In this special live recording of the Robot Talk podcast at the Great Exhibition Road Festival, Claire chatted to Glyn Morgan (Science Museum), Bani Anvari (University College London) and Thrishantha Nanayakara (Imperial College London) to explore how our intelligent friends from the world of science fiction match up with state-of-the art robotics and artificial intelligence reality.

Glyn Morgan is a curator of exhibitions at the Science Museum, most recently: “Science Fiction: Voyage to the Edge of Imagination” (open until August 20th). He also teaches a course on Science Fiction at Imperial College, and has published widely on many aspects of the genre writing for the Los Angeles Review of Books, the Royal Society, and the Science Fiction Research Association, amongst others. His research is interested in the interface between science fiction and other disciplines from history to psychology and beyond, and the ways science fiction can be used as a cognitive tool to help us understand ourselves and our society.

Bani Anvari is a Full Professor of Intelligent Mobility at the Centre for Transport Studies in the Faculty of Engineering at University College London (UCL). She is the founder and director of Intelligent Mobility at UCL. Her vision is to enable humans to trust and fully exploit the benefits of future mobility services through new technology and innovation. Her research focuses on Intelligent Mobility and exploring interactions with semi- and fully-autonomous vehicles in various contexts, benefiting significantly from Robotics and AI.

Thrishantha Nanayakkara is a Professor of Robotics and the Director of the Morphlab at Dyson School of Design Engineering (DSDE), Imperial College London. His group has used soft robots to understand how compliance of the body helps to stabilise dynamic interactions with the environment. He is and has been PI on projects of more than £5 million that have pushed the boundaries of our understanding on how conditioning the body improves the efficacy of action and perception in human-human and human-robot interactions.

Claire chatted to Robert Richardson from the University of Leeds all about 3D printing, robot design, and infrastructure repair.

Robert Richardson is Professor of Robotics in the School of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Leeds, and executive chair of EPSRC UK-RAS network. His research interests include robotics for civil infrastructure inspection and repair, making smart bodies for smart robots, and robotics for 3D printing applications. As Innovation Director for University of Leeds spin out company Acuity robotics, he is working towards real world impact in civil inspection tasks. In 2011 he led an international team to develop and deploy robots into the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt.

Sara Bernardini is a Professor of AI at Royal Holloway University of London, the Principal Research Scientist in AI and Data Science at the National Oceanography Centre and a Fellow at the Alan Turing Institute. Her research in decision-making for autonomous systems lies at the intersection of AI, cognitive robotics, and mathematical optimisation. Most of her work focuses on planning for single-agent and multi-agent systems to enable them to act intelligently in real time despite resource and environmental constraints, noisy or faulty sensors, imperfect abilities and extreme conditions.

James Kell is Robotics Technical Director at Jacobs Engineering UK. He is responsible for the internal robotics technical strategy and is actively looking to apply the decades worth of robotics and remote handling experience that Jacobs has to the wider market in other sectors. The overall intention is to extend the life of critical national infrastructure like roads, rail, and water. James’s previously worked for Rolls-Royce where his role was to develop keyhole surgery technologies to service jet engines. James is also a member of the Robotics Growth Partnership, supported by BEIS.

Elena De Momi received her MSc in Biomedical Engineering in 2002, PhD in Bioengineering in 2006, and she is currently Associate Professor in the Electronic Information and Bioengineering Department (DEIB) of Politecnico di Milano. She is co-founder of the Neuroengineering and Medical Robotics Laboratory, in 2008, being responsible of the Medical Robotics section. Her academic interests include computer vision and image-processing, artificial intelligence, augmented reality and simulators, teleoperation, haptics, medical robotics, human robot interaction.

Claire chatted to Nick Hawes from the University of Oxford all about robot decision-making, long-term autonomy, and artificial intelligence.

