Research Labs

Group leader: Dr Antoine Cully
Website: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/a.cully
Research keywords: Robot learning, machine learning, artificial intelligence, evolutionary computation, deep learning, legged robots.
Expertise: We design new learning algorithms making physical robots more versatile, adaptive and resilient to unforeseen situations like mechanical failure. Our research combines deep learning and evolutionary computation with applications on legged locomotion.
Department: Computing

Group leader: Dr Mirko Kovac
Website: http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/aerialrobotics
Research keywords: aerial robots, bio-inspired design, fluid structure interaction, micro fabrication
Expertise: design, fabrication and testing of advanced aerial robotic systems
Department: Aeronautical Engineering

Group leader: Dr Angela Kedgley
Website: http://www.kedgley.org/
Research keywords: musculoskeletal biomechanics, physiologic joint simulators, joint pathology, diagnosis, surgical repair, rehabilitation
Expertise: Our research employs a variety of in-vivo and in-vitro approaches to examine the effects of ageing and joint pathologies. These techniques include both experimental and computational methods, employing optical motion analysis, imaging, and experimental testing. We work with clinicians to aid in the assessment of therapeutic interventions and the development of new techniques to promote early diagnosis and improved treatment strategies.
Department: Bioengineering

Group leader:  Dr Ravi Vaidyanathan
Website: http://www.biomechatronicslab.co.uk/
Research keywords: biomechatronics, bio-inspired robots, human-machine interface, assistive technology, rehabilitation robotics, prosthetics, bio-instrumentation.
Expertise: Research in the Biomechatronics lab focuses on the application of robotics and electro-mechanical systems inspired by medicine and biology. Our work fuses techniques from neuroscience, sensor development, artificial intelligence, simulation/modelling, and robotics. This elucidation of biological paradigms augmenting engineering design encompasses two main research thrusts, guiding the fabrication of bio-inspired machines and systems, and developing novel devices that can act upon, substitute parts of, and augment human beings.
Department: Mechanical Engineering

Group leader: Dr. Aldo Faisal
Website: https://www.faisallab.org/
Research keywords: sensorimotor learning and control (in humans), machine learning, neurotechnology, brain-Machine-Interfaces, activities of daily living, eye tracking, medical devices.
Expertise: Our research fuses neuroscience with technology contributing to the emerging discipline of neurotechnology. We combine methods from computing, physics and engineering with experimental human studies to understand how the brain works. We pursue both basic science and translational work by a) reverse engineering from first principles the algorithms that drive brains and behaviour and b) translating this understanding into technology that helps patients and people in general.
Department: Bioengineering, Computing and MRC Clinical Sciences Centre

Group leader: Prof Dario Farina
Website: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/neurotechnology
Research keywords: neurorehabilitation, rehabilitation, biomedical technology
Expertise: biomedical signal processing, neurorehabilitation technology, and neural control of movement
Department: Bioengineering

Group leader: Dr Benoit Chachuat
Website: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/process-systems-engineering
Research keywords: global optimization, optimization-based process control, and numerical computation
Expertise: new methods, concepts and tools for the fast and reliable optimization of complex process systems.
Department: Chemical Engineering

Group leader: Dr George A. Constantinides
Website: http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/circuitssystems
Research keywords: analogue and digital circuits and systems, microelectronic interfaces with neural pathways.
Expertise: integrated circuit and microsystem technologies to address challenges in implantable neural prosthetics, brain-machine interfaces, lab-on-chip/wireless endoscope capsule platforms and medical devices in general.
Department: Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Group leader: Prof Murray Shanahan
Website: http://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~mpsha/
Research keywords: cognitive robotics, neurorobotics, neurodynamics, computational neuroscience, global workspace theory, brain networks, spiking neural networks, artificial intelligence.
Expertise: Our group studies the dynamics of large-scale networks of spiking neurons using computer simulation and robotics. Our interests include 1) dynamical properties such as complexity, metastability, and phenomena of local and global synchronisation, 2) structural connectivity, in particular the importance of small-world networks, (hierarchical) modularity, and hub nodes, 3) the relationship between connectivity and dynamics, 4) the role of the neural dynamics in an embodied (robotic) setting, and 5) the technology of neural simulation, especially using commodity hardware such as GPUs. The over-arching agenda is to understand how cognition and consciousness are realised in the embodied, situated brain.
Department: Computing

