About Me
I am an expert people, projects and technical leader with 20 years of experience in Robotics, Innovation, Autonomous Systems, Artificial Intelligence, Computer Vision, Industry 4.0, Digitalisation, and Consulting.
At the CSIRO, as a Principal Research Scientist and Robotics Perception Leader in the Robotics and Autonomous Systems Group, I lead a team of approximately 25 robotics and AI experts in based in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, Australia.
Along my career, I have led several multi-million and multi-institution worldwide engagements (with industry and academia) to enhance the development and application of digital technologies to solve real world problems.
𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀:
- 𝗖𝗵𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 “𝗪𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗻 𝗖𝗵𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗙𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱” 𝟮𝟬𝟮2 - visiting researcher at NASA Ames, USA (to happen in 2022)
- 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗶𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝗖𝗥𝗔 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟬 (Australasian Conference on Robotics and Automation) - Australia.
- 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟬 𝗤𝘂𝗲𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗜𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱𝘀 - PaintCloud 3D Mapping Technology.
- 𝗔𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗚𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 “𝗘𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗮𝘃𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗘𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱” 𝟮𝟬𝟭𝟯 - visiting researcher at ETH, Switzerland.
- 𝗣𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀: 80 papers in top-tier journals and conferences, author of a book, and co-inventor of four patents.
𝗦𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗧𝗮𝗹𝗸𝘀:
- 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗴𝗹𝗲 𝗫 - Autonomous Vehicles for Manufacturing Environments - USA
- 𝗭𝗼𝗼𝘅 - Autonomous Vehicles for Unstructured Environments - USA
- 𝗡𝗔𝗦𝗔 𝗝𝗲𝘁 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗽𝘂𝗹𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗟𝗮𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 - Mobility and Robotics Systems - USA
- 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗲 𝗟𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗼𝗻 - Dyson Robotics Lab - United Kingdom
- 𝗨𝗖 𝗕𝗲𝗿𝗸𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘆 - Biomimetic Millisystems Laboratory - USA
- 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗨𝗻𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘆- Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory - USA
- 𝟯𝟵𝘁𝗵 𝗜𝗔𝗜𝗔 𝗔𝗻𝗻𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 - Assessing the Impact of Disruptive Technologies - Australia
- 𝗞𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘀𝗿𝘂𝗵𝗲 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗶𝘁𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆 - Institute of Measurement and Control Systems - Germany
- 𝗨𝗻𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗧𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗼 - Department of Engineering and Information Sciences - Italy
- 𝗥𝗢𝗦 (𝗥𝗼𝗯𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺) 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 - Hong Kong
- 𝗘𝗧𝗛 𝗭ü𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗵 - Autonomous Systems Laboratory - Switzerland
If you want more details about my current work, please check the Robotics and Autonomous Systems Group page on https://research.csiro.au/robotics/
At the CSIRO, as a Principal Research Scientist and Robotics Perception Leader in the Robotics and Autonomous Systems Group, I lead a team of approximately 25 robotics and AI experts in based in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, Australia.
Along my career, I have led several multi-million and multi-institution worldwide engagements (with industry and academia) to enhance the development and application of digital technologies to solve real world problems.
𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀:
- 𝗖𝗵𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 “𝗪𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗻 𝗖𝗵𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗙𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱” 𝟮𝟬𝟮2 - visiting researcher at NASA Ames, USA (to happen in 2022)
- 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗶𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝗖𝗥𝗔 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟬 (Australasian Conference on Robotics and Automation) - Australia.
- 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟬 𝗤𝘂𝗲𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗜𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱𝘀 - PaintCloud 3D Mapping Technology.
- 𝗔𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗚𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 “𝗘𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗮𝘃𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗘𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱” 𝟮𝟬𝟭𝟯 - visiting researcher at ETH, Switzerland.
- 𝗣𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀: 80 papers in top-tier journals and conferences, author of a book, and co-inventor of four patents.
