Human-Machine Collaboration: The Oxford Team
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Professor Nick Hawes Nick Hawes is an Associate Professor in Engineering Science (Robotics) and a Tutorial Fellow in Engineering Science at Pembroke College, Oxford. He joined the Oxford Robotics Institute (ORI) in September 2017. Previously he was a Reader in Autonomous Intelligent Robotics in the School of Computer Science at the University of Birmingham, where he also completed a BSc and PhD in Artificial Intelligence. For more information see the ORI website and Nick Hawes' personal webpages. Nick leads the The Goal-Oriented Long-Lived Systems (GOALS) Lab that performs research around the problems of behaviour generation for autonomous systems. In particular, they focus on long-term autonomy and task and mission planning for mobile robots which must operate for extended periods (days, weeks or months) in dynamic, uncertain environments. To create long-term autonomous behaviour they explore the application of artificial intelligence techniques to robots, particularly planning under uncertainty and machine learning, such that the longer robots act in an environment, the better they perform. |
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Professor Ingmar Posner Ingmar Posner leads the Applied Artificial Intelligence Lab (A2I) at Oxford University. His goal is to enable robots to robustly and effectively operate in complex, real-world environments. His research is guided by a vision to create machines which constantly improve through experience. In doing so Ingmar’s work explores a number of intellectual challenges at the heart of robot learning, such as unsupervised scene interpretation and action inference, machine introspection in perception and decision making, data efficient learning from demonstration, transfer learning and the learning of complex tasks via a curriculum of less complex ones. All the while Ingmar’s research remains grounded in real-world robotics applications such as manipulation, autonomous driving, logistics and space exploration. Ingmar is recipient of a number of best paper awards at leading international venues in robotics research and AI. He is a founding Director of the Oxford Robotics Institute, which has forged an international reputation for excellence in robotics research. In 2014 Ingmar co-founded Oxbotica, a leading provider of mobile autonomy software solutions. |
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Professor Niki Trigoni Niki Trigoni is a Professor at the Oxford University Department of Computer Science and a fellow of Kellogg College. She obtained her DPhil at the University of Cambridge (2001), became a postdoctoral researcher at Cornell University (2002-2004), and a Lecturer at Birkbeck College (2004-2007). At Oxford, she leads the Cyber Physical Systems Group, which is focusing on intelligent and autonomous sensor systems with applications in positioning, healthcare, environmental monitoring and smart cities. The group’s research ranges from novel sensor modalities and low level signal processing to high level inference and learning. Niki has 15 years’ experience in cyber physical systems and has won several awards for her group’s work on indoor and underground positioning (IPSN 2014, EWSN 2014, EWSN 2013, SENSYS 2010). Niki is Co-founder and CTO of Navenio focusing on leading the digital transformation when it comes to better understanding the buildings we live, work, and operate in (see: https://navenio.com/1549-2/) Niki talks about the positive effects immediate actionable insight can provide in prioritising workload based on the principle of ‘right person, right time, right place’. |
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Marina Jirotka is Professor of Human-Centred Computing in the Department of Computer Science, and established the Responsible Technology Institute of which she is the Director. She leads an interdisciplinary research group in that combines both social and computer science approaches to the design of technology – the group research methods and approaches for building and evaluating technology responsibly in ways that may enhance individual autonomy, wellbeing and promote and protect human values. She has been at the forefront of recent work in Responsible Innovation (RI) in the UK and the European Union concentrating on: (1) the theoretical and conceptual underpinnings of new forms of governance for RI; new methods for the dissemination of materials; and innovative ways of engaging the public in debates on RI in ICT (2) Unpacking the practices and concepts of innovation of digital systems in the context of professional organisations. (3) Developing new, and enhancing existing methods, for RI practice for digital system developers. Marina is an EPSRC Established Career Fellow conducting a five year investigation into Developing Responsible Robotics for the Digital Economy. She is also co-director of the Observatory for Responsible Research and Innovation in ICT (ORBIT) which provides RI services and training to ICT researchers and practitioners as well as PI on the EPSRC Digital Economy TIPS project Rebuilding and Enhancing Trust in Algorithms (ReEnTrust) and Co-I on Design Principles and Responsible Innovation for a Sustainable Digital Economy (PARIS) and Adolescence, Mental Health and the Developing Mind (AMHDM). |