Oussama Khatib is a Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University. His work on advanced robotics focuses on methodologies and technologies in human-centered robotics including humanoid control architectures, human motion synthesis, interactive dynamic simulation, haptics, and human- friendly robot design. He is Co-Editor of the Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics series, and has served on the Editorial Boards of several journals as well as the Chair or Co-Chair of numerous international conferences. He co-edited the Springer Handbook of Robotics, which received the PROSE Award. He is a Fellow of IEEE and has served as a Distinguished Lecturer. He is the President of the International Foundation of Robotics Research (IFRR). Professor Khatib is a recipient of the Japan Robot Association (JARA) Award in Research and Development, the IEEE RAS Pioneer Award in Robotics and Automation, the IEEE RAS Distinguished Service Award, and the IEEE RAS George Saridis Leadership Award in Robotics and Automation.
Antonio Frisoli (Eng., PhD) is Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, where he is the head of the Human-Robot Interaction area at PERCRO laboratory. He received his PhD (2002) with honors in Industrial and Information Engineering from Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Italy and the MSc (1998) in Mechanical Engineering, minor Robotics, from University of Pisa-Italy and in Industrial Engineering from Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna (1998). He has beenthe former chair of the IEEE Technical Committee on Haptics (2012-2014, awarded as the most active technical committee from IEEE RAS). Antonio Frisoli’s research interests are in the field on design and control of wearable haptics and robots cooperating with humans, upper and lower limb exoskeletons for rehabilitation robotics and human motor control, virtual reality, advanced human computer interfaces for training, Brain Computer Interfaces. Currently he is studying new designs for exoskeletons systems, portable fingertip haptics and new brain-robot interfaces. He is author of more than 150 papers in peer-reviewed international conferences and scientific journals.
Etienne Burdet is a Professor of Bioengineering at Imperial College, London, where he is the head of the Human Robotics Group. His main interest is in human-machine interaction. His group uses an approach integrating neuroscience and robotics to: i) investigate human motor control and ii) design efficient assistive devices and virtual reality based training for rehabilitation and surgery. A complementary goal is to use current robotics to create novel bioengineering techniques. This approach has generated promising projects and significant results in various areas from computational neuroscience to medical robotics, neural engineering and tissue engineering.
Gowrishankar Ganesh received his Bachelor of Engineering (first-class, Hons.) degree from the Delhi College of Engineering, India, in 2002 and his Master of Engineering from the National University of Singapore in 2005, both in Mechanical Engineering. He received his Ph.D. in Bioengineering from Imperial College London, U.K. in 2010. From 2004 and through his PhD, he worked as a Researcher in Human Motor Control in the Lab of Dr. Mitsuo Kawato at the Advanced Telecommunication Research Institute (ATR), Japan. Following his PhD, he worked at the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) in Japan as a Specialist Researcher in Motor Neuroscience and Robotics. In January 2014 he joined the Centre National de la Recherché Scientifique (CNRS-France) as a Senior (CR1) Researcher and is currently stationed at the CNRS-AIST joint robotics lab (JRL) in Tsukuba, Japan. He is a visiting researcher at the Centre for Information and Neural Networks (CINET) in Osaka, ATR in Kyoto and the Laboratoire d'Informatique, de Robotique et de Microélectronique de Montpellier (LIRMM) in Montpellier. His research interests include human sensori-motor control and learning, robot control, social neuroscience and robot-human interactions.
Dr. Hermano Igo Krebs joined MIT’s Mechanical Engineering Department in 1997 where he is a Principal Research Scientist and Lecturer – Newman Laboratory for Biomechanics and Human Rehabilitation. He also holds an affiliate position as an Adjunct Professor at University of Maryland School of Medicine, Department of Neurology, and as a Visiting Professor at Fujita Health University, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and at University of Newcastle, Institute of Neuroscience. He is one of the founders and member of the Board of Directors of Interactive Motion Technologies, a Massachusetts-based company commercializing robot technology for rehabilitation. He is a Fellow of the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers). Dr. Krebs was nominated by two of IEEE societies: IEEE-EMBS (Engineering in Medicine & Biology Society) and IEEE-RAS (Robotics and Automation Society) to this distinguished engineering status “for contributions to rehabilitation robotics and the understanding of neuro-rehabilitation.” Dr. Krebs has published and presented extensively on rehabilitation robotics, particularly applied to stroke and neuro- recovery. His work goes beyond Stroke and has been extended to Cerebral Palsy for which he received “The 2009 Isabelle and Leonard H. Goldenson Technology and Rehabilitation Award,” from the Cerebral Palsy International Research Foundation (CPIRF). In 2015, he received the prestigious IEEE-INABA Technical Award for Innovation leading to Production “for contributions to medical technology innovation and translation into commercial applications for Rehabilitation Robotics.” His goal is to revolutionize the way rehabilitation medicine is practiced today by applying robotics and information technology to assist, enhance, and quantify rehabilitation.
Dr. Ueda began at Georgia Tech in May 2008 as Assistant Professor. Before Georgia Tech, he was a Visiting Scholar and Lecturer at MIT, where he worked on the development and control of cellular actuators inspired by biological muscle. He developed compliant, large strain piezoelectric actuators and a robust control method called stochastic broadcast feedback. From 2002-2008 he was Assistant Professor at Nara Institute of Science and Technology in Japan, where he led a research group dedicated to dynamics and control in robotics, such as robot hand manipulation, tactile sensing, and power-assisting. From 1996 to 2002 and prior to obtaining his Ph.D, he worked at the Advanced Technology R&D Center of Mitsubishi Electric Corporation in Japan. Here he was involved in a variety of activities including disk drives, machine tools, and satellite tracking antennas. His Ph.D. work at Kyoto University was on the end-point control of a robot manipulator mounted on a nonrigid base. He studied feedback control robustness in terms of the coupling of the arm and base dynamics.
Mounia Ziat earned an Engineer's degree in Electronics (USTFA, Setif, Algeria), and a M.S. and a Ph.D in Cognitive Sciences (UTC, Compiegne, France). She also studied Arts for three years at "École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts d'Alger". She was a Postdoctoral Fellow at McGill University (Montreal, QC, Canada) and at Wilfrid Laurier University (Waterloo, ON, Canada), and she served as a sessional lecturer at University of Guelph-Humber (Toronto, ON, Canada). Her research interests include haptic device design and HCI, human perception, multisensory integration, and cognitive neuroscience. She enjoys scuba diving, camping, canoeing, hiking, and drawing. Mounia Ziat is an associate professor at Northern Michigan University and the director of the Neuroscience Program.
