Interested in a career in Robotics?
Hear from our YP speakers from academia and industry share their personal journey
About
Curious about a career in robotics? Join us for this IET event, where three speakers from academia and industry will share their personal journeys into this exciting and rapidly evolving field. With perspectives from both early-career and experienced professionals, the session will explore the diverse opportunities, challenges, and decisions that have shaped their paths.
This event is open to professionals at all stages of their careers, including those new to robotics or considering a transition into the field. Attendees will gain practical insights into navigating a career in robotics, the skills and experiences that can make a difference, and the unique interplay between academic research and industry innovation.
We welcome you to join the conversation and take this opportunity to explore the possibilities of a career in robotics.
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Continuing Professional Development
This event can contribute towards your Continuing Professional Development (CPD) hours as part of the IET's CPD monitoring scheme.
03 Apr 2025
12:00pm - 1:30pm
Organiser
- Robotics and Mechatronics TN
Registration information
Speakers
Edith-Clare Hall
STEM advocate and leader plus PhD in Engineering Mathematics (Robotics) - University of Bristol
Edith is a dedicated STEM advocate and leader alongside her PhD in Engineering Mathematics (Robotics) at the University of Bristol.
Her research aims to shake up the status quo in orthoses for people living with progressive neuromuscular diseases, such as motor neuron disease, by integrating soft robotic hardware and personalised control through a codesign process.
As co-leader of Women in Robotics UK, Edith has delivered significant network growth, secured substantial funding, established and maintained key industry partnerships, and hosted events and panels around the UK.
Alongside her PhD work, Edith’s academic portfolio includes a first-class MEng in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Sheffield, awards for her thesis and technical communication, and a research fellowship at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. Her interdisciplinary international perspective is enhanced by her professional experience in roles leading humanitarian engineering projects in Papua New Guinea, designing and delivering improvement projects in aerospace engineering, and driving innovation in manufacturing and consultancy.
Edith has worked as a STEM ambassador for almost a decade and aims to challenge stereotypes to plumb the leaky pipeline by improving recruitment, retention and promotion in STEM domains, such as robotics.
Marco Paladini
Robotics Research Engineer - Ocado Technology
Marco Paladini is a robotics research engineer at Ocado Technology, with experience working in applied computer vision startups, he obtained his PhD in computer vision from Queen Mary, University of London.
Silvia Terrile
Research Associate - Bristol Robotics Laboratory
Silvia Terrile is a Research Associate at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory in the Soft Robotics Group. She pursued her PhD at the Polytechnical University of Madrid with a thesis about different soft robot prototypes (soft manipulators, soft grippers, bio-inspired soft robots, and wearable soft devices). Her research now focuses on soft gripper and modular robotics to create versatile and reconfigurable robots that can adapt to different needs.
Reasons to attend
CPD
Academic and industry speakers
Programme
Edith-Clare Hall, Behind the bots: driving transformative innovation and innovators in robotics
What’s the real driving force of the robotics revolution? It’s not just algorithms or hardware, it’s the people. In this talk, Edith pulls back the curtain on the world of robotics to reveal how transformative innovation isn’t just about building better machines; it’s about empowering visionary minds from all sectors and career stages to solve the complex challenges of tomorrow. Drawing on her PhD research and leadership at Women in Robotics UK, Edith highlights how IDEA principles (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility), collaboration, and human-centred design are redefining the future of technology. She also shares actionable tips for navigating a career in robotics, offering insights into advancing assistive robotics and fostering the next generation of innovators.
Marco Paladini, My journey in robotics researchThis talk presents my experience working on robotic applications, as a Staff Robotics Research Engineers, focusing on the way I apply computer vision techniques to make robots understand and interact with the environment via the use of cameras, image processing and machine learning for computer vision. After graduating in physics with a thesis on robot SLAM, I followed on further education with a PhD in computer vision on the topic of 3D reconstruction from multiple images. Applying computer vision to robotics allowed me to work on interesting robotics problems such as industrial 3D cameras, robot camera calibration, image and point cloud processing for robotics pick-and-place, and the use of deep learning for image understanding.
Silvia Terrile, Embracing Change: The Non-Linear Path to Finding Your Passion in Robotics
A career in robotics—or any field—rarely follows a straight path. Many young engineers feel pressure to have everything figured out early, but the reality is that discovering what you love often involves exploration, unexpected turns, and even changes in direction. In this talk, I will share my own journey, highlighting how curiosity and adaptability have played a crucial role in shaping my career. I will encourage young roboticists to embrace uncertainty, stay open to new opportunities, and see change as a natural and valuable part of growth. Whether you are just starting or rethinking your path, passion and the willingness to explore will be your greatest assets.