Dr. Perla Maiolino

Biography

Professor Perla Maiolino completed her BEng, MEng, and DPhil at the Department of Informatics, Bioengineering, and Robotics Systems Engineering at the University of Genova in Italy. She primarily worked on the technological aspects of tactile sensing and the development of Large Area Tactile Sensors for robots. Following her doctoral studies, she undertook a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Cambridge, where she investigated soft sensing and soft robotics. In September 2018, she moved to Oxford to join the Engineering Science Department as an Associate Professor and became a member of the Oxford Robotics Institute. Her research interests encompass providing robots with the ability to sense touch, an essential modality for human interaction with the environment. This capability is utilized in manipulation, grasping objects, and understanding reflexive behaviors. Her research focuses on the design of new technological solutions for tactile sensors integrated into soft robots, enhancing their sensory-motor coordination and improving cognitive skills through touch sensing. Her work aims to create robots capable of functioning in dynamic and unstructured environments alongside humans, leveraging the advantageous properties of soft robotic devices including low-cost fabrication and high flexibility.

Research Interests

Experience