IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - March 2016 - 4

from the editor's Desk

A Journey Toward the Convergence
of Robotics and Life Sciences
By Eugenio Guglielmelli

his issue of IEEE Robotics and
Automation Magazine focuses
on bioinspired motor control of
articulated robots. As usual, not
only the features of the issue but also
some of our regular columns link to
the same topic, providing an extended
and up-to-date overview of this emerging field.
This is also the case for this editorial. I recently had the nice and timely
opportunity of being invited to deliver
a lecture at a special event promoted by
the IEEE Life Sciences Initiative [1].
Fully devoted to exploring research
challenges at the intersection of life sciences, bionics, and robotics [2], the
IEEE Life Sciences Grand Challenges
Conference was held 24 and 25 January
2016 at Khalifa University in Abu
Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. On the
way back from my journey, I was happy
to write this brief report of some of the
most interesting and fresh lessons
learned there.
Taking inspiration from biology to
solve open problems in the domains of
robotics and automation is becoming increasingly popular in our community-
and not only for tackling issues related
to motor control. During the conference, a variety of examples of bioinspired solutions applied to biomedical
and field robotics (e.g., marine, search
and rescue, and space robotics) were
presented: modular, self-assembling,
swallowable robots for surgery; wearable

Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MRA.2016.2527596
Date of publication: 8 March 2016

IEEE ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION MAGAZINE

and adaptive rehabilitation
systems; limb prostheses
featuring sensory feedback
restoration and learning capabilities; humanoids and animaloids, such us lamprey-like or
octopus-like robots; and more. As
pointed out by the general chair of the
conference, Paolo Dario, an IEEE Fellow
and IEEE Robotics and Automation
Society (RAS) past president (2002-
2003), moving from "bioinspiration to
bioapplication" is the way to go for developing breakthrough robotic systems
that can emulate the performance
of living beings in highly unstructured
environments.
In addition, the source of such inspiration is far from being exhausted,
as outlined by the session of the conference devoted to soft robotics. This research line is clearly booming, but I
was very impressed by the conclusive
statement of Cecilia Laschi, the IEEE
RAS founder and chair of the IEEE
RAS Technical Committee on Soft Robotics, who anticipated that this research area will disappear as such in
the medium to long term; this is simply
because most robots will integrate soft,
deformable materials-just like all living beings do. There is direct evidence
from my desk of how hot this topic is
for our community. The recent call for
papers for the upcoming IEEE Robotics
and Automation Magazine special issue
on soft robotics (scheduled for publication in September 2016) was the most
successful of last year based on the
number of submissions.

march 2016

But even more interesting
and exciting than this, as
Prof. Toshio Fukuda, an
IEEE Fellow and RAS past
president (1998-1999), pointed out, robotics and automation
can offer a unique portfolio of enabling
technologies for unveiling the unknown
in biological systems and delivering
breakthrough solutions for bionics and
synthetic biology. Methods and tools for
engineering tissues, such muscles and
bones, are greatly taking advantage of
3-D printing and other advanced, highly
automated microfabrication technologies, which allow the use of single, living
cells for building up biohybrid artefacts
to be implanted and/or intimately interfaced with the human body. I would not
be surprised if not only soft robotics but
the whole area of bionspired robotics
eventually disappears because robots
will increasingly have to mimic biology
to cope with the challenges of unstructured, real-life environments. It was definitely a fascinating journey toward such
a clear perspective of the direct integration of robotics, automation, and biology, and I am left with great expectations
for the research developments we will
see in the coming years. For now, enjoy
the issue!
References
[1] [Online]. Available: http://lifesciences.ieee.org
[2] (2016, Jan. 25-26). IEEE Life Sciences Grand
Challenges Conference. [Online]. Available:
http://lsgcc.ieee.org/2016/

http://lifesciences.ieee.org http://lsgcc.ieee.org/2016/

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - March 2016