SUMMARY
Ana is the UK Manager of DIH-HERO and manager of the Imperial College London Robotics Forum - a network that connects academics pursuing cutting edge research in robotics from across multiple departments and faculties to: 1) Foster collaboration and coordination of internal projects, proposals, bids, and grants, 2) Create awareness and act as a single point of contact to facilitate robotics activity at Imperial College, 3) Attract, develop and promote the next generation of roboticists, with a particular focus on under-represented groups.
BIO
Ana holds a BSc in Mechatronics from the Universidad Tecnológica Centroamericana (2011), a MSc in Advanced Robotics from École Centrale de Nantes (2013), and a PhD in Mechanics from INRIA (French National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Automation) and the École normale supérieure de Rennes (2016).
Her previous research at the Institut de Recherche en Communications et Cybernétique de Nantes - IRCCyN (now Laboratory of Digital Sciences of Nantes) focused on the mechanical design of Cable-Driven Parallel Robots (CDPRs), which resulted in algorithms and software tools to design and assess the performance of CDPRs during in multiple tasks and workspaces. At INRIA she focused on analyzing human motion to design more efficient control strategies for avatars and robots.
She also has experience developing and managing education projects in Europe and in Honduras, with a particular focus on empowering underserved and underrepresented groups in STEM (mainly through The Inventor's Playground and the Honduras Child Alliance).