PhD Student · IT University of Copenhagen

Bailey
Dacre

Multi-robot systems, Decentralization, Bio-inspired robotics.

Multi-Robot Systems · Evolutionary Robotics · Distributed Systems · PhD 2026

01 ·

About Me

Hi. I am Bailey, a third year PhD student at The IT University of Copenhagen. I work as part of the REAL Lab, am advised by Prof. Andres Faíña and Prof. Kasper Støy.

My research interests lie in the intersection of robot design and robot learning. I am particularly interested in decentralized systems, and taking inspiration from biology to solve problems through use of purely local interactions.

I completed my Masters degree in Bioengineering from University of Sheffield.

Multi-Robot Systems Evolutionary Robotics Distribted Systems Robotic Design Artifical- Intelligence

02 ·

Research Publications

P-01

Scalable Low-Density Distributed Manipulation Using an Interconnected Actuator Array

Dacre B., Moreno R., Lambertsen J., Stoy K., Faíña A.

arXiv:2602.19653 · February 2026

PDF arXiv

P-02

Flexible and Foldable: Workspace Analysis and Object Manipulation Using a Soft, Interconnected, Origami-Inspired Actuator Array

Dacre B., Moreno R., Demirtas S., Wang Z., Jiang Y., Paik J., Stoy K., Faíña A.

arXiv:2509.13998 · September 2025

PDF arXiv

P-03

Neural Cellular Automata for Decentralized Sensing using a Soft Inductive Sensor Array for Distributed Manipulator Systems

Dacre B., Bessone N., Lo Preti M., Cafiso D., Moreno R., Faíña A., Beccai L.

ICCAR 2025 · DOI: 10.1109/ICCAR64901.2025.11073064

PDF DOI

View All on Google Scholar

03 ·

Selected Projects

PRJ-001

Origami Manipulator Array

An array of three-degree-of-freedom robotic tile forming one continuous manipulation surface. Coupling the actuators through the flexible layer lets it move objects using far fewer actuators than conventional high-density arrays. I wokred as the prinicpal designer on this project, working on all aspects of hardware and software.

Distributed Manipulation Soft Robotics Hardware Design Origami

PRJ-002

Neural Cellular Automata Chess

A Chess board where each of the squares is a neural network, that only communicates with its neighbours. Can the global best position be determined from purely local information. Variants trained to imitate high rated players (LiChess Data) or trained through self play.

Neural Cellular Automata Decentralization Python

PRJ-003

Automated Cell Incubator

As part of my previous Bioengineering work, I worked with a group of friends to create an automated cell incubator. Automated environmental control (temp, C02, ect) and media exchange.

Cell Biology Lab Automation Embedded

04 ·

Beyond Research

The world is a wide and interesting place. Beyond my published work, these are some of the areas I find myself thinking about. I would love to get the chance to explore them in more detial.

Complex Systems

Emergence, phase transitions, self-organisation, and the physics of information in living and artificial systems.

Synthetic Biology

Genetic circuits, protocells, and the engineering of biological systems — life as substrate for computation.

World Models

Learned internal simulations of an environment — how agents build predictive representations of the world to imagine, plan, and act before touching reality.

Evolutionary Biology

Adaptation, arms races, major transitions, and the deep logic of natural selection as an optimisation process.

05 ·

Get in Touch

I am always open to talking about robotics research, collaboration opportunities, or just interesting ideas.

The best way to reach me is email or LinkedIn.

baid@itu.dk

linkedin.com/in/bailey-dacre

Lattice Controls

The sites background is a stochastic, neural inspired design — each node can spontaneously fire and then propagate to its neighbours. Tune the branching ratio to explore the idea of criticality visually.

CRITICAL

Avalanches of all sizes — power-law distributed

Branching Ratio σ 1.32

0σ=13

Fire Rate 10 seeds/s

1 seeds/s120 seeds/s