Professor Ricardo Martinez-Botas
The Departments of Aeronautics and Mechanical Engineering at Imperial held a seminar together on 7 March to encourage increased collaboration.
The event began with a joint lunch and was followed by presentations held by Professor Ricardo Martinez-Botas (Mechanical Engineering) and Dr Mirko Kovac (Aeronautics).
Professor Martinez-Botas talked about â??Low carbon vehicles and emissionsâ??, providing a brief introduction to the different factors involved in reducing car emissions and improving air quality, as well as an overview of his own research area in the field of turbocharging technology.
The talk also mentioned the Dieselgate scandal, as Professor Martinez-Botas was the independent expert who oversaw the Vehicle Emissions Testing Programme initiated by the British government in the aftermath of the scandal.
In the second presentation, Dr Mirko Kovac explained his vision for the role drones could play in the cities of the future, more specifically focusing on â??Bio-inspired Drones for Smart Cities".
Dr Kovac described how drones could be used for tasks such as building diagnostics, and how the mechanics of movement in animals such as spiders, bees or the flying squid can serve as inspiration in creating robots.
The two departments are now sharing the City and Guilds building of the South Kensington campus at Imperial. More photos from the seminar can be found on our Flickr account.
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Reporter
Nadia Barbu
Department of Mechanical Engineering