Nick Hawes is a Professor of AI and Robotics at the University of Oxford, where he directs the Oxford Robotics Institute (ORI). Within the ORI he leads the Goal-Oriented Autonomous Long-Lived Systems (GOALS) group which researches decision-making for autonomous systems under uncertainty, including robots and human-robot teams. Recent highlights include the deployment of an autonomous mission planning stack on a quadruped at an active nuclear site, and on an autonomous underwater vehicle harvesting data from a sensor network.

Claire chatted to Georgia Chalvatzaki from the Technical University of Darmstadt all about mobile assistive robots, learning, and planning.

Georgia Chalvatzaki is a Professor of Robot Perception and Learning at the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany. Before that, she was an Assistant Professor and Independent Research Group Leader since March 2021, after getting the renowned Emmy Noether grant of the German Research Foundation. She completed her Ph.D. in 2019 at the Intelligent Robotics and Automation Lab at the National Technical University of Athens, Greece, with her thesis “Human-Centered Modeling for Assistive Robotics: Stochastic Estimation and Robot Learning in Decision-Making.”

Claire chatted to Helmut Hauser from the University of Bristol all about soft robotics, sensing, and smart robot bodies.

Helmut Hauser is an Associate Professor in Robotics at the University of Bristol and the Bristol Robotics Laboratory. He is also the Director of the EPSRC Centre of Doctoral Training for Robotics and Autonomous Systems. Helmut’s research is focused on morphological computation and soft robotics. In particular, he is interested in understanding the underlying principles of how biological systems exploit their complex physical bodies to facilitate sensing, controlling and learning, and how these principles can be employed to design better bodies to build better robots.

Carlotta Berry has a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Spelman College, bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology, master’s in electrical engineering from Wayne State University, and PhD from Vanderbilt University. Her research interests include robotics education, human-robot interaction, and increasing marginalized and minoritized populations in STEM fields. Berry is a prolific speaker and author of the text, “Mobile Robotics for Multidisciplinary Study” and Black STEM romance novel, “Elevated Inferno: Monet’s Moment”.

Francesco Giorgio-Serchi is a Lecturer and Chancellor’s Fellow in Robotics and Autonomous Systems at the University of Edinburgh. His work encompasses the design and control of underwater vehicles for operation in extreme weather conditions. Previously he was a Research Fellow at the University of Southampton, within the Fluid-Structure-Interaction group, where he worked on the design of soft-bodied, bioinspired, aquatic vehicles. Dr. Giorgio-Serchi holds an MSc from the University of Pisa, Italy, in Marine Technologies and a PhD in Fluid Dynamics from the University of Leeds.

Claire chatted to Kat Thiel from Manchester Metropolitan University all about collaborative robots, micro-factories, and fashion manufacturing.

Kat Thiel is a Senior Research Associate at Manchester Metropolitan University’s Manchester Fashion Institute with a research focus on Fashion Practice Research and Industry 4.0., investigating agile cobotic tooling solutions for localised fashion manufacturing. Previously a researcher at the Royal College of Art, she worked on the Future Fashion Factory report ‘Benchmarking the Feasibility of the Micro-Factory Model for the UK Fashion Industry’ and co-produced produced the highly influential report ‘Reshoring UK Garment Manufacturing with Automation’ with Innovate UK KTN.

Claire chatted to Maitreyee Wairagkar from the University of California all about neurotechnology, artificial intelligence, and assistive robotics.

Maitreyee Wairagkar is a postdoctoral fellow at University of California, Davis, developing assistive neurotechnology using artificial intelligence to restore lost function in people with neurological disorders. She builds brain-computer interfaces to enable people with severe motor and speech impairments to communicate directly via their brain signals by breaking barriers between humans and technology. Previously, she was at Imperial College London and UK Dementia Research Institute where she developed conversational AI and social robots for dementia support.

Thom Kirwan-Evans is a co-founder at Origami Labs where he applies the latest AI research to solve complex real world problems. Thom started as a physicist at Dstl working with camera systems before moving to an engineering consultancy and then setting up his own company last year. A keen runner and father of two, a key aim in starting his business was a good work-life balance.

