Francesco Mondada | EPFL Graph Search

Dr. Mondada received his M.Sc. in micro-engineering in 1991 and his Doctoral degree in 1997 at EPFL. During his thesis he co-founded the company K-Team, being both CEO and president of the company for about 5 years. He is one of the three main developers of the Khepera robot, considered as a standard in bio-inspired robotics and used by more than 1,000 universities and research centers worldwide. Fully back in research in 2000 and after a short period at CALTECH, he participated to the SWARM-BOTS project as the main developer of the s-bot robot platform, which was ranked on position 39 in the list of The 50 Best Robots Ever (fiction or real) by the Wired Journal in 2006. The SWARM-BOTS project was selected as FET-IST success story by the EU commission. He is author of more than 100 papers in the field of bio-inspired robotics and system level robot design. He is co-editor of several international conference proceedings. In November 2005 he received the EPFL Latsis University prize for his contributions to bio-inspired robotics. In 2011 he received the "Crédit Suisse Award for Best Teaching" from EPFL and in 2012 the "polysphère" award from the students as best teacher in the school of engineering. His interests include the development of innovative mechatronic solutions for mobile and modular robots, the creation of know-how for future embedded applications, and making robot platforms more accessible for education, research, and industrial development.

A biohybrid interaction framework for the integration of robots in animal societies

Daniel Burnier, Francesco Mondada, Vaios Papaspyros

The collective behavior of animals has been traditionally studied through observation, quantitative models of behavior, and devices of low intelligence. Nowadays, the advancements in the field of robotics allow for closed-loop experiments that occur in real-time, and for artificial agents that intelligently and autonomously blend into hybrid groups of animals and robots (i.e., biohybrid groups). Such systems provide scientists with the opportunity to study the social interactions that govern collective behavior from within the group of animals, either by mimicking them or by introducing precise stimuli to elicit and study their response. In this work, we introduce an open source Biohybrid Observation and Interaction (BOBI) platform for small animals, which consists of 3 main components: 1) an experimental setup; 2) a wheeled mobile robot called LureBot; 3) their software. We demonstrate the software and hardware design aspects that make BOBI stand out compared to our previous system and similarly purposed systems. Finally, we demonstrate our methodologies and the new robot’s agility, by conducting a set of preliminary experiments with rummy-nose tetra (Hemigrammus rhodostomus) fish, where we study: 1) the response of one fish swimming with a biomimetic and a non-biomimetic lure; 2) the robot behavior when the robot interacts biomimetically and in closed loop with the wall alone, with 1 fish, and with 4 fish. The experiments show that fish strongly prefer biomimetic lures, and that the robot is consistently successful in engaging in social interactions with the fish.

2023

A Research-Practice Partnership to Introduce Computer Science in Secondary School: Lessons from a Pilot Program

Barbara Bruno, Helena Kovacs, Francesco Mondada, Jean-Philippe Pellet

Context: Introducing Computer Science (CS) into formal education can be challenging, notably when considering the numerous stakeholders involved which include the students, teachers, schools, and policy makers. We believe these perspectives should be considered conjointly, which is possible within Research Practice Partnerships (RPPs). RPPs look to bridge research-practice gaps and have seen an increase in the field of education and CS-education. Unfortunately, RPPs are considered to be under-researched, in addition to presenting their own challenges. Objectives: To the purpose of assessing how RPPs may support the successful introduction of CS into formal education, we investigate three perspectives (students, teachers, and RPP stakeholders) and their interplay within the context of a multi-institution RPP conducting a pilot program to introduce CS to secondary school students. Methods: A mixed methods analysis was employed to triangulate data in a concurrent triangulation design. The data included i) 3 surveys distributed over the semester to 106 grade 9 students (ages 12-14), ii) four teacher-journals, iii) 2 interviews and 4 focus groups with the teachers and representatives of the partner institutions. Findings: From the students’ perspective, while their self-efficacy increased, their motivation decreased throughout the semester due to a miss-match between their expectations and the course. The findings also indicate that gender biases and heterogeneity are already present in grade 9. From the teachers’ perspective, co-constructing the study plan, having access to regular support and collaborating within a community of practice when starting to teach CS all facilitated the teachers’ experience. Finally, from the RPP’s perspective the collaboration between stakeholders and having researchers evaluate the program were considered to be key elements in the pilot program. However, there appears to be a research-practice gap, in big part due to limited interactions between researchers and curriculum designers, and researchers and the teachers in the field. Conclusions: From the students’ perspective it appears relevant to introduce CS i) prior to secondary school to address motivation and bias-related issues early on, and ii) to all students to avoid participation being motivation-, stereotype-, or belief-driven, and risk broadening the gap between students, iii) all the while being attentive to course format and content to ensure that the course meets students’ expectations and fosters autonomous motivation. From the teachers’ perspective, while the provided support met the teachers’ needs, it is essential to find means of scaling such approaches when looking to deploy CS-curricular reforms to entire administrative regions. Finally, from the RPP’s perspective i) teachers’ should be given a voice in the RPP to better align with the field, and ii) researchers’ roles should be reconsidered to move beyond being only evaluators, and towards having a more co-constructive role in setting up the curricular reform. Recommendations are provided for researchers and practitioners involved in CS curricular reforms.

2023

A robotic honeycomb for interaction with a honeybee colony

Rafael Botner Barmak, Robert Matthew Mills, Francesco Mondada

Robotic technologies have shown the capability to interact with living organisms and even to form integrated mixed societies composed of living and artificial agents. Biocompatible robots, incorporating sensing and actuation capable of generating and responding to relevant stimuli, can be a tool to study collective behaviors previously unattainable with traditional techniques. To investigate collective behaviors of the western honeybee (Apis mellifera), we designed a robotic system capable of observing and modulating the bee cluster using an array of thermal sensors and actuators. We initially integrated the system into a beehive populated with about 4000 bees for several months. The robotic system was able to observe the colony by continuously collecting spatiotemporal thermal profiles of the winter cluster. Furthermore, we found that our robotic device reliably modulated the superorganism’s response to dynamic thermal stimulation, influencing its spatiotemporal reorganization. In addition, after identifying the thermal collapse of a colony, we used the robotic system in a “life-support” mode via its thermal actuators. Ultimately, we demonstrated a robotic device capable of autonomous closed-loop interaction with a cluster comprising thousands of individual bees. Such biohybrid societies open the door to investigation of collective behaviors that necessitate observing and interacting with the animals within a complete social context, as well as for potential applications in augmenting the survivability of these pollinators crucial to our ecosystems and our food supply.

2023

A Research-Practice Partnership to Introduce Computer Science in Secondary School: Lessons from a Pilot Program

Barbara Bruno, Helena Kovacs, Francesco Mondada, Jean-Philippe Pellet

2023