Robotics podcasts

Andrew Glester explores how drones, robotics and machine learning support wildlife research and conservation. Blair Costelloe discusses the WildDrone and WildBotics networks and the Mara Elephant Project; Camille Rondeau Saint-Jean describes real-time animal monitoring; William Njoroge explains how Ol Pejeta Conservancy combines drones with established conservation methods. The episode considers population data, field constraints, regulation and collaboration across disciplines.

Hosted by Andrew Glester

Heinrich Jaeger explains how granular jamming can turn a soft bag of particles into a rigid gripper capable of grasping objects with different shapes. The discussion connects the physics of interacting grains with the design of compliant robots and a universal gripper developed by an interdisciplinary research team. Andrzej Grzesiak then describes a bio-inspired manipulator developed with Festo: additive manufacturing, an elephant-trunk-like arm and a fish-fin-inspired gripping mechanism provide alternatives to conventional rigid industrial manipulators.