{"id":6830,"date":"2025-06-06T13:40:08","date_gmt":"2025-06-06T12:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-external-engagement\/?p=6830"},"modified":"2026-03-10T11:59:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T11:59:00","slug":"putting-robots-in-real-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-external-engagement\/putting-robots-in-real-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Putting robots in real life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

“I’m excited by putting robots into real life. Already we have seen some amazing results. With children, for example. Social care is also an area where we believe robotics can play an important role.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Dr Marcela Munera<\/a>, Associate Professor in Assistive Robotics\u202f<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am a bioengineer by background. My PhD is in biomechanics \u2013 how the human body moves and performs. Then, seven or so years ago, I became interested in robotics and humanoids, and how they can help real people in their daily lives.\u202f\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now my work is centred on developing robots and robotics that can help people with disabilities or any other kind of condition or frailty. We are looking at how we can use robotics for assistance and rehabilitation. To help people get back to doing what they used to be able to do.\u202f\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simple beats complex every time\u202f<\/strong>\u202f <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

I am passionate about making things simple. Not over-complicated or over-engineered. Because the simpler we can make these robotic applications, the faster we can get them into real world clinical use.\u202f\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That means we can start helping people sooner rather than later.\u202fThat\u2019s important to me. It’s not about doing things for us, as researchers or academics. It’s about helping individuals to do things for themselves. Say you are getting older, you’ve had a stroke, or you\u2019ve lost a limb, how can robotics help you to regain and restore your independence and confidence?\u202f\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your friendly robot reminder<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re exploring many kinds of robotics too. For example, how we can use robotics in therapy, for a physical or mental condition. Yes, social robots. Humanoid robots that can give feedback. Say you\u2019re doing rehab exercises, your robot can tell you if you\u2019re doing them well or \u201cHey, you didn\u2019t exercise today\u201d.<\/em> Things like that.\u202f\u202f\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That means AI and robotics that can take information from the environment around them and make decisions based on that information.\u202f\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Helping humans, not replacing them<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m excited by putting robots into real life. Already we have seen some amazing results. With children, for example. Social care is also an area where we believe robotics can play an important role. We don\u2019t have enough carers right now. And many of them are experiencing fatigue and burnout. Or they are moving to other, better paid sectors.\u202f\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We will never replace our carers with robots, but they could help them to do their job better and help people who need care to stay in their own homes for longer, and live more independent lives.\u202f\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is why I have a user centred approach. We start with what the user needs, not what we want to do. We begin every project we do with something called contextual inquiry. That\u2019s basically go and see. Find out. Discover. Only then can we develop the robotics to aid people. And that\u2019s always our goal.\u202f\u202f<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Contribution to the UN 2030 sustainable development goals<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

UWE Bristol is proud to align our research to the UN sustainable development goals<\/a>. The above research aligns with the following goals:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“I’m excited by putting robots into real life. Already we have seen some amazing results. With children, for example. Social care is also an area where we believe robotics can play an important role.” Dr Marcela Munera, Associate Professor in Assistive Robotics\u202f I am a bioengineer by background. My PhD is in biomechanics \u2013 how … Continue reading “Putting robots in real life”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":7252,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1273,1403,1385,127,1,4],"tags":[11,42,62,74,75,226,76],"class_list":["post-6830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-experiments","category-projects","category-public-engagements","category-research-business-innovation","category-uncategorised","category-uwe-bristol-research","tag-bristol","tag-innovation","tag-research","tag-uwe","tag-uwe-bristol","tag-uwe-bristol-research","tag-uwe-research"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-external-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-external-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-external-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-external-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-external-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6830"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-external-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6830\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8445,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-external-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6830\/revisions\/8445"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-external-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-external-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-external-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-external-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}