Paul Newman
Director of the Oxford Robotics Institute, University of Oxford, Founder of Oxbotica
Talk Title: The Road To Anywhere-Autonomy
Abstract: We expect to see driverless cars in some places, some of the time, soon. But what about driverless vehicles all the time in all the places? That seems hard but important. So in this talk I’ll provide a brisk walk through some remaining challenges and progress being made there with an unapologetic bias towards the metric-localisation problem using sensors other than lidar – but in all weathers and some unusual places. The techniques we employ a host of techniques from machine learning, optimisation and data fusion and in places, breathe new life into techniques from 30 years ago – that makes for a powerful robotics mix.
Bio: Paul Newman is the BP Professor of Information Engineering at the University of Oxford. He is Director of the Oxford Robotics Institute (ori.ox.ac.uk) within the Department of Engineering Science. The ORI enjoys a world leading reputation in mobile autonomy – developing machines which roll, walk, poke, swim and fly in the real world. His focus lies on pushing the boundaries of navigation and autonomy techniques in terms of both endurance and scale. In 2014 he founded Oxbotica – a spinout company focussed on Mobile Autonomy. He was elected fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and the IEEE with a citation for outstanding contributions to robot navigation.
