Technology Innovation Institute appoints globally-renowned experts to board of advisors at autonomous robotics research centre

Abu Dhabi-UAE: Technology Innovation Institute (TII), the applied research pillar of Abu Dhabi’s Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC), today announced the appointment of leading international experts to the Board of Advisors at its Autonomous Robotics Research Centre (ARRC).

The appointments follow a series of rapid announcements at Technology Innovation Institute since the first Advanced Technology Research Council board meeting in August 2020. 

Autonomous Robotics Research Centre is one of the initial seven specialised centres at the Technology Innovation Institute.  Members of the new Board of Advisors are renowned experts in various fields of intelligent autonomy, autonomous systems and robotics, robotics and perception, among others. The Centre’s researchers are engaged in exploring the latest advances in robotics that will help build hybrid societies made up of biological and artificial systems. The distinguished Board of Advisors will guide efforts to develop breakthrough technologies that have global impact.

The Board of Advisors includes Prof. Ian F. Akyildiz, the Ken Byers Chair Professor, Director of the Broadband Wireless Networking Lab and Chair of the Telecommunications Group at the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology in the United States; Prof. Luca Benini, Chair of Digital Circuits and Systems at the Department of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich and Professor of Electronics at Italy’s University of Bologna; Prof. Marko Bertogna, Professor at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia in Italy, where he leads the High-Performance Real-Time Systems Laboratory; Prof. A. E. Eiben, Professor of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Collective Systems at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in the Netherlands and Visiting Professor at the University of York in the UK; Prof. Giuseppe Loianno, Assistant Professor of Robotics and Perception at New York University in the United States, and Prof. Martin Saska, founder of the Multi-Robot Systems Group at the Department of Cybernetics of Czech Technical University in Prague.

Speaking about the new appointments, Dr Najwa Aaraj, Acting Chief Researcher at Autonomous Robotics Research Centre, said: “The board members will facilitate scientific collaborations that will enable verifiable, rigorous, systematic, and empirical scientific investigation and research in advanced technology, putting Abu Dhabi and the wider UAE in a prime position to shape future capabilities in autonomous robotics across all dimensions - air, land, water, underwater, and even in space.”

Technology Innovation Institute is a pioneering global research and development centre that focuses on applied research and new-age technology capabilities. The Institute has seven initial dedicated research centres in quantum, autonomous robotics, cryptography, advanced materials, digital security, directed energy and secure systems. By working with exceptional talent, universities, research institutions and industry partners from all over the world, the Institute connects an intellectual community and contributes to building an R&D ecosystem in Abu Dhabi and the UAE. The Institute reinforces Abu Dhabi and the UAE’s status as a global hub for innovation and contributes to the broader development of the knowledge-based economy.

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About Technology Innovation Institute (TII):

Technology Innovation Institute (TII) is the dedicated ‘applied research’ pillar of Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC). TII is a pioneering global research and development centre that focuses on applied research and new-age technology capabilities. The Institute has seven initial dedicated research centres in quantum, autonomous robotics, cryptography, advanced materials, digital security, directed energy and secure systems. By working with exceptional talent, universities, research institutions and industry partners from all over the world, the Institute connects an intellectual community and contributes to building an R&D ecosystem reinforcing Abu Dhabi and the UAE’s status as a global hub for innovation.

For more information, visit www.tii.ae 

About Autonomous Robotics Research Centre (ARRC):

Autonomous Robotics Research Centre (ARRC) – at Technology Innovation Institute (TII) – is dedicated to breakthrough developments in robotics and autonomy. With in-depth technical expertise in robotics, computer vision, and bio-inspired technologies, the Centre has established a leadership position in its field.

