Valentina Lo Gatto
Email: valentina.logatto@bristol.ac.uk
Supervisors: Helmut Hauser and Jonathan Rossiter
PhD Project Title: Multi-robotic system for the exploration of extreme aquatic environments - HAL: Hydrobot to Ascertain Life
Research Group: Soft Robotics
Biography
I am currently a PhD student in Robotics and Autonomous Systems at the Bristol Robotics Lab (BRL), where I joined the Morphological Computation Group and SoftLab.
Before moving to the UK, I obtained a BSc in Aerospace Engineering and an MSc in Space Engineering at the Sapienza University of Rome.
My passion for Space Exploration dates back to my childhood when I decided I was going to be the first woman on Mars. Although that is still on top of my to-do list, I have learned that (unfortunately) the path leading to human space exploration might still be very long, but that (fortunately) technology can be a valid substitute: a spacecraft camera could be my eyes, a rover's wheels could be my legs, a robotic arm could be my hand. Consequently, while I love all areas of Space Engineering, my main interest is Space Exploration Systems Design.
The main goal of my research at BRL will be to design, using the innovative concepts of Bioinspiration and Soft Robotics, an innovative space probe able to autonomously explore delicate marine environments such those hidden under the icy surfaces of some of the moons of the outer solar system (e.g., Europa, Enceladus, Ganymede).