Alessandra Rossi is Assistant Professor at the University of Naples Federico II in Italy. Her PhD thesis was part of the Marie Sklodowska-Curie ETN SECURE project at the University of Hertfordshire in the UK, and she is now a Visiting Lecturer and Researcher there. Her research interests include human-robot interaction, social robotics, explainable AI, multi-agent systems and user profiling. She is the team leader of RoboCup team Bold Hearts at the University of Hertfordshire, and Executive Committee member of the RoboCup Humanoid League.

Claire chatted to Edward Timpson from QinetiQ all about robots in the military, uncrewed vehicles, and cyber security.

Ed Timpson joined QinetiQ in 2020 after 11 years serving in the Royal Navy as a Weapons Engineering Officer (Submarines) across a number of ranks. Joining QinetiQ Target Systems as a Project Engineer and also managing the Hardware team, he had success in developing new capabilities for the Banshee family of UAS. He then moved into future systems within QinetiQ as a Principal Systems Engineer specialising in complex trials and experimentation of uncrewed vehicles. He now heads up the Robotics and Autonomous Systems capability within QinetiQ UK.

Claire chatted to Dr Maria Bauza Villalonga from DeepMind all about robot learning, transferable skills, and general AI.

Maria Bauza Villalonga is a research scientist at DeepMind. In 2022, she earned her PhD in Robotics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, working with Prof. Alberto Rodriguez. Her research focuses on achieving precise robotic generalization by learning probabilistic models of the world that allow robots to reuse their skills across multiple tasks with high success. Maria has received several fellowships including Facebook, NVIDIA, and LaCaixa.

Claire chatted to Dr Jonathan Aitken from the University of Sheffield all about manufacturing, sewer inspection, and robots in the real world.

Jonathan Aitken is a Senior University Teacher in Robotics at the University of Sheffield. His research is focused on building useful, useable, and expandable architectures for future robotics systems. Most recently this has involved building complex digital twins for collaborative robots in manufacturing processes and investigating localisation for robots operating in sewer pipes. His teaching focuses on providing students with the tools to bring distributed computing to complex robotic processes.

Claire chatted to Professor Yang Gao from the University of Surrey all about space robotics and planetary exploration.

Yang Gao is Professor of Space Autonomous Systems and Founding Head of the STAR LAB that specializes in robotic sensing, perception, visual guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) and biomimetic mechanisms for industrial applications in extreme environments. She brings over 20 years of research experience in developing robotics and autonomous systems, in which she has been the principal investigator of over 30 inter/nationally teamed projects and involved in real-world mission development.

Claire chatted to Professor Ignazio Maria Viola from the University of Edinburgh all about aerodynamics, dandelion-inspired drones, and swarm sensing.

Ignazio Maria Viola is Professor of Fluid Mechanics and Bioinspired Engineering at the School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh, and Fellow of the Royal Institution of Naval Architects. He is the recipient of the ERC Consolidator Grant Dandidrone to explore the unsteady aerodynamics of dandelion-inspired drones.

Claire chatted to Professor Emily S. Cross from the University of Glasgow and Western Sydney University all about neuroscience, social learning, and human-robot interaction.

Emily S. Cross is a Professor of Social Robotics at the University of Glasgow, and a Professor of Human Neuroscience at the MARCS Institute at Western Sydney University. Using interactive learning tasks, brain scanning, and dance, acrobatics and robots, she and her Social Brain in Action Laboratory team explore how we learn by watching others throughout the lifespan, how action experts’ brains enable them to perform physical skills so exquisitely, and the social influences that shape human-robot interaction.

Claire chatted to Dr Sabine Hauert from the University of Bristol all about swarm robotics, nanorobots, and environmental monitoring.

