Professor Cecilia Laschi (Department of Mechanical Engineering, CDE) has been elevated to the IEEE Fellow Class 2023, the highest grade of membership in the society, for contributions to the field of soft robotics.
Prof Laschi is known internationally as a pioneer in soft robotics and was one of the first researchers to propose the use of soft materials and structures in robotics.
Her work has been instrumental in the growth of soft robotics research and development worldwide, promoting the consolidation of the large and rapidly-growing soft robotics international scientific community.
In 2018 Prof Laschi founded the IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics, RoboSoft, which is now held annually. The next conference, RoboSoft 2023, will be held in Singapore in April 2023.
In a recent article for CDE News she summed up the aim of soft robotics research as being "to produce robots able to do far more than the ones we are familiar with; robots that are adaptable in their movements and are capable of things like stretching, morphing, growing, self-healing or even biodegrading".
Commenting on the fellowship announcement, Prof Laschi said: "I am deeply honoured to become an IEEE Fellow. I am a proud member of the Robotics and Automation Society - on my side throughout my career - and it is an honour for me to receive this high recognition from the scientific community".
Founded in the late 19th century as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the IEEE today serves professionals involved in all aspects of the electrical, electronic, and computing fields and related areas of science and technology.
According to its website, the organisation is "dedicated to advancing innovation and technological excellence for the benefit of humanity [and] is the world's largest technical professional society."
