Dr Nick Hawes / EPS

nickhawesNick is a Senior Lecturer in Intelligent Robotics in the School of Computer Science. His research applies techniques from artificial intelligence (AI) to allow robots to perform useful tasks for, or with, humans in everyday environments (such as finding your lost keys, or supporting nursing staff in a care home). He is particularly interested in how robots can understand the world around them and how it changes over time (e.g. where objects usually appear, how people move through buildings etc.), and how robots can exploit this knowledge to perform tasks more efficiently and intelligently.

Nick has been active in Public Engagement ever since he realised that robots and AI make computer science appealing to a wide audience. He has a wide range of Public Engagement experience, from primary school classrooms, to installations in science museums, to science festivals shows, to national and international media. He was the 2013 Lord Kelvin Award Lecturer at the British Science Festival and the runner-up in the 2012 Sheffield DocFest Specialist Factual New Talent Pitch. He particularly enjoys being upstaged by robots in live demonstrations and secretly teaching people about computer science when they’re trying to find out about science fiction.

Email: n.a.hawes@cs.bham.ac.uk
Web: http://nickhaw.es
Twitter: @hawesie