Sabine Hauert is Associate Professor of Swarm Engineering at University of Bristol. She leads a team of 20 researchers working on making swarms for people, and across scales, from nanorobots for cancer treatment, to larger robots for environmental monitoring, or logistics. Previously she worked at MIT and EPFL. She is President and Executive Trustee of non-profits robohub.org and aihub.org, which connect the robotics and AI communities to the public.

Claire chatted to Professor Dan Stoyanov from University College London all about robotic vision, surgical robotics, and artificial intelligence.

Dan Stoyanov, FREng, FIET, is a Professor at UCL Computer Science holding a Royal Academy of Engineering Chair in Emerging Technologies. He is Director of the Wellcome/EPSRC Centre for Interventional and Surgical Sciences (WEISS), a large research centre combining engineering and clinical expertise. His research interests are focused on surgical robotics, surgical data science and the development of surgical AI systems for clinical use. He is Chief Scientist at Digital Surgery, and he co-founded Odin Vision Ltd as a UCL spin-out focused on AI in gastroenterology.

Claire chatted to Mollie Claypool from Automated Architecture about robot house-building, zero-carbon architecture, and community participation.

Mollie Claypool is CEO of AUAR Ltd, a tech company revolutionising house building using automation. Mollie is a leading architecture theorist focused on issues of social justice highlighted by increasing automation in architecture and design production. She is also Associate Professor in Architecture at The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL.

The EPSRC UK Robotics and Autonomous Systems (UK-RAS) Network is pleased to announce the official launch of its 2023 competitions, inviting the UK’s primary schoolchildren to share their creative robot designs and imaginative stories with a panel of experts, for a chance to win some unique prizes. These annual competitions, which have proved hugely popular with budding authors and illustrators nationwide, are now returning for the fourth year.

The “Draw A Robot” competition challenges children in Key Stage 1 (aged 5-7 years old) to design a robot that they’d like to see in the future. Children can use whichever drawing materials they prefer — paper, pens, pencils, paints, crayons, or even natural materials — to create their ideal robot design, and the robot can be designed to perform any task or job. Competition participants will be able to explain their robot’s functions by labelling gadgets and features on the drawing and writing a short design spec.

For the “Once Upon A Robot” writing competition, Key Stage 2 children (aged 7-11 years old), are invited to write an imaginative short story featuring any kind of robot – or robots – their imagination can conjure! Children will have up to 800 words to tell their creative robot tales and they can choose any literary genre they like. It could be a spine-tingling horror, an action-packed adventure, or even a light-hearted comedy.

ZOOG by Matilde Facchini, age 7 (Draw a Robot 2022 Winner)

Plan-o-bot by Tehmina Walker, age 6 (Draw a Robot 2021 Winner)

The two competitions will be judged by robotics experts from the organising ESPRC UK-RAS Network, plus two very special invited judges. The writing competition will be judged this year by award-winning author Sharna Jackson, whose inspiring and mystifying books include High-Rise Mystery and The Good Turn. The drawing competition will be judged by internationally acclaimed Anglo/American author, illustrator and artist Ted Dewan, creator of the Emmy-Award-winning animated television series Bing.

This year’s exclusive prize packages include:

Draw A Robot Competition winner

• Thames & Kosmos Coding and Robotics kit – contributed by competition partner the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC)
• A tour of the AMRC’s Factory 2050 in Sheffield, the UK’s first state-of-the-art factory dedicated to conducting collaborative research into reconfigurable digitally assisted assembly, component manufacturing and machining technologies
• A copy of the book “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice”, signed by competition judge Ted Dewan

Draw A Robot Competition runner-up

• 4M Green Science Solar Hybrid Power Aqua Robot – contributed by competition partner the UKRI Trust Worthy Autonomous Systems (TAS) hub
• A copy of the book “Top Secret”, signed by competition judge Ted Dewan

