Profile

I live in Edinburgh with my wife, who is a computer scientist, and my daughter, who goes to primary school. We are vegetarians; my wife and daughter are foodies who occasionally let me bake banana bread, but willingly let me do all the cleaning after their cooking experiments! I like to read (fiction, non-fiction), swim, and watch old cartoons and movies. I also like to discuss politics and the real-world impacts of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other scientific developments.

For my research, I work on problems in robotics and Artificial Intelligence (AI). The long-term goal is to equip robots with human-level decision-making skills. In the short-term, I work on enabling robots to reason with incomplete information and adapt to previously unseen situations. This involves building new mathematical models/methods, and translating these models/methods to programs (i.e., software) that can be run on robots. It also involves running experiments on robots to compare these new models/methods with existing ones, and documenting the results in reports that are shared with others. I do this research in collaboration with students and colleagues from around the world.

In parallel to my research, I also enjoy teaching students. This involves delivering lectures on different topics in computer science, interacting with students to help them understand the material better, and supervising students working on projects.

I usually wake up early and try to squeeze in some time for exercise (e.g., swim, basic stretches, run); I try to do this with my daughter if possible. After a bath and a quick breakfast (usually cereal with milk), I drop my daughter at her school before going to my office at the University of Edinburgh. Work involves developing mathematical models and methods that make robots smarter, often in collaboration with students and colleagues, and then translating these methods and models to software that can be run on robots. I also spend time delivering lectures to (and interacting with) students taking courses at the university. Some of my time each day is also spent meeting with colleagues to discuss research, teaching, and administrative tasks that need to be completed.  In between, I take breaks to eat and read research articles written by others. In the afternoon, I pick up my daughter from her school and go home. I spend time with my family until dinner; we talk about recent events and/or watch a show on TV. I then try to get some more work done before I go to bed.