Wire report
Barbara Mazzolai Wants to Build a New Field of Robotics
Throughout her career, roboticist Barbara Mazzolai has turned to nature for inspiration. Now she wants to ensure the technology she builds gives back to the environment, too. After starting her career as a biologist, a chance opportunity saw Mazzolai switch streams to engineering and become an early pioneer of bioinspired robotics . Building on her knowledge of biology’s ability to solve a diverse set of problems, she has developed robots based on octopuses, plant roots, and even seeds . “I’ve always been fascinated by living organisms, [and] by the extraordinary variety of solutions in nature, selected by the evolutionary process,” she says. Barbara Mazzolai Employer: Italian Institute of Technology Occupation: Associate director for robotics; director of the Bioinspired Soft Robotics Laboratory Education: Master’s degree in biology, University of Pisa; master’s degree in eco-management
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Throughout her career, roboticist Barbara Mazzolai has turned to nature for inspiration. Now she wants to ensure the technology she builds gives back to the environment, too. After starting her career as a biologist, a chance opportunity saw Mazzolai switch streams to engineering and become an early pioneer of bioinspired robotics . Building on her knowledge of biology’s ability to solve a diverse set of problems, she has developed robots based on octopuses, plant roots, and even seeds . “I’ve always been fascinated by living organisms, [and] by the extraordinary variety of solutions in nature, selected by the evolutionary process,” she says. Barbara Mazzolai Employer: Italian Institute of Technology Occupation: Associate director for robotics; director of the Bioinspired Soft Robotics Laboratory Education: Master’s degree in biology, University of Pisa; master’s degree in eco-management
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According to IEEE Spectrum’s source item, Barbara Mazzolai Wants to Build a New Field of Robotics, Throughout her career, roboticist Barbara Mazzolai has turned to nature for inspiration. Now she wants to ensure the technology she builds gives back to the environment, too. After starting her career as a biologist, a chance opportunity saw Mazzolai switch streams to engineering and become an early pioneer of bioinspired robotics . Building on her knowledge of biology’s ability to solve a diverse set of problems, she has developed robots based on octopuses, plant roots, and even seeds . “I’ve always been fascinated by living organisms, [and] by the extraordinary variety of solutions in nature, selected by the evolutionary process,” she says. Barbara Mazzolai Employer: Italian Institute of Technology Occupation: Associate director for robotics; director of the Bioinspired Soft Robotics Laboratory Education: Master’s degree in biology, University of Pisa; master’s degree in eco-management
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Primary source: Barbara Mazzolai Wants to Build a New Field of Robotics via IEEE Spectrum. VINI cites and links the source; it does not reproduce the publisher’s full article text without rights clearance.
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- Barbara Mazzolai Wants to Build a New Field of RoboticsIEEE Spectrum - 2026-09-22T14:00:04+00:00
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