, and leader of Women in Robotics UK. She focuses on the critical interfaces where interconnected systems meet, working to close the gap between academic research and real-world deployment to unlock cyber-physical autonomy. At ARIA, she works as a technical generalist, accelerating breakthroughs across emerging and future programmes. Her PhD research focussed on creating...
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Episode 130: Robots learning from humans - Chad Jenkins
Robot Talk
Claire chatted to Chad Jenkins from the University of Michigan about how robots can learn from people and assist us in our daily lives. is a Professor of Robotics and a Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Michigan. His research addresses problems in robot learning from demonstration and human-robot interaction, primarily focused on dexterous mobile manipulation and robot perception. In 2022, he founded the Robotics Major Degree Program for undergraduates at the University of Michigan. He was awarded the 2024 ACM/CMD-IT Richard A. Tapia Achievement...
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Episode 129: Automating museum experiments - Yuen Ting Chan
Robot Talk
Claire chatted to Yuen Ting Chan from the Natural History Museum about using robots to automate molecular biology experiments. Yuen Ting Chan has nearly 20 years of experience working on translating, developing and optimising laboratory protocols, from DNA forensics to the biomedical field. She has brought automation to molecular laboratories for over 12 years, translating the laboratory protocols into bespoke scripts for a wide variety of liquid handling instruments. Her role at the Natural History Museum is to bring automation to the molecular laboratories, thus providing more opportunities...
info_outlineClaire chatted to Shimon Whiteson from the University of Oxford and Waymo about machine learning for autonomous vehicles.
Shimon Whiteson is a Professor of Computer Science at the University of Oxford and a Senior Staff Research Scientist at Waymo UK. His research focuses on deep reinforcement learning and imitation learning, with applications in robotics and video games. He completed his doctorate at the University of Texas at Austin in 2007. He spent eight years as an Assistant and then an Associate Professor at the University of Amsterdam before joining Oxford as an Associate Professor in 2015. His spin-out company Latent Logic was acquired by Waymo in 2019.
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