Rokas Bendikas

Qianyi Deng is a PhD candidate at the University of Oxford and a co-founder of Piggy Robotics. Her work focuses on building affordable humanoid robots using artificial muscle systems. Her research combines robotics, materials, and practical engineering to make humanoid robots more accessible and cost-effective. Through Piggy Robotics, she aims to reduce the cost and complexity of humanoid systems while maintaining useful real-world functionality. Her work sits at the intersection of academic research and real-world robotics development.

Rokas Bendikas is a PhD candidate in Foundational Artificial Intelligence at University College London (UCL) and the Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Laelaps AI. His work focuses on autonomous robotics, spatial intelligence, and AI systems designed for security and defence applications. At Laelaps AI, based in Zurich, he leads the development of AI-driven autonomous robotic systems that improve surveillance, rapid response, and decision-making in critical environments. The company targets residential, commercial, and defence sectors, with a strong focus on reliability, adaptability, and cost efficiency.

Academically, Rokas works on spatial intelligence using 3D world models. His PhD research is supervised by leading experts at UCL and the University of California, San Diego. He has also been a visiting researcher at UC San Diego, collaborating with the Hao Su Lab on machine learning and robotics.

Rokas has strong industry experience. He worked as a Research Scientist intern at Qualcomm in the Embodied AI team, where he built object-centric Vision-Language-Action models. Earlier, he completed a deep learning internship at MathWorks, contributing to MATLAB’s Deep Learning Toolbox and performance analysis in Simulink. He also held research roles at King’s College London, working on medical imaging, computer vision, and neural networks.

In education, he holds an MSc in Computing with a focus on AI and Machine Learning from Imperial College London and a Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering from King’s College London. He has also worked as a Graduate Teaching Assistant and a Visiting Lecturer, teaching robotics, AI, and machine learning.

Rokas has published peer-reviewed research in medical simulation and electrophysiology and has received several honours, including being named in Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe in 2025.

Rokas Bendikas is a researcher, engineer, and entrepreneur working in artificial intelligence, robotics, and autonomous systems. Public records do not list his exact birth date or place. His academic and professional journey began with a strong focus on science, engineering, and computing from an early stage.

He completed his secondary education through the International Baccalaureate Diploma. During his school years, he showed strong academic ability in science subjects and became a finalist in national physics and biology Olympiads between 2011 and 2012. These early achievements reflected his interest in analytical thinking and problem solving.

In 2017, Rokas began his undergraduate studies in Biomedical Engineering at King’s College London. Between 2017 and 2020, he worked on research projects combining engineering, medical imaging, and computer vision. During this period, he served as a Research Intern and Research Assistant, where he developed software pipelines for medical image segmentation, trained convolutional neural networks, and built tools for analysing cardiac imaging data. His work contributed to clinical research tools used by medical professionals.

In 2020, he published multiple peer-reviewed research papers related to atrial fibrillation simulation, virtual patient modelling, and atrial fibre mapping. These publications appeared in recognised journals and conferences, including IEEE, Frontiers in Physiology, and Springer. His research focused on personalised medical simulation and data-driven modelling.

He then completed an MSc in Computing with a specialisation in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning at Imperial College London between 2020 and 2021. His master’s thesis focused on imagination-augmented reinforcement learning for autonomous robotic control and was completed at the Dyson Robotics Lab under academic supervision.

In 2021, Rokas began his PhD in Foundational Artificial Intelligence at University College London. His doctoral research focuses on spatial intelligence using 3D world models for robotics. His PhD is fully funded by EPSRC and supervised by senior academics at UCL and the University of California, San Diego. During this time, he also worked as a Graduate Teaching Assistant in robotic control theory and systems.

Between 2022 and 2025, he gained industry experience through internships at MathWorks and Qualcomm, where he worked on deep learning systems, automatic differentiation, embodied AI, and Vision-Language-Action models. In 2024, he became a Visiting Researcher at UC San Diego, collaborating with the Hao Su Lab.

In January 2025, Rokas co-founded Laelaps AI and became its Chief Technology Officer. The company develops autonomous robotic systems for security and defensive intelligence. In the same period, he was recognised in Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe.

At present, Rokas Bendikas continues his PhD research while leading technology development at Laelaps AI and contributing to teaching and research in artificial intelligence and robotics.

Rokas Bendikas aims to build intelligent robotic systems that can work safely and reliably in real-world environments. His vision is to combine artificial intelligence, spatial understanding, and autonomous robotics to solve practical problems in security, surveillance, and decision-making. He believes robots should be adaptable, cost-efficient, and able to operate with limited human input. Through his research and startup work, he focuses on making AI systems more aware of their surroundings using 3D world models. His long-term goal is to create dependable autonomous systems that support people in critical situations and improve safety across industries.

Rokas Bendikas has received several academic and professional recognitions during his career. In 2025, he was named in Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe for his work in artificial intelligence and robotics. Earlier, he was awarded the King’s Undergraduate Research Fellowship, which supported his research contributions during his bachelor’s studies. During his school years, he was a finalist in national physics and biology Olympiads, showing early academic strength. He has also received recognition through competitive research funding, including a fully funded EPSRC PhD scholarship at University College London, reflecting the quality and impact of his research work.