Once Upon A Robot Competition winner

• Lego Mindstorms Robot Inventor kit – contributed by competition partner Birmingham Extreme Robotics Lab
• A tour of the Extreme Robotics Lab in Birmingham and a robotics masterclass from RobotCoders for the winner and a friend
• Printed copy of the winning story with bespoke illustrations by illustrator and science communicator Hana Ayoob
• A copy of the books “The Good Turn” and “Black Artists Shaping the World”, signed by competition judge Sharna Jackson

Once Upon A Robot Competition runner-up

• Maqueen Lite – micro:bit – contributed by competition partner The National Robotarium
• A copy of the book “High-Rise Mystery”, signed by competition judge Sharna Jackson

For more information, details of prizes, judging criteria and to submit an entry, please visit https://www.ukras.org.uk/school-robot-competition/.

Both competitions are open for entry from the 10th January and will close for submissions on the 23rd April. The winners will be announced at a special virtual award ceremony due to be held on 22nd June 2023.

EPSRC UK-RAS Network Chair Prof. Robert Richardson says: “We are absolutely delighted to be launching these two fantastic competitions for primary schoolchildren for the fourth year running, which offer the next generation a creative way to engage with the exciting world of robotics and automation. We can’t wait to see the imagination and ingenuity that the nation’s young authors and artists bring to these challenges, and we look forward to the very enjoyable task of judging this year’s entries.”

The two creative competitions for young children were first launched in 2020 for UK Robotics Week, now the UK Festival of Robotics – a 7-day celebration of robotics and intelligent systems held at the end of June. This annual celebration is hosted by the EPSRC UK Robotics and Autonomous Systems (UK-RAS) Network, which provides academic leadership in robotics and coordinates activities at 35 partner universities across the UK.

Episode 24 – Gopal Ramchurn

Claire chatted to Gopal Ramchurn from the University of Southampton about artificial intelligence, autonomous systems and renewable energy.

Sarvapali (Gopal) Ramchurn is a Professor of Artificial Intelligence, Turing Fellow, and Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology. He is the Director of the UKRI Trustworthy Autonomous Systems hub and Co-Director of the Shell-Southampton Centre for Maritime Futures. He is also a Co-CEO of Empati Ltd, an AI startup working on decentralised green hydrogen technologies. His research is about the design of Responsible Artificial Intelligence for socio-technical applications including energy systems and disaster management.

Episode 25 – Ferdinando Rodriguez y Baena

Claire chatted to Ferdinando Rodriguez y Baena from Imperial College London about medical robotics, robotic surgery, and translational research.

Ferdinando Rodriguez y Baena is Professor of Medical Robotics in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Imperial College, where he leads the Mechatronics in Medicine Laboratory and the Applied Mechanics Division. He has been the Engineering Co-Director of the Hamlyn Centre, which is part of the Institute of Global Health Innovation, since July 2020. He is a founding member and great advocate of the Imperial College Robotics Forum, now the first point of contact for roboticists at Imperial College.

Episode 26 – Séverin Lemaignan

Claire chatted to Séverin Lemaignan from PAL Robotics all about social robots, behaviour, and robot-assisted human-human interactions.

Séverin Lemaignan is Senior Scientist at Barcelona-based PAL Robotics. He leads the Social Intelligence team, in charge of designing and developing the socio-cognitive capabilities of robots like PAL TIAGo and PAL ARI. He obtained his PhD in Cognitive Robotics in 2012 from the CNRS/LAAS and the Technical University of Munich, and worked at Bristol Robotics Lab as Associate Professor in Social Robotics, before moving to industry. His research primarily concerns socio-cognitive human-robot interaction, child-robot interaction and human-in-the-loop machine learning for social robots.

Episode 27 – Simon Wanstall

Claire chatted to Simon Wanstall from the Edinburgh Centre for Robotics all about soft robotics, robotic prostheses, and taking inspiration from nature.