𝗦𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗧𝗮𝗹𝗸𝘀:
- 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗴𝗹𝗲 𝗫 - Autonomous Vehicles for Manufacturing Environments - USA
- 𝗭𝗼𝗼𝘅 - Autonomous Vehicles for Unstructured Environments - USA
- 𝗡𝗔𝗦𝗔 𝗝𝗲𝘁 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗽𝘂𝗹𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗟𝗮𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 - Mobility and Robotics Systems - USA
- 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗲 𝗟𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗼𝗻 - Dyson Robotics Lab - United Kingdom
- 𝗨𝗖 𝗕𝗲𝗿𝗸𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘆 - Biomimetic Millisystems Laboratory - USA
- 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗨𝗻𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘆- Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory - USA
- 𝟯𝟵𝘁𝗵 𝗜𝗔𝗜𝗔 𝗔𝗻𝗻𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 - Assessing the Impact of Disruptive Technologies - Australia
- 𝗞𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘀𝗿𝘂𝗵𝗲 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗶𝘁𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆 - Institute of Measurement and Control Systems - Germany
- 𝗨𝗻𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗧𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗼 - Department of Engineering and Information Sciences - Italy
- 𝗥𝗢𝗦 (𝗥𝗼𝗯𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺) 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 - Hong Kong
- 𝗘𝗧𝗛 𝗭ü𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗵 - Autonomous Systems Laboratory - Switzerland
If you want more details about my current work, please check the Robotics and Autonomous Systems Group page on https://research.csiro.au/robotics/
Education
Mar 2004 to Dec 2007
Mar 2004 to Dec 2007
- Ph.D in Electronic Engineering - Queen Mary University of London, UK and Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil.
- Thesis Title: Text Luminance Modulation for Hardcopy Watermarking.
- M.Sc. in Electronic Engineering - Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil.
- Thesis Title: Positional Model for Digital Watermarking Systems.
- B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering - Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil.
- Area Subject: Information Technology, Communications and Signal Processing.
- First two years (1997-1998) dedicated to advanced mathematics and physics foundation courses.
- High School Diploma from Palmetto Senior High School, Miami, FL, USA.
Work Experience
Jul 2017 to Present – Principal Research Scientist, Robotics and Autonomous Systems Group, Data61, CSIRO, Australia.
Jul 2017 to Present – Principal Research Scientist, Robotics and Autonomous Systems Group, Data61, CSIRO, Australia.
- Research on (i) robot navigation, (ii) multi-modality sensor fusion for robotics, (iii) field robotics.
- Project management and commercial engagement.
- Team Leader: Robotics Perception Team (13 Researchers and approximately 15 undergraduate and postgraduate students)
- Research on (i) robot navigation, (ii) visual-based object tracking and detection (iii) multi-modality sensor fusion for robotics.
- Project management and commercial engagement. Managed 4 interdisciplinary internal and external projects of approximately totalling several million AUD.
- Team Leader: Robotics Perception Team (10 Researchers and approximately 20 undergraduate and postgraduate students)
- Visual-based robot tracking and localisation.
- Pedestrian Tracking.
- Representing Queen Mary, University of London in Mesh Project (European Union Integrated Project).
- Team management supervising staff in project related work.
- Developer of signal detection algorithms for identifying patterns in video signals, providing results as stand-alone applications developed in C++ (for integration with other project partners in other institutions).
- Use of fundamentals of detection and estimation theory, stochastic process analysis and general signal and image processing (space-frequency transforms) for successful identification of specific events in random image scenarios (e.g. automated detection of fire in surveillance cameras, detection of specific types of content in news cast content, among others).
- Researcher developing new algorithms for signal event detection, successfully publishing scientific papers in international journals and conferences.
- Assistant lecturer in Image Processing Methods and Visual Programming (using Matlab), for undergraduate students from Queen Mary, University of London.
- Research on digital watermarking algorithms, for the embedding and detection of hidden data in printed documents. Distinct fields of study in engineering were addressed, as the proposed solution involves several disciplines such as fundamentals of probability and statistics, statistical signal and image processing, and communications. Specifically, research time has been devoted to scanning noise, halftoning, pattern recognition and classification methods, higher order statistics, information coding, noise models and fundamental aspects of detection theory.
- Analysis of statistical feature extraction in the frequency domain, using Fourier and wavelet based analysis.
- Financial support from CNPq SWE Scholarship, an extremely competitive grant provided by the Brazilian government for research abroad.
- Work on authentication methods for hardcopy document security.
- Main goal of the research was to transmit and detect data after distortions caused by the print and scan process, which corrupts data causing non-linear distortions, filtering, and addition of correlated and non-correlated noise.
- Noise modeling and characterization from real physical distortions.
- Development of signal detection algorithm using object oriented C++, using higher order statistics.
- Assistant lecturer in Control and Signal Processing, Level II, for undergraduate students.
- Development of digital watermarking methods for still images, using innovative approach for transmission and detection of hidden signals based on the position of patterns in the signal.
