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About

Barbara Webb is a pioneering figure in biorobotics and computational neuroethology, best known for her innovative approach of using physical robots as scientific tools to investigate animal sensorimotor systems. Her work bridges biological and engineering disciplines, arguing compellingly that robot models offer a uniquely rigorous framework for testing hypotheses about animal behaviour — a methodology she articulated influentially in her landmark 2001 paper "Can robots make good models of biological behaviour?" (369 citations) and its companion piece from 2000 (211 citations). Webb's most celebrated contributions centre on cricket phonotaxis — the sound localization behaviour of crickets — which she has systematically modelled through progressively sophisticated robot implementations since her groundbreaking 1995 "cricket test" paper (153 citations). By translating neural circuits into working robotic systems, she demonstrated that even simple biological behaviours demand precise, mechanistically grounded explanations. Her research extended into invertebrate neuroscience more broadly (151 citations) and multimodal sensory integration in insects (133 citations), revealing how architecturally "simple" nervous systems achieve remarkable behavioural complexity. Through edited volumes, methodological frameworks, and outdoor robotic field experiments, Webb has shaped an entire research community, accumulating over 1,400 citations across her most recognised works and establishing biorobotics as a legitimate and illuminating scientific methodology.