The KAUST Research Conference on Robotics and Autonomy 2023

#RobotoKAUST 2023

in partnership with

MTS logo

 

After the success of #RobotoKAUST 2022 (check talks and posters here) and #RobotoKAUST 2021 (check talks here), we are excited to organize the 3rd #RobotoKAUST conference in May 2023. We invite you to join us on this exciting journey!

Over the past seven decades, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been supplying a major share of the oil used to power the world's economies for transportation of people and goods, electricity production, and a myriad of synthetic materials that most of us could not live without at this point in time. As of today, the Kingdom is investing heavily in food production, on the one hand, and tourism development, on the other hand. Food production is a challenge in a country often associated with the word "desert". Tourism is a big opportunity for a country whose beautiful marine environment, which comprises more and healthier coral reefs than anywhere else, easily competes with the most famous natural sites worldwide.

None of the foregoing activities can become significant without achieving significant economies of scale enabled, for the most part, by robotics and automation. The KAUST Research Conference on Robotics and Autonomy 2023 (#RobotoKAUST 2023) brings together leading scientists and engineers to present and discuss their work devoted to robotics as it pertains to marine and agricultural applications. While speakers are expected to talk about their preferred area of application, they will also be encouraged to think about the other area, hoping that successful technology transfers may happen from one to the other, with worldwide dissemination. By doing so, #RobotoKAUST 2023 will encourage the development of novel ideas where they are most commonly found, that is, at the interface between two essential fields of interest.

 

If you have inquiries, feel free to contact us at robotokaust@kaust.edu.sa

#RobotoKAUST 2023 Agenda

All times are in Arabia Standard Time (AST) UTC+3

Monday, May 08, 2023

Time Title Speaker Location
08:30 - 08:45 Opening Remarks Building 18, Fellowship Hall (and Zoom)
08:30 - 08:45 Opening Remarks Building 18, Fellowship Hall (and Zoom)
Session 1: Robotics and autonomy in the sea
Time Title Speaker Location
08:45 - 09:15 KAUST Reefscape Restoration Initiative Dr. Maram Abadi, KAUST Reefscape Restoration Initiative, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) Building 18, Fellowship Hall (and Zoom)
09:15 - 09:45 Autonomous platform systems for underwater exploration: Light for the sea, adventures for the robots! Prof. Toshihiro Maki, Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo Building 18, Fellowship Hall (and Zoom)
09:45 - 10:15 The future of coral reef monitoring Building 18, Fellowship Hall (and Zoom)
Session 2: Marine robotic systems
Time Title Speaker Location
10:30 - 11:00 Frontiers in Marine Research Robotics Building 18, Fellowship Hall (and Zoom)
11:00 - 11:30 Intelligent swarm underwater robotics for coastal and shallow water applications Prof. Mohd Rizal Bin Arshad, School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Building 18, Fellowship Hall (and Zoom)
11:30 - 12:00 Developing Marine Robotics for the Western Indian Ocean - Needs, designs and applications Prof. Michael Roberts, UK-SA Bilateral Research Chair: Ocean Science & Marine Food Security, Nelson Mandela University and University of Southampton Building 18, Fellowship Hall (and Zoom)
12:00 - 12:30 Exploring the Blue Frontier with Cooperative Marine Robots Prof. Antonio M. Pascoal, Institute for Systems and Robotics (ISR), IST / University of Lisbon Building 18, Fellowship Hall (and Zoom)
Session 3: Marine surveys and monitoring
Time Title Speaker Location
14:00 - 14:30 At the Limits of the Red Sea - challenges of deep marine sciences Prof. Froukje M. van der Zwan, Physical Science and Engineering, Earth Science and Engineering, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology Building 18, Fellowship Hall (and Zoom)
14:30 - 15:00 Neuromorphic Computing Architectures for Robot Vision in Marine Harsh Environments Prof. Jorge Dias, Center for Autonomous Robotic Systems, Khalifa University Building 18, Fellowship Hall (and Zoom)
15:00 - 15:30 Remanent Imaging, a novel concept for imaging aquatic organisms Dr. Pierre R. Martineau, founder and CEO, Martineau & Associates, Inc. Building 18, Fellowship Hall (and Zoom)
15:30 - 16:00 Scaling up reef ecosystem monitoring using underwater robots Dr. Yogesh Girdhar, Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Building 18, Fellowship Hall (and Zoom)
16:00 - 16:30 Deep benthic environments: an endless (but stimulating) challenge for marine robotics Dr. Fabio Marchese, Red Sea Research Center, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) Building 18, Fellowship Hall (and Zoom)
Session 4: Industry and practice
Time Title Speaker Location
16:45 - 17:15 From ROV's to Smart Reefs: CMR's Journey supporting Marine Research Andres Espinoza, CMR Core Lab, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) Building 18, Fellowship Hall (and Zoom)
17:15 - 17:45 Underwater Robot for Shallow Water Pipeline Inspection & Monitoring Hassane Trigui, Research & Development Center, Aramco Building 18, Fellowship Hall (and Zoom)
17:45 - 18:15 Autonomous marine mapping, current situation and future possibilities Frank Mallon, Director, Marine and Archaeology, Shamal Technologies Building 18, Fellowship Hall (and Zoom)
18:15 - 18:45 Bioinspired Subsea Robots and Underwater Networks Dr. Rudolf Bannasch, Managing Director (and co-founder), EvoLogics GmbH Building 18, Fellowship Hall (and Zoom)

