Overview

I research Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques for the creation of intelligent, autonomous robots that can work with or for humans. In my professional life I wear many hats. Currently I am:

• The director of the Oxford Robotics Institute.
• The PI of the GOALS research group.
• A Professor of AI and Robotics in the Department of Engineering Science
• A Tutorial Fellow at Pembroke College
• A Group Leader for AI & Robotics at the Alan Turing Institute.
• MPLS Academic Champion for Public Engagement with Research
• An Honorary Reader in the School of Computer Science, University of Birmingham.

For more, see my research page and the GOALS research group.

I am always looking for DPhil students to join my research group at the Oxford Robotics Institute. If you are interested, please for contact me with your CV and a description of how your background relates to my research interests. Note that from 2021 the Oxford DPhil scholarship applications will close in December.

Before joining the University of Oxford in September 2017 I was a Reader in Autonomous Intelligent Robotics in the School of Computer Science, University of Birmingham.

Publications

For my publications see my publications page or my Google Scholar profile.

(Semi-)Recent Things (Potentially) of Note

• ORI was recently the subject of the Vice-Chancellor’s Fire and Wire series which highlights University communities and interesting Oxford stories:

• We recently completed the deployment of the first long-term autonomous robot inspection system in a fusion environment, in collaboration with the UK Atomic Energy Authority. Read more about it here
• I had a great chat with Jessie Jiang for the OxAI Podcast:

• The Oxford Robotics Institute won a Queen’s Anniversary Prize. It was awarded for innovation in autonomous robotic technologies. You can read the news article here.
• The Oxford Robotics Institute is part of the Sellafield Centre of Expertise in Robotics and AI.
• In October 2022 I appeared in another Computerphile video. This time we talked about Markov decision processes for robot decision making:

• In September 2022 I was promoted to Professor of AI and Robotics in the Recognition of Disctinction exercise.
• Marc Rigter’s paper, “Planning for Risk-Aversion and Expected Value in MDPs” was the runner up for best paper at ICAPS 2022.
• In May 2022 OxfordSparks interviewed me about our work on the HUDSON project developing a mission planning approach for autonomous underwater vehicles:

• In April 2022 Computerphile covered our work on autonomous exploration, mapping and mission planning on Spot:

Public Engagement

I am a passionate and energetic believer in public engagement about AI and Robotics, and science more generally. I have made appearances at events, and on TV and radio, discussing both the ideas behind my research, and the potential impact of robotics on society. For more information, see my public engagement page.

About This Site

Following in the footsteps of Mike Osborne, this site was built using Hyde, a theme for Jekyll.