Event Location: NSH 1507
Bio: Raj Madhavan is the Founder & CEO of Humanitarian Robotics Technologies, LLC, Maryland, U.S.A. and a Distinguished Visiting Professor of Robotics with AMMACHI Labs at Amrita University, Kerala, India. He has held appointments with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (March 2001-January 2010) as an R&D staff member based at the National Institute of
Standards and Technology (March 2002-June 2013), and as an assistant and associate research scientist, and as a member of the Maryland Robotics Center with the University of Maryland, College Park (February 2010-December 2015). He received a Ph.D. in Field Robotics from the University of Sydney and an ME (Research) in Systems Engineering from the Australian
National University. Over the last 20 years, he has contributed to topics in field robotics, and systems and control theory. His current research interests lie in humanitarian robotics and automation – the application and tailoring of existing and emerging robotics and automation technologies for the benefit of humanity in a variety of domains, including unmanned (aerial, ground) vehicles in disaster scenarios. He has authored over 185 papers in archival journals, conferences, and magazines including three books and four journal special issues. Dr. Madhavan is particularly interested in the development of technologies and systems that are cost effective, reliable, efficient and geared towards improving the quality of lives of people in under-served and underdeveloped communities around the globe. Within the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society, he served as the Founding Chair of the Technical Committee on Performance Evaluation and Benchmarking of Robotics and Automation Systems, TC-PEBRAS (2009-2011), Founding Chair of the Humanitarian Robotics and Automation Technology Challenge, HRATC (2014, 2015), Vice President of the Industrial Activities Board (2012-2015), Chair of the Standing Committee for Standards Activities (2010-2015)and since 2012 is the Founding Chair of the Special Interest Group on Humanitarian Technology (RAS-SIGHT). He is the 2016 recipient of the IEEE RAS Distinguished Service Award for his “distinguished service and contributions to RAS industrial and humanitarian activities”. See http://ammachilabs.org/faculty/raj/ for more details.

Abstract: Robotics and automation technologies hold immense promise in transforming people’s lives across various communities around the globe. However, there exists a huge disconnect between what is possible from an engineering and scientific viewpoint and what the expectations of the general public are. The problem lies in the fact that we have not seen many
practical solutions that can be deployed in a truly useful and effective fashion towards making a difference in the quality of lives of people. In this talk, I will describe my current work focusing on the applied use of robotics and automation technologies for the benefit of under-served and under-developed communities by working closely with them to sustain developed solutions. This is made possible by bringing together researchers, practitioners from industry, academia, local governments, and various entities such as the IEEE Robotics Automation Society’s Special Interest Group on Humanitarian Technology (RAS-SIGHT), NGOs, and NPOs across the globe. I will discuss a demining challenge that I have co-organized for the last two years with the intent of producing an open-source solution for detecting and classifying unexploded ordnance buried in minefields. I will also outline my recent efforts in the technology and public policy domains with emphasis on socio-economic, cultural, privacy, and security issues in developing and developed economies.