UK-Japan Workshop on Bio-Inspired Soft Robotics

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The field of Soft Robotics has been one of the most attractive research areas that is expected to provide significant breakthroughs in robotics. Unlike the conventional robotic systems that make use of rigid mechanics and inflexible control architectures, the investigations in Soft Robotics focus on the use of soft and deformable materials for rapid and dexterous behavior generation as well as robust and precise sensing in robotic systems. With the forthcoming achievement of Soft Robotics, it is expected to considerably broaden the application niche of robotics, including uncertain hazardous environment and human-oriented task space, where the conventional robotic systems could not be used very well so far. Toward high impact applications, the goal of this workshop is to bring together the leading scientists of this exciting research area in UK and Japan, and to discuss strategic research collaborations in the future. More specifically, in this workshop, we first assess the previous collaboration projects between UK and Japan, and second, to discuss how we structure the research directions for fruitful collaborations in the future. For this purpose, we have obtained the basic funding from Japan Society of Promotion of Science (JSPS) to invite five leading researchers from Japan, and this proposal is supposed to be a match funding to support attendees from the UK universities, including both established researchers as well as future promising senior students who will play major roles in the ongoing and future bilateral collaborations.As the main outcome of this event we expect:- A mutual understanding of the state-of-the-art of both countries, exploration of research possibilities and actions to address the gaps.- Discussion and agreement on major actions to shape the future of the field, and report the outcome of this workshop as a special issue at a major technical journal - Develop a scientific network of these researchers to foster further collaborations and research exchanges as a working group.- Develop joint interdisciplinary and international research grant proposals (both in UK, European, and Japan)- Promote the exchange of young researchers (Master, PhD students and postdocs) exchange between institutions, strengthening not only their academic capabilities but also increasing their awareness of different cultures.