For more information, visit https://autonomousrobotics.tii.ae/ 

Profiles of Board of Advisors:

Prof. Ian F. Akyildiz is the Ken Byers Chair Professor, Director of the Broadband Wireless Networking Lab and Chair of the Telecommunications Group at the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology in the United States. Since 2011, he serves as a Consulting Chair Professor with the Department of Information Technology, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and with the Computer Engineering Department at the University of Cyprus since January 2017.  He is a mega-grant research leader with the Institute for Information Transmission Problems at the Russian Academy of Sciences, in Moscow, Russia, since May 2018. His research specialises in 5G/6G networks, perception and control for single and multiUAVs, Internet of Bio-Nano Things, nanonetworks, Terahertz band communications, and wireless sensor networks in challenged environments. Dr Akyildiz has established several research centres at internationally reputed institutions worldwide, including the Polytechnic University of Catalonia in Spain, Tampere University of Technology in Finland, the University of Pretoria in South Africa, and Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) in Germany. Dr Akyildiz is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).

Prof. Luca Benini is Chair of Digital Circuits and Systems at the Department of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich and Full Professor of Electronics at the University of Bologna in Italy. His research interests are in the design of energy-​efficient digital systems with special emphasis on ultra-​low-power System-​on-Chip and green high-performance computing (HPC) systems.  He is also active in the area of smart sensors and sensor networks for consumer, biomedical and Internet ​of Things applications. In these areas, he has coordinated funded projects, including a European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant on multi-​scale thermal management of Computing Systems. Prof. Benini has published more than 700 papers in peer-​reviewed international journals and conferences, four books and several book chapters. He is a Fellow of the US-based IEEE and the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and a member of the Academia Europaea. Prof. Benini is the recipient of the 2016 IEEE CAS Mac Van Valkenburg award.

Prof. Marko Bertogna is Full Professor at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia in Italy, where he leads the High-Performance Real-Time Systems Laboratory. His research specialises in high-performance real-time systems, autonomous driving solutions, sensor fusion for embedded computing platforms, operating systems, communication middleware, software runtime and compilers. He is a pioneer in his field and has authored more than 100 papers in the field of Multiprocessor Scheduling, Real-Time Systems and Schedulability Analysis, obtaining over 2,500 citations in 10 years.

Prof. A. E. Eiben is Full Professor of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Collective Systems at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in the Netherlands, where he leads the Computational Intelligence Group, and Visiting Professor at the University of York in the UK. His research specialises in evolutionary computation, evolutionary robotics and modular robotics, with the most prominent endeavours including the Robot Baby Project and the Autonomous Robot Evolution Project. Dr Eiben is an expert in Artificial Intelligence, Artificial Life, and Adaptive Collective Systems. Throughout his career, he worked on a diverse set of topics from theoretical foundations to artificial societies, and applications in health, finance, and traffic management. He has authored articles in top journals including Nature, Science Robotics, and Nature Machine Intelligence.

Prof. Giuseppe Loianno is Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at New York University. He leads the Agile Robotics and Perception Lab (APRL) that conducts fundamental and applied research in the area of robotics autonomy. His key research interests include robotics, micro air vehicles (MAVs), vision, sensor fusion, navigation and mapping in unstructured environments. Dr Loianno was Project Investigator for the Mohamed Bin Zayed International Robotics Challenge (MBZIRC) and on three occasions for Micro Autonomous Systems and Technology (MAST). He is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the IEEE Robotics & Automation Society (RAS). He co-owns two patents and has co-authored more than 50 research papers published in international scientific journals. He received the Best Reviewer Award from the IEEE-RAS Conference Editorial Board (CEB) and a recognition from the US Undersecretary of Defence.

Prof. Martin Saska is founder of the Multi-Robot Systems Group at the Department of Cybernetics of Czech Technical University in Prague. His research specialises in model predictive control as well as single and multi-UAV control. A pioneer in his field, Dr Saska is a three-time winner of the Mohamed Bin Zayed International Robotics Challenge (MBZIRC) with one first-, one second- and one third-place award. Dr Saska has delivered six invited talks and written or co-authored more than 150 research papers published in international scientific journals. Two of his conference papers won Best Paper Awards.

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