Auke Jan Ijspeert (born 1971 in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situ ...

) is a

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri *Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internati ...

- Dutch

roboticist Robotics is an interdisciplinary branch of computer science and engineering. Robotics involves design, construction, operation, and use of robots. The goal of robotics is to design machines that can help and assist humans. Robotics integr ...

and

neuroscientist A neuroscientist (or neurobiologist) is a scientist who has specialised knowledge in neuroscience, a branch of biology that deals with the physiology, biochemistry, psychology, anatomy and molecular biology of neurons, Biological neural network, n ...

. He is a professor of biorobotics in the Institute of Bioengineering at EPFL, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, and the head of the Biorobotics Laboratory at the School of Engineering.

Career

He has studied

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which rel ...

at EPFL and a degree of an "Ingénieur physicien" (equivalent to

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

) in 1995. He joined John Hallam and

David Willshaw David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

as a doctoral student, and in 1999 graduated with a PhD in artificial intelligence on the "Design of artificial neural oscillatory circuits for the control of lamprey- and salamander-like locomotion using evolutionary algorithms". He worked as a

postdoctoral researcher A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). The ultimate goal of a postdoctoral research position is to pu ...

with

Michael A. Arbib Michael Anthony Arbib (born May 28, 1940) is an American computational neuroscientist. He is an Adjunct Professor of Psychology at the University of California at San Diego and professor emeritus at the University of Southern California; before ...

and

Stefan Schaal Stefan Schaal (born 1961) is a German-American computer scientist specializing in robotics, machine learning, autonomous systems, and computational neuroscience. Education and career Schaal was born in Frankfurt am Main in Germany, Schaal gre ...

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8. ...

(USC), and then at EPFL with Jean-Daniel Nicoud and with

Luca Maria Gambardella Luca Maria Gambardella (born 4 January 1962) is an Italian computer scientist and author. He is the former director of the Dalle Molle Institute for Artificial Intelligence Research in Manno, in the Ticino canton of Switzerland. With Marco Dor ...

( Dalle Molle Institute for Artificial Intelligence Research - IDSIA). In 2001, he became a research assistant professor at the Department of Computer Science of the

, and an external collaborator at ATR (Advanced Telecommunications Research institute) in Japan. From 2003 to 2017, he was an adjunct faculty Department of Computer Science of the

. In 2002, he received Swiss National Science Foundation assistant professorship at the School of Computer and Communication Sciences of EPFL. In 2009, he was named associate professor at EPFL's School of Engineering, and in 2016 he was promoted as full professor. He leads the Biorobotics Laboratory at the School of Engineering.

Research

The Ijspeert group's transdisciplinary research is situated at the intersection of

robotics Robotics is an interdisciplinarity, interdisciplinary branch of computer science and engineering. Robotics involves design, construction, operation, and use of robots. The goal of robotics is to design machines that can help and assist human ...

computational neuroscience Computational neuroscience (also known as theoretical neuroscience or mathematical neuroscience) is a branch of neuroscience which employs mathematical models, computer simulations, theoretical analysis and abstractions of the brain to ...

, nonlinear dynamical systems, and applied machine learning. Employing numerical simulations and

robot A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be ...

s, they aim at a better understanding of

animal locomotion Animal locomotion, in ethology, is any of a variety of methods that animals use to move from one place to another. Some modes of locomotion are (initially) self-propelled, e.g., running, swimming, jumping, flying, hopping, soaring and gliding. T ...

and movement control, and by taking inspiration in nature, they design new types of robots and locomotion controllers. Their research was featured in public presentations at TED Global and

World.minds WORLD.MINDS (the foundation officially changed its name from "ZURICH.MINDS" in 2016) is a non-profit foundation set up in June 2008 by Rolf Dobelli. The stated goal of the WORLD.MINDS Foundation is "to create a bridge between the science, business ...

conferences. Their research is focused on computational aspects of locomotion control, sensorimotor coordination, and learning in animals and in robots. Furthermore, their research focuses also on rehabilitation robotics, such as

exoskeleton An exoskeleton (from Greek ''éxō'' "outer" and ''skeletós'' "skeleton") is an external skeleton that supports and protects an animal's body, in contrast to an internal skeleton ( endoskeleton) in for example, a human. In usage, some of the ...

s, and in locomotion restoration. Their interests extent to research projects in areas such as neuromechanical simulations of locomotion and movement control; systems of coupled nonlinear oscillators for locomotion control; design and control of amphibious, legged, and reconfigurable robots; and, control of

humanoid robot A humanoid robot is a robot resembling the human body in shape. The design may be for functional purposes, such as interacting with human tools and environments, for experimental purposes, such as the study of bipedal locomotion, or for other p ...

s, and of

s. The research of Ijspeert's group has been featured in news outlets such as

IEEE Spectrum ''IEEE Spectrum'' is a magazine edited by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical e ...

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Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans ar ...

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The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...

Cosmos The cosmos (, ) is another name for the Universe. Using the word ''cosmos'' implies viewing the universe as a complex and orderly system or entity. The cosmos, and understandings of the reasons for its existence and significance, are studied in ...

, CNN,

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, The Mirror, and

Der Standard ''Der Standard'' is an Austrian daily newspaper published in Vienna. History and profile ''Der Standard'' was founded by Oscar Bronner as a financial newspaper and published its first edition on 19 October 1988. German media company Axel Spring ...

Distinctions

Ijspeert is an IEEE Fellow. He is a member of the board of reviewing editors of Science Magazine, and an associate editor of Soft Robotics, IEEE Transactions on Medical Robotics and Bionics, and for the International Journal of Humanoid Robotics. He has been an associate editor for the

IEEE Transactions The publications of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) constitute around 30% of the world literature in the electrical and electronics engineering and computer science fields, publishing well over 100 peer-reviewed journals ...

on Robotics (2009-2013) and a guest editor for the Proceedings of IEEE, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, Autonomous Robots, IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine, and Biological Cybernetics. He is a recipient of the Young Professorship Award (2002), the Young Researcher Scholarship (1999), and the Young Researcher Scholarship (1995) all awarded from the Swiss National Science Foundation . He also received the Marie Curie Scholarship from the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...

(1997).

Public involvements

Ijspeert is also involved in his local church, the parish of Ecublens- St-Sulpice that is part of the Evangelical Reformed Church of the Canton of Vaud, and he is member of its parish council since 2019.

Selected works

* * * * * * * * *

References

External links

* * Website of th
Biorobotics Laboratory
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ijspeert, Auke 1971 births Living people École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne alumni Alumni of the University of Edinburgh University of Southern California alumni Academic staff of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne Swiss neuroscientists Biological engineering Dutch neuroscientists