Group leader: Dr Tae-Kyun Kim
Website: https://labicvl.github.io/
Research keywords: 2D/3D object detection, categorisation and tracking, action and activity recognition, face recognition and surveillance, semantic image segmentation and reconstruction, man-machine interface.
Expertise: We explore machine learning techniques for computer vision. Many visual recognition tasks, which are to make machines that see, can be cast as learning problems from image space to semantic label space. We study novel formulations and computationally efficient methods, including Randomised Decision Forests, Boosting, Discriminant Analysis and Continuous learning methods.
Department: Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Group leader: Prof Alessandro Astolfi
Website: http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/controlandpower
Research keywords: robust and optimal control, data fusion, nonlinear systems, stochastic modelling, systems identification and distributed parameter systems.
Expertise: design of integrated power networks, distributed generation, renewable energy sources, the control of induction machines power converter design, modelling and optimisation of power MEMS, the modelling and control of nuclear fusion reactors, the modelling and stability analysis of land and sea vehicles, the stabilisation of large flexible structures.
Department: Electrical and Electronic Engineering

PIs: Dr Thulasi Mylvaganam, Dr Aditya Paranjape, Dr Ajit Panesar
Expertise: non-linear control, aerial robotics, additive manufacturing, 
Department: Aeronautical Engineering

Group leader: Dr Nejra van Zalk
Website: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/n.van-zalk
Research keywords: psychology, human factors
Expertise: development of internalising psychopathology (such as social anxiety and depression) and its effects on social networks and relationships
Department: Design School of Design Engineering

Group leader: Prof Andrew Davison
Website: http://www.imperial.ac.uk/dyson-robotics-lab
Research keywords: computer vision, home robotics, scene understanding, manipulation.
Expertise: We are researching the computer vision and scene understanding algorithms which could enable the next generation of smart robots for the home and beyond with the support and close collaboration of Dyson Ltd.
Department: Computing

Head of School: Prof Peter Childs
Robotics lead: Dr Petar Kormushev
Website: http://www.imperial.ac.uk/engineering/departments/design-engineering/
Research keywords: design, gadgets, gizmos, mechanisms, mechanical, robotics and machine learning, artificial intelligence
Expertise: design, mechanical design, mechanisms, gadgets, creativity, facilitation.

Group leader: Dr Mihailo Ristic
Website: http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/geometricmodelling
Research keywords: geometric modelling, dimensional metrology using contact and non-contact measuring systems, CAD model updating and reconstruction from point data, integration between various activities during product and manufacturing process development, collaborative design and manufacture across the supply chain, distributed manufacturing planning and control.
Expertise: improvement in flexibility and to reduction of lead times during design, process development and manufacture of complex engineering products.
Department: Mechanical Engineering

Group leaders: Prof Ferdinando Rodriguez y Baena (Interim), Prof the Lord Ara Darzi
PIs: Prof Dan Elson
Website: http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/roboticsurgery
Research keywords: biomedical robotics, pervasive sensing, assistive technologies, biomedical imaging and photonics, human-robot interaction.
Expertise: focusing on technological innovation but with a strong emphasis on clinical translation and direct patient benefit with a global impact, the centre is at the forefront of research in imaging, sensing and robotics for addressing global health challenges associated with demographic, environmental, social and economic changes.

Group leader: Dr George Mylonas
Website: http://www.harms-lab.org/
Research keywords: perception and cognitive robotics, healthcare and assistive robotics
Expertise: The HARMS lab employs Patient- and Surgeon-specific approaches, Perceptually-Enabled Methodologies and Frugal Innovation through Human-Centred Design to deliver enabling and disruptive solutions in the areas of Monitoring, Automation and Robotics for Surgery. Our Human-Centred paradigm starts with the people we are designing for and ends with new solutions that are tailored to suit their needs. The people we are designing for are primarily the Patient and the Surgeon, but of equal importance are the Health Provider, the Tax Payer and the Nurse.
Department: Surgery and Cancer

Group leader: Dr Weston Baxter
Website: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/weston.baxter
Research keywords: ownership, the Sharing Economy or Access-Based Consumption, contaminated interaction, the Circular Economy , behaviour change, interaction rituals, material experience
Expertise: user experience design
Department: Dyson School of Design Engineering