- Development of correlation based methods for signal detection in noisy environments, using perceptual models and optimization theory for optimal detection.
- Analysis of statistical correlation performance in the frequency domain, using Fourier and wavelet based analysis.
- Teaching: Lecturer in the course "Introduction to Digital Image Processing," in IX CIPEEL, Cycle of Courses in Electrical Engineering, in the Technology Center, UFSC.
- Designing and testing a video processing algorithm for video enhancement in noisy conditions (foggy weather and underwater video). Main goal was to eliminate the distortion noise and extract only desired signal.
- Study and understanding of inverse filtering techniques for image enhancement.
- Real field test mounting video equipment on airplane model and transmitting data to ground for real time processing.
Invited Talks
- Google X, California, USA – 2019
- Zoox, California, USA - 2019
- 39th Annual Conference of the International Association of Impact Assessment (IAIA) – Workshop on Assessing the Impact of Disruptive Technologies, Australia - 2019
- UQ!Risk Symposium Invited Speaker, Brisbane, Australia - 2017
- Imperial College, London, UK (Dyson Robotics Lab) - 2015
- University of Zurich, Switzerland (Robotics and Perception Group) - 2015
- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, USA (Mobility and Robotics Systems) - 2015
- UC Berkeley, USA (Biomimetic Millisystems Laboratory) - 2015
- Stanford University, USA (Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory) - 2015
- Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil (Department of Electrical Engineering) - 2014
- ROS Conference Invited Speaker, Hong Kong - 2014
- IEEE Computational Intelligence Society Summer School, Australia - 2014
- University of Ulm, Germany (Institute of Measurement, Control and Microtechnology) - 2013
- Queen Mary, University of London, UK (Centre for Intelligent Sensing) - 2013
- Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany (Institute of Measurement and Control Systems) - 2013
- University of Brescia, Italy (Telecommunications Group) - 2013
- University of Trento, Italy (Department of Engineering and Information Sciences) - 2013
- ETH Zürich, Switzerland (Autonomous Systems Laboratory) - 2012
- Griffith University, Australia (School of Information and Communication Technology) - 2012
- Safety in Action Conference - 2011
Memberships and Awards
- Senior Member of IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers) - Member since 2004.
- Member of IEEE Signal Processing Society since 2004.
- Member of IEEE Robotics and Automation Society.
- Member of Australian Robotics and Automation Association.
- Money awarded participant for best presentation at UKIVA (United Kingdom Industrial Vision Association) Workshop - Recent Advances in Camera Technology for Machine Vision. (September, 2001, Manchester, UK).
- Winner of the People's Choice Award in The Three Minute Thesis Competion at the SIA Conference (Melbourne, April, 2011).
- Recipient of the Australian Endeavour Executive Award - 2012.
- Recipient of the "Winston Churchill Fellowship", undertaking a visiting position in 2021 at NASA AMES, Silicon Valley, USA.
- Program Chair of ACRA 2020 (Australasian Conference on Robotics and Automation) - Australia.
- Recipient of the 2020 Queensland Innovation iAwards - PaintCloud 3D Mapping Technology.
Articles Reviews
Some of the journals and conferences for which I have worked as a reviewer or editor:
Some of the journals and conferences for which I have worked as a reviewer or editor:
- IEEE Int'l Conference on Robotics and Automation (AE)
- IEEE Int'l Intelligent Vehicles Symposium (AE)
- Frontiers in Robotics (AE)
- Sensors (Guest Editor)
- IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine
- IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters
- IEEE Transactions on Image Processing
- IEEE Transactions on Information Security and Forensics
- IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems
- IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology
- IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology
- IEEE Electronic Letters
- Robotica
- Signal Processing (Elsevier)
- IET Signal Processing
- IEEE Transactions on Multimedia
- International Journal of Digital Multimedia Broadcasting
- International Journal of Computer Mathematics
- Signal Image and Video Processing
- Int'l Conference on Digital Image Computing: Techniques and Applications (DICTA)
- IEEE Int'l Conference on Image Processing
- IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems
- International Conference on Applied and Computational Mathematics
- International Conference on Patttern Recognition
- European Conference on Computer Vision
- "Robotics: Science and Systems" Conference
- IEEE Oceans
Conference Organization & Session Chairing
- Program Chair: International Conference on Digital Imaging Computing and Applications, Australia 2021.
- Program Chair: Australasian Conference on Robotics and Automation, Brisbane, 2020.
