From unmanned space exploration to self-driving cars - how willing are we to share control?

These technologies are now a reality. Robots are ready to share control, but how much are humans willing to give up?

Join Professor Sethu Vijayakumar to explore advances in machine learning and discover how the next generation of robots will work much more closely with humans, other robots and interact significantly with the environment around it.

Hear how the key paradigms are shifting from isolated decision-making systems to one that involves shared control, with significant autonomy devolved to the robot platforms. What is the ideal trade-off between autonomy and control that humans are comfortable with?

Sethu Vijayakumar is Professor of Robotics at the University of Edinburgh, UK and the Director of the Edinburgh Centre for Robotics. He has pioneered the use of large-scale machine learning techniques in the real-time control of several iconic robotic platforms such as the SARCOS and the HONDA ASIMO humanoids, KUKA-LWR robot arm and iLIMB prosthetic hand.

His latest project (2016) involves a collaboration with NASA Johnson Space Centre on the Valkyrie humanoid robot being prepared for unmanned robotic pre-deployment missions to Mars. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, a judge on BBC Robot Wars and winner of the 2015 Tam Dalyell Prize for excellence in engaging the public with science. Professor Vijayakumar helps shape and drive the national Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS) agenda in his recent role as the Programme Director for Artificial Intelligence (AI) at The Alan Turing Institute, the UK’s national institute for data science and AI.