Group leader: Prof Etienne Burdet
Website: http://www.imperial.ac.uk/human-robotics
Research keywords: human-machine interaction, robotics, neuroscience, rehabilitation technology, human and robot motor control, haptics.
Expertise: human sensorimotor control and learning, modelling, rehabilitation systems design and evaluation.
Department: Bioengineering

Group leader: Dr Holger G. Krapp
Website: http://www.bg.ic.ac.uk/research/h.krapp/
Research keywords: insect sensorimotor control, biological control design, neural mechanisms of multisensor fusion, dynamic range fractioning, sensorimotor transformation, neuroethology, neurotechnology.
Expertise: electrophysiological techniques, histology, behavioural linear systems analysis, X-ray-based functional anatomy, modelling/simulations of biological control architectures, (fly) brain-robotic interfacing.
Department: Bioengineering

Group leader: Prof Maja Pantic
Website: http://ibug.doc.ic.ac.uk/home
Research keywords: visual, recognition, face, behaviour, gesture.
Expertise: machine analysis of human behaviour including face analysis, body gesture analysis, visual, audio, biometrics analysis.
Department: Computing

Group leader: Prof King Kuok (Mimi) Hii
Website: http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/mimi/
Research keywords: Homogeneous Catalysis, including asymmetric catalysis, Mechanistic studies of (catalytic) reactions, Application of continuous flow processes for organic synthesis, Use of solid supports in catalysis
Expertise: the field of homogeneous catalysis, at the interface of organic and inorganic chemistry
Department: Chemistry

Group leader: Prof Alexei Kornyshev
Website: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/a.kornyshev
Research keywords: Microrobotics, Energy generation, Electro-mechanical systems, Actuation
Expertise: Condensed matter theoretical chemical physics and its applications to biophysics, electrochemistry, nanoscience, and energy generation and storage.
Department: Chemistry

Group leader: Dr Ad Spiers
Website: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/manipulation-touch
Research keywords: Electro-mechanical systems, Human-machine interfaces, Sensing and perception, Grasping and Manipulation
Expertise: Movement and sensing in natural and artificial hand/arm systems, applied to the medical, production and manufacture domains
Department: Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Group leader: Prof. Ferdinando Rodriguez y Baena
Website: http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/mechatronicsinmedicine
Research keywords: surgical robotics, computer assisted surgery, training systems, haptics, human-robot interaction, needle steering, soft tissue modelling.
Expertise: robotics design (hardware and software development) for medical applications, technology in orthopaedics and neurosurgery (augmented reality, haptics), tissue modelling, planning software.
Department: Mechanical Engineering

Group leader: Dr Thrishantha Nanayakkara
Website: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/morph-lab/
Research keywords: Soft robotics, physical simulators, morphological computation, safe and stable robots, embodied perception and action, embodied intelligence, human-robot interaction, haptic interfaces
Expertise: Soft robotics, design and fabrication, modelling, control in uncertain environments, manipulation of soft objects, human-robot co-working
Department: Dyson School of Design Engineering

Group leader: Dr Juan Álvaro Gallego
Website: https://gallego.bg.ic.ac.uk/
Research Keywords: Rehabilitation, movement neuroscience, brain-machine interfaces 
Expertise: Human-machine interfaces, neural interfaces, data analysis
Department: Bioengineering

Group leader: Dr Huai-Ti Lin
Website: https://htlinlab.com/
Research keywords: locomotion, neurobiology, bio-inspired robotics, and animal flight
Expertise: how neural information is coupled to the physical bodies to produce highly sophisticated biological motor control and intelligent behaviors
Department: Bioengineering

Group leader: Dr Yiannis Demiris
Website: http://www.imperial.ac.uk/personal-robotics/
Research keywords: humanoid robotics, human-robot interaction, machine learning, shared control, assistive robotics, multi robot systems, cognitive systems, bioinspired control architectures, user modelling.
Expertise: computational modelling of human perceptual, cognitive and motor systems, robot learning, robotic systems for people with disabilities, user modelling for adaptive human robot interaction.
Department: Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Group leader: Prof Paul French
Website: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/photonics
Research keywords: multidimensional fluorescence imaging for microscopy, endoscopy and tomography
Expertise: from ultrafast dye and solid-state laser physics to interdisciplinary biomedical optics-based research including coherence-gated imaging through turbid media and fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM) for applications in molecular cell biology, drug discovery and clinical diagnosis
Department: Physics