Tuesday, May 09, 2023

Session 5: Automation in agriculture
Time Title Speaker Location
08:30 - 09:00 New Zealand Robotics, Automation and Sensing (NZRAS) Roadmap and Horticulture Robotics Dr. Shen Hin Lim, School of Engineering, University of Waikato Building 18, Fellowship Hall (and Zoom)
09:00 - 09:30 Flying LoRA IoT Gateway for Agricultural Applications Prof. Samsuzana Abd Aziz, Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia Building 18, Fellowship Hall (and Zoom)
09:30 - 10:00 Semi-autonomous systems enable advances in Earth Observation Building 18, Fellowship Hall (and Zoom)
Session 6: Coral manipulation
Time Title Speaker Location
10:15 - 10:45 Harnessing the potential for robotics and automation for restoring the worlds coral reefs Prof. David Suggett, KAUST Reefscape Restoration initiative (KRRI), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) Building 18, Fellowship Hall (and Zoom)
10:45 - 11:15 From vehicles to teams in maritime operations Prof. João Tasso de Figueiredo Borges de Sousa, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Porto University Building 18, Fellowship Hall (and Zoom)
11:15 - 11:45 Challenges in Coral Reef Research and Conservation: Robotics and Autonomous Sampling to the Rescue? Prof. Adrienne M. S. Correa, BioSciences, Rice University Building 18, Fellowship Hall (and Zoom)
11:45 - 12:15 Robotics and Automation in Coral Monitoring and Restoration Building 18, Fellowship Hall (and Zoom)
12:15 - 12:45 Robotic Customized Medicine for Corals Building 18, Fellowship Hall (and Zoom)
Session 7: Agricultural robotics
Time Title Speaker Location
14:15 - 14:45 Predicting when introduction of robotics in agricultural leads to whole-system changes Clay Thomas Mitchell, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Fall Line Capital Building 18, Fellowship Hall (and Zoom)
14:45 - 15:15 Optimal Design of Agricultural Walking Robot Prof. Sayat Ibrayev, Institute of Mechanics and Engineering Building 18, Fellowship Hall (and Zoom)
15:15 - 15:45 Farms of the Future for Saudi Arabia: Lessons from the US Mid-West Prof. Girish Chowdhary, Computer Science, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign; co-founder and CTO, EarthSense, Inc. Building 18, Fellowship Hall (and Zoom)
15:45 - 16:15 Smart Agricultural Robotics for Monitoring Coral Reefs and Plants: A vertical farming perspective Prof. Rafiq Ahmad, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Alberta Building 18, Fellowship Hall (and Zoom)
16:15 - 16:45 PROTEUS™: A new undersea laboratory serving aquanauts, marine robotics, and sensor networks Lisa Truitt and Prof. Mark Patterson, Proteus Ocean Group and Marine Science Center, Northeastern University Building 18, Fellowship Hall (and Zoom)
Poster Session
Time Title Speaker Location
17:00 - 19:00 Gala event: Poster session / Exhibition / Contest winners announcement Building 3, Lobby area (desert side), Level 2

Wednesday, May 10, 2023

Snorkeling & Diving Trip
Time Title Speaker Location
08:00 - 12:00 Snorkeling & Diving Trip [by invitation only] TBD
Session 8: Towards marine autonomy I
Time Title Speaker Location
14:00 - 14:30 Robotic applications in Coral Restoration Building 18, Fellowship Hall (and Zoom)
14:30 - 15:00 Situational Awareness System for Autonomous Surface Vehicles Dr. Hyun Taek Choi, Advanced intelligent Ship Research Division, Korea Research Institute of Ships and Ocean Engineering Building 18, Fellowship Hall (and Zoom)
15:00 - 15:30 Estimation and control of underwater optical wireless communication systems Building 18, Fellowship Hall (and Zoom)
15:30 - 16:00 Marine Autonomy: Research and Applications Prof. Sanjay Sharma, Associate Professor (Reader) in Intelligent Autonomous Control Systems, School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics, University of Plymouth Building 18, Fellowship Hall (and Zoom)
Session 9: Towards marine autonomy II
Time Title Speaker Location
16:15 - 16:45 Optical wireless communication for underwater internet of things Building 18, Fellowship Hall (and Zoom)
16:45 - 17:15 The UK National Centre for Coastal Autonomy (NCCA) – A centre of excellence for coastal marine autonomy Dr. Matthew Palmer, Head of Science - Digital Innovation & Marine Autonomy, Plymouth Marine Laboratory Building 18, Fellowship Hall (and Zoom)
17:15 - 17:45 The need for robotics and automatization to meet our global coral restoration goals Dr. Sebastian Schmidt-Roach, BESE/Red Sea Research Center, KAUST Building 18, Fellowship Hall (and Zoom)

Past Events

 

RobotoKAUST 2022

RobotoKAUST2022-01

 

The KAUST Research Conference on Robotics and Autonomy 2022

#RobotoKAUST

 

Following on from our successful online conference in Spring 2021, the KAUST RISC Lab hosted the KAUST Research Conference on Robotics and Autonomy 2022 (#RobotoKAUST 2022) from February 28 to March 2, 2022.

During the #RobotoKAUST conference,  presentations and discussions of systems, items, and methods related to robotics and autonomy took place. As part of this event, we accepted poster abstracts for digital posters.
Posters were displayed digitally in KAUST Library during the RobotoKAUST Gala Meeting on March 1, allowing discussion among presenters and interested attendees. 

The KAUST RISC Lab announced a brand new story contest, the RobotoKAUST: Short Robotics Story & Video Contest 2022.
The contest was open to children, teenagers (TKS G1- G12 level), and adults.

The RobotoKAUST: Short Robotics Story & Video Contest 2022 welcomed entries in three different formats: stories, videos, and animated videos. The winning stories were turned into video animations and are published on our YouTube Channel and RobotoEvents Website