Simon Wanstall is a PhD student at the Edinburgh Centre for Robotics, working on advancements in soft robotic prosthetics. His research interests include soft robotics, bioinspired design and healthcare devices. Simon’s current project is to develop soft sensors so that robotic prostheses can feel the world around them. In order to develop his skills in this area, Simon is also undertaking an industrial placement with Touchlab, a robotics company specialising in sensors.

Episode 28 – Amanda Prorok

Claire chatted to Amanda Prorok from the University of Cambridge all about self-driving cars, industrial robots, and multi-robot systems.

Amanda Prorok is Professor of Collective Intelligence and Robotics in the Department of Computer Science and Technology at Cambridge University, and a Fellow of Pembroke College. She is interested in finding practical methods for hard coordination problems that arise in multi-robot and multi-agent systems.

Episode 29 – Sina Sareh

Claire chatted to Sina Sareh from the Royal College of Art all about industrial inspection, soft robotics, and robotic grippers.

Sina Sareh is the Academic Leader in Robotics at Royal College of Art. He is currently a Reader (Associate Professor) in Robotics and Design Intelligence at RCA, and a Fellow of EPSRC, whose research develops technological solutions to problems of human safety, access and performance involved in a range of industrial operations. Dr Sareh holds a PhD from the University of Bristol, 2012, and served as an impact assessor of Sub-panel 12: Engineering in the assessment phase of the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021.

Episode 30 – Ana Cavalcanti

Claire chatted to Ana Cavalcanti from the University of York all about software development, testing and verification, and autonomous mobile robots.

Ana Cavalcanti is a Royal Academy of Engineering Chair in Emerging Technologies. She is the leader of the RoboStar centre of excellence on Software Engineering for Robotics. The RoboStar approach to model-based Software Engineering complements current practice of design and verification of robotic systems, covering simulation, testing, and proof. It is practical, supported by tools, and yet mathematically rigorous.

Bonus winter treats

What is your favourite fictional robot?

What is your advice for a robotics career?

What is your favourite machine or tool?

Could you be friends with a robot?

A day in the life

Episode 20 – Paul Dominick Baniqued

Claire talked to Dr Paul Dominick Baniqued from The University of Manchester all about brain-computer interface technology and rehabilitation robotics.

Paul Dominick Baniqued received his PhD in robotics and immersive technologies at the University of Leeds. His research tackled the integration of a brain-computer interface with virtual reality and hand exoskeletons for motor rehabilitation and skills learning. He is currently working as a postdoc researcher on cyber-physical systems and digital twins at the Robotics for Extreme Environments Group at the University of Manchester.

Episode 21 – Sean Katagiri

Claire chatted to Sean Katagiri from The National Robotarium all about underwater robots, offshore energy, and other industrial applications of robotics.

Sean Katagiri is a robotics engineer who has the pleasure of being surrounded by and working with robots for a living. His experience in robotics mainly comes from the subsea domain, but has also worked with wheeled and legged ground robots as well. Sean is very excited to have recently started his role at The National Robotarium, whose goal is to bring ideas from academia and turn them into real world solutions.

Episode 22 – Iveta Eimontaite

Claire talked to Dr Iveta Eimontaite from Cranfield University about psychology, human-robot interaction, and industrial robots.

Iveta Eimontaite studied Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of York and completed her PhD in Cognitive Psychology at Hull University. Prior to joining Cranfield University, Iveta held research positions at Bristol Robotics Laboratory and Sheffield Robotics. Her work mainly focuses on behavioural and cognitive aspects of Human-Technology Interaction, with particular interest in user needs and requirements for the successful integration of technology within the workplace/social environments.

Episode 23 – Mickey Li

Claire talked to Mickey Li from the University of Bristol about aerial robotics, building inspection and multi-robot teams.

Mickey Li is a Robotics and Autonomous systems PhD researcher at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory and the University of Bristol. His research focuses on optimal multi-UAV path planning for building inspection, in particular how guarantees can be provided despite vehicle failures. Most recently he has been developing a portable development and deployment infrastructure for multi-UAV experimentation for the BRL Flight Arena inspired by advances in cloud computing.

