News

Tam Dalyell Prize 2015 awarded to Professor Vijayakumar

Submitted by maragon on Tue, 22/12/2015 - 10:43

Professor Sethu Vijayakumar, Edinburgh Centre for Robotics Director and Professor of Robotics at the University of Edinburgh, has been awarded the 2015 Tam Dalyell Prize  for Excellence in Engaging the Public with Science by the Principal of the University, Professor Sir Timothy O’Shea.  The prize recognises an individual or group's work in science outreach including onsite engagement, talks and other public events or through publishing and broadcasting.

Edinburgh Centre for Robotics Directors talk at The Royal Society

Submitted by maragon on Fri, 11/12/2015 - 16:32

On 13th November 2015, Professors David Lane and Sethu Vijayakumar, Directors of the Edinburgh Centre for Robotics, both talked at The Royal Society event: "Robotics and Autonomous Systems – Vision Challenges and Actions".

Professor David Lane gave a lecture on 'Creating Innovation from Invention: the UK RAS strategy and lessons from marine robotics'. Professor Sethu Vijayakumar's lecture was on ‘Shared autonomy for interactive robotics: closing the loop’.

Prof David Lane talks at Robotics in Extreme Environments Conference in Birmingham

Submitted by maragon on Fri, 11/12/2015 - 16:20

On 7th October 2015, Professor David Lane, Director of the Edinburgh Centre for Robotics, talked about "Persistently autonomous robots – from invention to innovation and lessons from marine robotics" as a keynote speaker at the "Robotics in Extreme Environments: The fundamentals of developing advanced robotics applications". The Conference was held at the University of Birmingham. Professor David Lane talked about

Scotland's Science - Past, Present and Future

Submitted by Anne Murphy on Wed, 09/12/2015 - 12:32

The Edinburgh Centre for Robotics featured strongly in the Heriot-Watt University showcase of Laser-based Manufacturing, Marine Science and Robotics at the Scottish Government reception celebrating ‘Scotland's Science - Past, Present and Future’. The event was held on Tuesday 8th December at Our Dynamic Earth and was hosted by Dr Alasdair Allan MSP, Minister for Science, Learning and Scotland’s Languages; the guests included the Principal, Professor Richard A. Williams. 

Edinburgh Centre for Robotics seals collaborations with Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Hitachi

Submitted by maragon on Wed, 02/12/2015 - 11:43

On 1st December 2015, Professor Sethu Vijayakumar, Director of the Edinburgh Centre for Robotics Professor of Robotics in the School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh, concluded a contract signing with Hitachi's Central Research Labs (CRL-CER) in Tokyo, with support from UKTI and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. This marks the beginning of an exciting collaboration in the domain of intelligent warehousing and autonomous manipulation robots between the School of Informatics and one of the leading manufacturing giants of Japan.

ECR Newsletter - December 2015 Issue

Submitted by maragon on Mon, 30/11/2015 - 16:20

We are delighted to publish our last Newsletter of the year. Some of the highlights in this issue are:

*Inauguration of our ECR student blog
*Exciting updates on Robotarium equipment
*A brief report on our Edinburgh Centre for Robotics first annual Conference

Happy reading!
 

Useful links

Edinburgh Centre for Robotics students' blog

BBC World Service: "The robot designed to replace astronauts"

Submitted by maragon on Wed, 18/11/2015 - 16:15

Earlier today, Prof Sethu Vijayakumar, co-director of the Edinburgh Centre for Robotics, was interviewed by BBC World Service radio about the NASA Valkyrie robot project. He explained why Valkyrie resembles human beings and talked about its use in space exploration, as well as its applications on Earth.

To hear the full interview, please visit: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p038f64b

Useful links

Professor Sethu Vijayakumar's website

EPSRC Humanoid Robotics Sandpit held at the Edinburgh Centre for Robotics

Submitted by maragon on Fri, 13/11/2015 - 12:25

On 3rd and 4th November 2015, researchers from the groups of Nicolas Mansard (LAAS, Toulouse), Jeremy Wyatt (U. of Birmingham) and Matt Howard (Kings College London) visited for two days to discuss avenues for potential collaboration in the area of humanoid control and manipulation. After a presentions from the visiting groups, Edinburgh research staff and PhD students gave a tutorial session demonstrating their humanoid simulation environment, research in whole-body motion planning and locomotion.

Edinburgh Centre for Robotics First Annual Conference

Submitted by maragon on Fri, 06/11/2015 - 13:58

On Friday 23rd October 2015, the first Edinburgh Centre for Robotics took place in the James Watt Centre II at Heriot-Watt University. Industrial delegates, academic staff and students (CDT & aligned) attended the event. Professor Peter Corke, from Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia, opened the Conference with his talk “Why Robots See?”, which highlighted the similarities and differences between human and robot visions, as well as pondered on the future of Robotics in relation to recent advances in Computer Vision.