RUG Professor of Robotics, Raffaella Carloni, nominated for Klokhuis Science Prize 2025

When you no longer have a lower leg, it's hard to just walk. With the prosthesis, you have to think about it all the time and you don't walk up a hill so easily, for example. I am working on designing a bionic leg that can move just like a natural leg. The parts work just like your muscles and bones. So you don't walk like a robot, but rather like someone who still has two legs. You then don't have to think about having a prosthesis and you can just move around and do fun things.-- Prof Raffaella Carloni, Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Science and Engineering - Artificial Intelligence (Bernoulli Institute), Department of Robotics

Imagine a bionic leg that not only allows someone to walk again, but also allows them to do so without thinking about it all the time. That would make life much easier for those who need such a prosthesis.-- Rafaella Carloni