Barbara Webb
Alma materUniversity of Sydney University of Edinburgh
EmployerUniversity of Edinburgh
Known forInsect robotics
Websitehttp://blog.inf.ed.ac.uk/insectrobotics/

Barbara H. Webb FRSE is a professor of robotics at the University of Edinburgh. She builds robotic models of insects.

Education

Webb completed a bachelor's degree in Psychology at the University of Sydney in 1988.[1] She earned her PhD in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Edinburgh in 1993.[1]

Research

Webb joined the University of Nottingham in 1995. In 1999 she moved to the University of Stirling. In 2001 she published the book Biorobotics - Methods and Applications with Thomas Consi.[2]

She moved back to the School of Informatics at the University of Edinburgh in May 2003. In 2004 she contributed to the publication Foresight Cognitive Systems Project Research Review, Robotics and Cognition.[3]

Webb is interested in understanding how perceptual systems control of behaviour, which she studies by building computational and robotic models.[1] To understand this she studies the behaviour of insects, whose smaller nervous systems are simpler than humans.[1] Her group use computational modelling to understand the behaviour at a neural level.[4] They test their models in agent and robot systems.[4] She believes the behaviours, sensors and small brains of insects should be inspiration for efficient processing algorithms for sensorimotor control.[5][6] Her group research the navigation of ants, learning abilities of drosophila and movement of crickets.[7] She uses insect inspired robotics as an approach to control system design.[8]

She was appointed to a professor of Biorobotics in 2010.[9] Her inaugural lecture discussed how biological systems are examples of the kind of machines roboticists want to build.[10] That year, she delivered the University of Edinburgh Christmas Lecture.[11]

Webb is interested in how ants, with brains small enough to fit on a pin head, can manage to navigate back to their homes.[12][13] In 2017 she demonstrated how ants use the position of the sun to walk backwards.[14] The discovery attracted media attention and in an interview Webb said that they "could be taking images and comparing them continuously, but are able to mentally rotate the views to adjust to backward walking".[15]

Recognition

Webb was elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2022.[16]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Webb, Barbara (2018). "Barbara Webb". Current Biology. 28 (9): R537–R538. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2018.03.030. PMID 33357459. S2CID 53266933. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
  2. ↑ Webb, Barbara; Consi, Thomas R., eds. (2001). Biorobotics | MIT CogNet. AAAI Press. doi:10.7551/mitpress/1624.001.0001. ISBN 9780262316101. Retrieved 1 March 2018 – via cognet.mit.edu.
  3. ↑ "Robotics and Cognition" (PDF). University of Plymouth. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
  4. 1 2 "Neural mechanisms of insect navigation - Barbara Webb | Neurosciences Institute". neuroscience.stanford.edu. 27 July 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
  5. ↑ "25 women in robotics you need to know about (2014) | Robohub". robohub.org. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
  6. ↑ "Multimodal and adaptive behaviour in insects and robots". Imperial College London. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
  7. ↑ "Research | Insect Robotics Group". blog.inf.ed.ac.uk. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
  8. ↑ "Modeling biology | Robohub". robohub.org. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
  9. ↑ "Barbara Webb". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
  10. ↑ The University of Edinburgh (11 January 2012), Prof. Barbara Webb - Robotic Perspectives on Biological Systems, retrieved 1 March 2018
  11. ↑ "Edinburgh Neuroscience Christmas Lecture 2010". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
  12. ↑ "'Ants are expert navigators, even walking backwards'". www.newvision.co.ug. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
  13. ↑ Hogenboom, Melissa. "Ants can navigate despite tiny brains". Retrieved 1 March 2018.
  14. ↑ "How Ants Use Vision When Homing Backwards | Auger". auger.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2 March 2018. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
  15. ↑ Nettimi, Ravindra Palavalli. "How ants walk backwards carrying a heavy load and still find home". The Conversation. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
  16. ↑ "Professor Barbara Webb". Fellows. Royal Society of Edinburgh. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
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