- Session Chair: "Autonomous Navigation" at IEEE Int'l Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, Vancouver, Canada, 2017.
- Session Chair: "Field Robots" at IEEE Int'l Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, Hamburg, Germany, 2015.
- Plenary Session Chair: Int'l Conference on Robot Intelligence Technology and Applications, Beijing, China, 2014.
- Organizing committee of the Int'l Workshop on Computer Vision for Autonomous Driving, Sydney, Australia,2013.
- Session Chair: "Vision-Based Navigation" at IEEE Int'l Conference on Robotics and Automation, Anchorage, Alaska, 2010.
- Demo Session Chair: International Workshop on Content-Based Multimedia Indexing, London, UK, 2008.
- Organizing committee of the IEEE International Conference on Image Processing, San Diego, CA, 2008.
- Organizing committee of the International Workshop on Content-Based Multimedia Indexing, London, UK, 2008.
- Organizing committee of the International Conference on Visual Information Engineering 2008, Xi'an, China, 2008.
Recent Courses
- Fundamentals of Leadership, 2021.
- Fraud and Security Awareness, 2017.
- Diversity and Inclusion, 2015.
- Business Development and Commercialisation Workshop, QCAT, Brisbane, July, 2011.
- Influencing & Persuasion, (University of Queensland), October, 2011.
- Fundamentals of Project Management, (University of Queensland), March 2011.
- IP Protection Workshop, QCAT, Brisbane, 2010.
Programming Languages and Systems
- Programming Languages: C++, Python, Matlab, (ROS, OpenCV)
- Linux / Mac user.
- Latex user.
Student Supervision
MSc
2010 - Andre Cantao (Federal University of Santa Catarina)
2010 - Julia Paul (Federal University of Santa Catarina)
2012 - Thomas Faulhammer (University of Vienna)
2012 - Stefan Hoermann (University of Ulm)
2013 - Justinas Miseikis (ETH Zurich)
2014 - Robert Bischel (ETH Zurich)
2014 - Ralph Aeschimann (ETH Zurich)
2015 - Adrian Romero (ETH Zurich)
2016 - Andreas Pfrunder (ETH Zurich)
2016 - Timon Homberger (ETH Zurich)
2016- Alan Rauzier (Centrale Supelec Paris)
2017 - Philipp Egger (ETH Zurich)
2018 - Fabio Ruetz (ETH Zurich)
2018 - JD Guo (ETH Zurich)
2018 - Ueli Graf (ETH Zurich)
2020 -Tobias Lowe (ETH Zurich)
2020 - Gabriel Weibel (ETH Zurich)
2020 - Remo Steiner (ETH Zurich)
PhD
2011 - Navid Nourani-Vatani (University of Queensland)
2015 - Vitor Bottazzi (Griffith University)
2020 - Fabio Reutz (Queensland University of Technology)
2020 - Lucas de Oliveira (University of Sydney)
2021 - Lucas Lima (University of Queensland)
2022 - Mariia Khan (Edith Cowan University / Leibniz University)
MSc
2010 - Andre Cantao (Federal University of Santa Catarina)
2010 - Julia Paul (Federal University of Santa Catarina)
2012 - Thomas Faulhammer (University of Vienna)
2012 - Stefan Hoermann (University of Ulm)
2013 - Justinas Miseikis (ETH Zurich)
2014 - Robert Bischel (ETH Zurich)
2014 - Ralph Aeschimann (ETH Zurich)
2015 - Adrian Romero (ETH Zurich)
2016 - Andreas Pfrunder (ETH Zurich)
2016 - Timon Homberger (ETH Zurich)
2016- Alan Rauzier (Centrale Supelec Paris)
2017 - Philipp Egger (ETH Zurich)
2018 - Fabio Ruetz (ETH Zurich)
2018 - JD Guo (ETH Zurich)
2018 - Ueli Graf (ETH Zurich)
2020 -Tobias Lowe (ETH Zurich)
2020 - Gabriel Weibel (ETH Zurich)
2020 - Remo Steiner (ETH Zurich)
PhD
2011 - Navid Nourani-Vatani (University of Queensland)
2015 - Vitor Bottazzi (Griffith University)
2020 - Fabio Reutz (Queensland University of Technology)
2020 - Lucas de Oliveira (University of Sydney)
2021 - Lucas Lima (University of Queensland)
2022 - Mariia Khan (Edith Cowan University / Leibniz University)