18th IEEE International Conference on Networking, Sensing and Control

 3 - 5 December 2021  Xiamen, China

Title：Toward a Nexus of Intelligence and Interaction in Advanced Robotics

Edward Tunstel

Abstract: Advanced robotics is envisioned to be elemental to Industry 4.0 amidst a range of additional technologies. The enabling technological ecosystem will be networked and otherwise digitally connected and interoperable. As technology evolves and matures in parallel, a persistently valid question is whether individual technologies are sufficiently mature for integration in related environments such as intelligent homes and buildings including hotels and the workplace, in logistics environments, smart factories or manufacturing settings, field and service domains, and more. The necessary technology advances are more apparent for digital interconnectivity and communications between computerized machines than they are for interaction with humans. Traditional forms of the latter need to become more intuitive while higher capacities for robotic intelligence/autonomy are needed to enable higher-level interaction with humans that is more directive and instructive than supervisory. This talk explores advanced robotics in this context amidst parallel advancements in AI, machine learning, Internet of Things and the like, with a focus on where robotic intelligence and human-robot interaction must meet to enable effective collaboration.

Biography：Dr. Edward Tunstel is CTO of Motiv Space Systems, Inc., a space and ground robotics company. He was previously with the Autonomous & Intelligent Systems Department at Raytheon Technologies Research Center, USA, where he provided leadership, expertise, and associated strategy development and led a research group focused on technologies enabling autonomy and human-collaborative capabilities for manufacturing and service applications. During the prior decade, he was with the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) as a senior roboticist in its research department and Intelligent Systems Center, and as space robotics & autonomous control lead in its space department. At APL he was engaged in modular open systems development efforts supporting advanced robotic systems programs as well as robotics and autonomy research for future national security and space applications. Prior to APL he was with NASA JPL for close to two decades, where he was a senior robotics engineer and group leader of its Advanced Robotic Controls Group. He worked on the NASA Mars Exploration Rovers mission as both a flight systems engineer responsible for autonomous navigation capabilities, and as rover engineering team lead for mobility and robotic arm subsystems during surface mission operations on Mars. He earned B.S. and M.E. degrees in mechanical engineering from Howard University and the Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of New Mexico. He is the Jr. Past President (2020-2021) of the IEEE SMC Society and an IEEE Fellow with over 170 technical publications including five co-edited/authored books in his areas of research interest, which include mobile robot navigation, autonomous control, cooperative & human-collaborative robotics, robotic systems engineering, and applications of soft computing to autonomous systems.