York Robotics Laboratory in feature schools show at prestigious Royal Society Summer Science Event
Professor Jon Timmis has presented a series of shows "What does biology have to do with robotics?" at the Royal Society Summer Science Event in London. In total over 650 pupils and teachers from many schools across the country were invited to watch the interactive talk at the annual display of cutting-edge scientific research. The half-hour talk highlighted how biology influences robotics research with a number of demonstrations, videos and audience participation.
The Summer Science Exhibition is the premier event in The Royal Society calendar, and brings together the most exciting cutting-edge science and technology research in the UK. The event features exhibits from many UK universities and a number of public shows and talks, with a special aim of promoting scientific research to school children and the general public. Prof. Timmis, a Royal Society-Wolfson Research Merit Award holder, was invited to present the well-received shows to a number of school groups across the first three days of the event.
With help from Dr James Hilder, Professor Timmis introduced the audience to a wide-range of research areas in robotics, encompassing swarm robotics, evolutionary algorithms, bio-mechanics and artificial immune systems. Enthusiastic question-and-answer sessions after each talk highlighted how the subject engages young people, with imaginative questions covering many topics including the potential impact of miniature swarms and medical robotics, the reality gap between real robots and those in popular science fiction, and the best ways to make a robot dance.
The York Robotics Laboratory is a joint venture between the Department of Electronics and the Department of Computer Science.
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Links and Videos
Article on CNET about Gangnam-Style Dancing robots at Summer Science Event
Video on The Royal Society Youtube Account