Summary
Arnau is a post-doctoral research associate at the Mechatronics in Medicine (MiM) lab, Hamlyn Centre, Imperial College London.
He is a researcher in robotics and AI, and has worked on robot design, modelling, fabrication, control and sensing. Among his various contributions, Arnau has conducted research on soft and continuum robots (snake-robots), where he proposed a new theoretical framework for the design of soft robots. This was applied to create a new morphing design for a soft robotic manipulator that offers higher force than any competing design, which was patented. He is now working with a team in his lab to further develop this robot concept to eventually make it into a product for endoluminal surgery. For his other contributions please see the full list of publications.
Arnau is interested in entrepreneurship and research commercialisation.
He is also deeply curious about the understanding of intelligence and consciousness, with a view to build artificial general intelligence.
Arnau completed his doctorate in a collaborative project between MiM lab, Imperial College London, and Rolls-Royce, which was the industrial sponsor. He explored new robotic manipulators (snake-robots) for in situ inspections of jet engines.
Arnau was also a co-founder and director of Sonobotics.
Arnau received an industrial fellowship from the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851.
Selected Publications
Journal Articles
Franco E, Garriga Casanovas A, 2021, Energy shaping control of soft continuum manipulators with in-plane disturbances, International Journal of Robotics Research, Vol:40, ISSN:0278-3649, Pages:236-255
Garriga Casanovas A, Rodriguez y Baena F, 2019, Kinematics of continuum robots with constant curvature bending and extension capabilities, Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics-Transactions of the ASME, Vol:11, ISSN:1942-4302
Garriga Casanovas A, Collison I, Rodriguez y Baena F, 2018, Towards a common framework for the design of soft robotic manipulators with fluidic actuation, Soft Robotics, Vol:5, ISSN:2169-5172, Pages:622-649
Garriga Casanovas A, Rodriguez y Baena F, 2018, Complete follow-the-leader kinematics using concentric tube robots, International Journal of Robotics Research, Vol:37, ISSN:0278-3649, Pages:197-222
Conference
Treratanakulchai S, Franco E, Garriga Casanovas A, et al., 2022, Development of a 6 DOF soft robotic manipulator with integrated sensing Skin, International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2022), IEEE, Pages:6944-6951