Group leader: Dr Petar Kormushev
Website: http://www.imperial.ac.uk/robot-intelligence
Research keywords: robot learning, artificial intelligence , machine learning, cognitive robotics, reinforcement learning
Expertise: We build advanced machine learning algorithms for improving both the cognitive and physical abilities of autonomous robots.
Department: Dyson School of Design Engineering

Group leader: Dr Edward Johns
Website: www.robot-learning.uk
Research keywords: robot learning, robot manipulation, computer vision, machine learning, reinforcement learning, deep learning
Expertise: We are studying machine learning methods to develop robots which can learn how to control their arms and hands, for interaction with objects in everyday environments.
Department: Computing

Group leader: Prof Andrew Davison
Website: http://wp.doc.ic.ac.uk/robotvision/
Research keywords: real-time computer vision, SLAM, tracking, reconstruction, scene understanding.
Expertise: We work on the computer vision techniques that will enable robots and other mobile, camera-equipped devices to understand, move through and interact with the complex real world. Particular specialities are real-time 3D localisation and scene modelling.
Department: Computing

Group leader: Dr Sen Wang
Website: http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/sense-robotics-lab
Research keywords: mobile robotics, marine robotics, robot autonomy, perception, localisation, mapping, navigation
Expertise: mobile robotics, underwater robotics, autonomous systems, localisation, mapping, navigation.
Department: Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Group leader: Dr Tobias Reichenbach
Website: http://www.bg.ic.ac.uk/research/reichenbach/
Research keywords: novel, biologically-inspired technology, computational neuroscience, biophysics of hearing
Expertise: problems at the interface of physics and biology, using ideas from theoretical physics, mathematics, and computer science to investigate how biological systems function, from the molecular and cellular level to organs and the nervous system, particularly for how the ear's strategies can be employed in speech and hearing technology
Department: Bioengineering

Group leader: Prof Fernando Bello
Website: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/simms
Research keywords: simulation, surgical simulation, haptics, modelling.
Expertise: The SiMMS (Simulation and Modelling in Medicine and Surgery) research group brings together researchers in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, Medicine and Surgery, with the aim of creating suitable models and simulations of clinical processes, including examination, diagnosis and surgical intervention. We are particularly interested in the use of virtual environments and haptics in the context of education and training.
Department: Surgery and Cancer

Group leader: Dr Stefan Leutenegger
Website: https://wp.doc.ic.ac.uk/sleutene/
Research keywords: mobile robots, localisation in uncertain environments, novel cameras, deep learning
Expertise: mobile robotics, sensing, localisation and mapping
Department: Computing Engineering

Group leader: Prof Paul Kelly
Website: http://wp.doc.ic.ac.uk/spo/
Research keywords: computer vision, software
Expertise: Fundamental research into computer vision and systems software for robotics. 
Department: Computing

Group leader: Dr Patrick A. Naylor
Website: http://www.commsp.ee.ic.ac.uk/~sap/
Research keywords: speech, audio signal processing, acoustics
Expertise: fundamental science and technology of speech and audio processing.
Department: Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Group leader: Dr Panagiotis Angeloudis
Website: https://www.tslab.org
Research keywords: multi-agent systems, mathematical programming, autonomy, machine learning
Expertise: development of autonomous vehicle systems, network modelling and analysis, freight and passenger transportation 
Department: Civil and Environmental Engineering

Group leader: Dr Felice Torrisi
Website: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/f.torrisi
Research keywords: Wearable electronics, production & manufacture, sensing & perception, bio-inspired systems, graphene, 2D materials
Expertise: printed and flexible electronics to photonics with graphene and 2D materials, with particular focus on energy, sensing, wearable electronics and bioelectronics.
Department: Chemistry

Group leader: Prof. Alessio R. Lomuscio
Website: http://vas.doc.ic.ac.uk/
Research keywords: multi-agent systems, autonomy, verification, model-checking, agent-based logistics
Expertise: development of efficient model checking algorithms,  verification of multi-agent systems in transport, production and manufacture
Department: Computing