Bernard Espiau Deputy scientific director to the Technological Development Department +33 4 76 61 54 13 Bernard.Espiau@inria.fr

On 1^st March 2007, Bernard Espiau is appointed as deputy scientific director for monitoring all research, development, transfer and partnership activities in the thematic areas of modelling, simulation, automation and robotics.  He is also responsible for monitoring ANRDs (National Activities and Action for Research and Development) and for coordinating experimental actions in all these areas - in this capacity he reports to the Technological Development Department.

An engineering graduate with a PhD in automation and a Doctor of Science, Bernard Espiau is INRIA Research Director. He was head of a research project in robotics and remote operation in Rennes until 1988, before going on to direct the Institut Supérieur d'Informatique et d'Automatique (Higher Institute of Computer Science and Control) in Sophia Antipolis for four years. He arrived in Grenoble in 1993 where he chaired the INRIA Rhône-Alpes project committee until 2001, before becoming the research unit's Director until 2007. His contributions to research are mainly involved with sensor based control in robotics and artificial locomotion.