Robert Baines appointed Associate Professor at the University of Oxford

Branco Weiss Fellow Robert Baines has been appointed Associate Professor in the Department of Engineering Science at the University of Oxford, where he will join the Information Engineering division and the Oxford Robotics Institute on September 1, 2026. He will also serve as a Tutorial Fellow in Information Engineering at Somerville College.

After completing his PhD at Yale University, Robert Baines joined the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering at ETH Zürich as a Branco Weiss Fellow. During his fellowship, he has pursued ambitious research at the intersection of robotics and materials science, exploring ways to create robotic systems that are more resilient and adaptable to different environments and tasks. In particular, he combines soft and rigid robotics, learning-based control, simulation, and design optimization to build shape-morphing robots. Beyond the fundamental science, he strives to realize robots that can operate effectively in the real world.

At the University of Oxford, Baines will establish his own research group. Drawing from an interdisciplinary palette, he will continue the quest for highly adaptable robotic systems that have real-world impact across domains like ecological monitoring, space exploration, and industrial maintenance.