Profile

I live in Birmingham 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. 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 open-ended problems in robotics and Artificial Intelligence (AI). The ultimate goal is to equip robots with human-level decision-making skills. In the short-term, I work on enabling robots to reason with and learn from incomplete information, and adapt to previously unseen situations. This involves building new mathematical models and translating these models to programs (i.e., software) that can be run on robots. It also involves running experiments on robots to compare these new models with other existing methods, 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.

My daily schedule has changed considerably during the last year as a result of the ongoing pandemic.

I usually wake up early and prepare my daughter’s breakfast. I like to swim but that is no longer possible given the ongoing pandemic. So I spend time exercising at home as I discuss my daughter’s school work with her. After a bath and breakfast, I make a plan for the day. Before COVID-19, I used to drop my daughter at her school before going to my office at the University of Birmingham. These days, I work from home and I try to spend as much time as possible working on methods that make robots smarter. This involves developing mathematical solutions to related problems, often in collaboration with students and colleagues, and then translating the solutions to software that be run on the 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, read interesting articles, and spend time with family (e.g., play games, watch a show online).