Robotics60: Timeline
This year we're celebrating 60 years of Robotics research and teaching at Queen Mary University of London; let's take a look at how we got here:
1964
Prof Meredith Thring becomes head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering.
1964
Prof Thring develops the walking wheel stair climber.
1965
Prof Alistair MacFarlane becomes Reader in Electrical Engineering and develops new control engineering concepts.
1966
Prof E.H. Mamdani travels from Tanzania to begin a PhD at Queen Mary, before taking a teaching position in Electrical Engineering.
1974
Prof Thring's book Energy and Humanity is ahead of its time in advocating for a more sustainable approach to energy.
1975
The Design and Inventions Laboratory is founded.
1977
Prof Thring publishes How to Invent.
1981
Prof Thring retires.
1982
The laboratories at Marshgate Lane in Stratford close and engineering disciplines are combined at the Mile End site.
1984
Dr Ranjan Vepa, expert in biomimetic robotics, including prosthetics, orthotics and space robotics, joins Queen Mary.
2004
Prof Henri Huijberts writes the first syllabus for a Robotics Engineering module - Dr Hasan Shaheed and Dr Ranjan Vepa begin to teach it.
2009
Dr Ranjan Vepa publishes Biomimetic Robotics: Mechanisms and Control, the first book on biomimetic robotics ever published.
2012
The iconic Alderbaran NAO robot comes to Queen Mary to work with Dr Chrisantha Fernando - now a research scientist at Google Deep Mind.
2015
Robotics Engineering BEng programme founded by Prof Geraint Wiggins and Prof Henri Huijberts.
2016
Prof Kaspar Althofer joins Queen Mary as Professor of Robotics Engineering and co-founds the Centre for Advanced Robotics at Queen Mary (ARQ)
2017
Prof Althoefer's team joins the National Centre for Nuclear Robotics, and is awarded a £1m grant for their advances in soft robotics for nuclear waste management.
2017
Pepper, the humanoid robot from Softbank Robotics, arrives at Queen Mary.
2018
The MSc in Advanced Robotics is founded.
2018
The Queen Mary Robotics and AI student society is founded; their first project is a Robot Wars tournament.
2018
Queen Mary students teach robots football tricks in annual hack.
2019
Prof Althoefer's work on soft robotics and Al is widely discussed in the media including interviews with the BBC and the Evening Standard.
2020
Queen Mary student team build a robotic wheelchair for Cybathlon 2020.
2020
ARQ 3D prints visors for NHS staff during the COVID-19 crisis.
2022
Dr Ketao Zhang's paper on using a team of aerial robots for aerial additive manufacturing is on the cover of Nature.
2023
Prof Kaspar Althoefer is part of a research group awarded a €10m European Research Council grant to develop surgical robots for treating colorectal cancer.
2023
Queen Mary researchers create an innovative sensor to enhance robots' tactile capabilities.
2024
Queen Mary celebrates 60 years of Robotics!
2024
Dr Hasan Shaheed and Dr Aly Abidali's work developing the world's smallest solar multirotor drone is published.
2024
Dr Ketao Zhang and Prof Lei Su's work on grape-picking robots is featured in The Economist.