Dr Virginia Ruiz Garate

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About me

I am a Lecturer and Researcher at Mondragon University while still holding a position as Visiting Professor at UWE, where I was previously Associate Professor in Assistive Robotics. I carry my research in the BRL on adaptive controllers for assistive robots. Previously, I lead the MSc module of Assistive Robotics and co-lead of the Robotics Engineering And Computing for Healthcare research group (REACH). I am also the Robotics Programme Cluster coordinator for Open day, Offer holder day & Induction, as well as EDM representative for FET RKE Research Culture Working Group. 

For the previous 4 years, I was a PostDoc at the Human-Robot Interfaces and Physical Interaction (HRII) laboratory of the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), where I started my research under the EU project SOMA regarding new bio-inspired grasping stiffness controls for robotic hands. In the last year I moved to investigate the application of robotic grasping controls in  multi-robot tele-impedance control frameworks and worked under the SOPHIA project. Previously, I obtained my PhD in 2016 from the Universite Catholique de Louvain (UCL) in Belgium, being my thesis devoted to the control of lower limb exoskeletons by means of the bio-inspired concept of artificial motor primitives. This work took place within the framework of the EU project CYBERLEGs.

I have been serving as a reviewer for IEEE journals and conferences and co-organized the RSS 2019 workshop on “Emerging Paradigms for Robotic Manipulation: from the Lab to the Productive World” (from which a RAM SI developed) and the workshop "Human factors in the design and control of robots: what are we missing?” in the recent 2020 I-RIM 3D conference.

My current research interests include grasping and manipulation, bio-inspired control, assistive robotics, and human-robot collaboration. 

Area of expertise

Robotics control, bio-inspired control, rehabilitation robotics, grasping and manipulation. 

Publications

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