The first robots went into space over 60 years ago and robotics have become a familiar sight in many industrial settings, but it took a bit longer for robots to make their way into our homes. Robotic vacuum cleaners first started to make an appearance in homes about 20 years ago now, and according to a recent survey by the UK-RAS Network, 28% of people say that robots are now an occasional part of their everyday lives while 13% say they are fully integrated into their day to day lives. But home robots can do a lot more than clean the floors. Social and assistive robots can offer company and help around the home which can be game-changing for people with limited mobility or dementia.

In this special live recording for the UK Festival of Robotics, Claire chatted to Dr. Patrick Holthaus (University of Hertfordshire / Robot House), Prof. Praminda Caleb-Solly (University of Nottingham) and Dr Mike Aldred (Dyson).

Patrick Holthaus researches how robots can socially engage with humans letting them interact with each other in a special research facility, the Robot House at the University of Hertfordshire. He is particularly interested in non-verbal communication like body movements, gestures, and gaze and how they can influence the social credibility and trust of assistive and companion robots. At the same time, he maintains the robots and all the interactive technology in the house and coordinates and advises other users of the house as the Robot House manager.

Praminda Caleb-Solly is Professor of Embodied Intelligence at the University of Nottingham where she leads the Cyber-physical Health and Assistive Robotics Technologies research group. Prior to joining Nottingham, she led research in Assistive Robotics at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory for over ten years. In 2020 she co-founded Robotics for Good CIC, a ‘robots-as-a-service’ start-up which is currently supporting the deployment of telepresence robots.

Having gained a PhD in robotics from the University of Kent, Mike Aldred left in 1998 to be part of the original team of 5 roboticists at Dyson. He spent 15 years taking the company’s first robot vacuum cleaner from technology research right the way through to a manufactured product. He has worked on pretty much every area of domestic robotics from developing vision based navigation systems, to helping define international robot standards and ensuring the production line runs smoothly. The common theme running across all his roles at Dyson has been turning academic theory into practical reality.

Keywords: assistive, home, domestic, social, vacuum

Robots are becoming a more and more important part of our home and work lives and as we come to rely on them, trust is of paramount importance. Successful teams are founded on trust, and the same is true for human-robot teams. But what does it mean to trust a robot?

I’ll be chatting to three roboticists working on various aspects of trustworthiness in robotics: Anouk van Maris (University of the West of England), Faye McCabe (University of Birmingham), Daniel Omeiza (University of Oxford).

Anouk van Maris is a research fellow in responsible robotics. She received her doctorate at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory, where she investigated ethical concerns of social robots. She is currently working on the technical development and implementation of the robot ethical black box, which will be used to generate explanations of the robot’s decision-making process. She is a member of the committee on Ethics for Robots and Autonomous Systems at the British Standards Institute, where she uses her insights and knowledge to support the progress of a standard for ethical design and implementation of robots.

Faye McCabe is a member of the Human Interface Technologies team at the University of Birmingham. She received a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Computer Systems Engineering from the University of Birmingham in 2017. Her PhD focuses on how to design interfaces which support rich, dynamic and appropriate trust-building within Human-Autonomy Teams of the future. Faye’s main area of focus is autonomous maritime platforms, with her research focusing on sonar analysis, and how this could be aided through the use of autonomous decision-aids.

Daniel Omeiza is a PhD student in the department of computer science at the University of Oxford. He is a member of the responsible innovation group and the cognitive robotics group. As part of the RoboTIPS and SAX project, he is investigating and designing new techniques for effective explainability in autonomous driving. Before joining Oxford, he obtained a masters degree from Carnegie Mellon University and conducted research at IBM Research as an intern.

Keywords: assistive, autonomy, defence, hri, trust