Biography
Professor Perla Maiolino completed BEng, MEng and PhD in the department of Informatics, Bioengineering, Robotics and Systems Engineering at University of Genova (Italy), where she worked primarily on Technological aspect of tactile sensing and development of Large Area Tactile Sensors for robots. She worked as PostDoc at University of Cambridge where she investigated aspects related to soft sensing and soft robotics.
Perla moved to Oxford in September 2018 as Associate Professor at the Engineering Science Department and member of Oxford Robotics Institute.
Research Interests
Dr Perla Maiolino is interested in providing robots with the sense of touch. It is an essential modality that allows humans to interact with environment and people. it is used in manipulation and grasping of objects, whole body interaction, in exploration and in reactive behaviour (reflexes). Furthermore it is important for assessing contact parameters such as shape, texture, stiffness and temperature of the touched surface, for developing awareness of the body and for automatic responses (grasp force regulation). Sense of touch is also crucial for guiding motor behaviour (e.g, from controlling the body to perceiving the environment, as well as learning about and interacting with it).
New generations of robots are expected to operate in the dynamic and unstructured environment even more in collaboration with humans. Robots operating in these conditions must exhibit advanced forms of interaction with objects and humans requiring novel solutions in human-robot interaction processes. In this respect soft robotic devices are of particular interest to the robotics community because they have advantageous properties such as easy fabrication, low-cost, light weight, high flexibility, etc., but characterising and predicting their behaviour is challenging due to the non-linear nature of the hyper-elastic
material and their internal pressure. In order to control them it is necessary to monitor their kinematics, their interaction forces with objects in the environment and their internal pressure.
For these reasons, Perla's research is focused on the design of new technological solutions for tactile sensors to be integrated on soft robots. These soft tactile sensors will improve tactile based control of soft robots and will allow to investigate aspects such as sensory-motor coordination and how action and perception are coupled in a soft embodiment which are at the base of the effective utilisation of touch sensing for improving cognitive skills of robots.
Research Groups
Recent Publications
Rubber-Like Soft Lattice Structure for Anti-Ballooning in Fluidic Elastic Soft Robots
He L, Wang S & Maiolino P (2023), ADVANCED ENGINEERING MATERIALS
BibTeX
@article{rubberlikesoftl-2023/,
title={Rubber-Like Soft Lattice Structure for Anti-Ballooning in Fluidic Elastic Soft Robots},
author={He L, Wang S & Maiolino P},
journal={ADVANCED ENGINEERING MATERIALS},
year = "2023"
}
Visuo-tactile recognition of partial point clouds using PointNet and curriculum learning
Parsons C, Albini A, De Martini D & Maiolino P (2022), IEEE Robotics and Automation magazine
BibTeX
@article{visuotactilerec-2022/10,
title={Visuo-tactile recognition of partial point clouds using PointNet and curriculum learning},
author={Parsons C, Albini A, De Martini D & Maiolino P},
journal={IEEE Robotics and Automation magazine},
publisher={IEEE},
year = "2022"
}
How the environment shapes tactile sensing: understanding the relationship between tactile filters and surrounding environment
Costi L, Maiolino P & Iida F (2022), Frontiers in Robotics and AI, 9
BibTeX
@article{howtheenvironme-2022/7,
title={How the environment shapes tactile sensing: understanding the relationship between tactile filters and surrounding environment},
author={Costi L, Maiolino P & Iida F},
journal={Frontiers in Robotics and AI},
volume={9},
number={930405},
publisher={Frontiers Media},
year = "2022"
}
A modular soft robotic arm with embedded tactile sensors for proprioception
Ouyang W, He L, Albini A & Maiolino P (2022), 5th International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft 2022), 919-924
BibTeX
@inproceedings{amodularsoftrob-2022/4,
title={A modular soft robotic arm with embedded tactile sensors for proprioception},
author={Ouyang W, He L, Albini A & Maiolino P},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft 2022)},
pages={919-924},
year = "2022"
}
A simulation-based toolbox to expedite the digital design of bellow soft pneumatic actuators
Yao Y, He L & Maiolino P (2022), Proceedings of the 2022 IEEE 5th International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft), 29-34
BibTeX
@inproceedings{asimulationbase-2022/4,
title={A simulation-based toolbox to expedite the digital design of bellow soft pneumatic actuators},
author={Yao Y, He L & Maiolino P},
booktitle={2022 IEEE 5th International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft)},
pages={29-34},
year = "2022"
}
Robotic simulators for tissue examination training with multimodal sensory feedback
He L, Maiolino P, Leong F, Dulantha Lalitharatne T, De Lusignan S et al. (2022), IEEE Reviews in Biomedical Engineering
BibTeX
@article{roboticsimulato-2022/4,
title={Robotic simulators for tissue examination training with multimodal sensory feedback},
author={He L, Maiolino P, Leong F, Dulantha Lalitharatne T, De Lusignan S et al.},
journal={IEEE Reviews in Biomedical Engineering},
publisher={IEEE},
year = "2022"
}
3D-printed soft sensors for adaptive sensing with online and offline tunable-stiffness
He L, Herzig N, Nanayakkara T & Maiolino P (2022), Soft Robotics
BibTeX
@article{dprintedsoftsen-2022/3,
title={3D-printed soft sensors for adaptive sensing with online and offline tunable-stiffness},
author={He L, Herzig N, Nanayakkara T & Maiolino P},
journal={Soft Robotics},
publisher={Mary Ann Liebert},
year = "2022"
}
An atlas for the inkjet printing of large-area tactile sensors
Baldini G, Albini A, Maiolino P & Cannata G (2022), Sensors, 22(6)
BibTeX
@article{anatlasforthein-2022/3,
title={An atlas for the inkjet printing of large-area tactile sensors},
author={Baldini G, Albini A, Maiolino P & Cannata G},
journal={Sensors},
volume={22},
number={2332},
publisher={MDPI},
year = "2022"
}
Magneto-active elastomer filter for tactile sensing augmentation through online adaptive stiffening
Costi L, Tagliabue A, Maiolino P, Clemens F & Iida F (2022), IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 7(3), 5928-5933
BibTeX
@article{magnetoactiveel-2022/3,
title={Magneto-active elastomer filter for tactile sensing augmentation through online adaptive stiffening},
author={Costi L, Tagliabue A, Maiolino P, Clemens F & Iida F},
journal={IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters},
volume={7},
pages={5928-5933},
publisher={IEEE},
year = "2022"
}
A modular approach to design multi-channel bistable valves for integrated pneumatically-driven soft robots via 3D-printing
Wang S, He L & Maiolino P (2022), IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 7(2), 3412-3418
BibTeX
@article{amodularapproac-2022/2,
title={A modular approach to design multi-channel bistable valves for integrated pneumatically-driven soft robots via 3D-printing},
author={Wang S, He L & Maiolino P},
journal={IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters},
volume={7},
pages={3412-3418},
publisher={IEEE},
year = "2022"
}
