Robotics and Autonomous Systems

Robotics and autonomous systems is an interdisciplinary area of research spanning several areas in artificial intelligence. This group is led by Professor Charlie (Chenguang) Yang.

We focus on the ability of machines to act intelligently within society. Autonomous systems can perceive their environment, for example through sensors on a robot, situated in a building within an internet of things scenario, or by monitoring electronic services and information sources. Based on this knowledge, agents make decisions to perform actions that are directed to achieving a specific aim such as autonomous vehicles and smart devices, as well as social and industrial robots.

 Our research activities:

• smART Lab, a state of the art robotics facility with a variety of robots and experimental space;
• both Robotics and Autonomous Systems Laboratory (RASL) and Virtual Engineering Simulation Laboratory (VESL) providing robotic simulations at STFC Daresbury; and
• the autonomy and verification lab within the department, addressing formal verification of robotics and autonomous systems.

People

Academic staff members of this group are:

• Professor Chenguang Yang
• Professor Katie Atkinson
• Dr Guangliang Cheng
• Dr Elisa Cucco (Honorary)
• Dr Yi Dong
• Dr Mario Gianni
• Dr Baoru Huang
• Dr Xiaowei Huang
• Dr Ullrich Hustadt
• Dr Anh Nguyen
• Dr Terry Payne
• Dr Gabriella Pizzuto
• Dr Valentina Tamma
• Dr Wenjun Ye
• Dr Chao Zeng
• Dr Shufang Zhu