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Day 1, Tuesday 27th June

Time Tuesday 27th June Chair

9.00 am Introduction and Welcome

- Prof Rob Richardson, Event Chair, Professor of Robotics, University of Leeds

- Prof Lisa Roberts, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Research & Innovation, University of Leeds

- Dr Elaine Massung EPSRC

Prof Rob Richardson University of Leeds

9.20 am Keynote: “The Self-Healing City Vision: balancing the impact of city

infrastructure engineering on natural systems using robots.” Prof Phil

Purnell, Professor of Materials and Structures, University of Leeds

9.40 am Keynote: “Societal Dissemination of Robot Technology for Disaster

Prevention and Response” Prof Hajime Asama, Department of

Precision Engineering, The University of Tokyo

10.20 am Refreshment break

10.40 am Talk: “From Driving Diggers to Driving Robots” Mr Michael Cook,

Transformation Director, Kier Utilities

Dr Bilal Kaddouh, University of Leeds 11.00 am Talk: “Acoustic Sensing for Buried Pipe Infrastructure” Prof Kirill

Horoshenkov, Professor of Acoustics, University of Sheffield

11.20 am Competition entry pitches (Day 1).

12.00 pm Lunch and exhibition stands

Challenge Demonstrations: to view during lunch.

- Centre for Robotics Research group, King's College London: Metahand

- STRANDS project: Autonomous Safety Guard

1.20 pm Talk: “Remote Handling Systems for Hazardous Environments”

Stephen Sanders, Oxford Technologies Ltd

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Time Tuesday 27th June Chair

1.40 pm Talk: “Robots saving energy, creating jobs and making your feet

warmer!” Mathew Holloway, CEO, Q-Bot Limited

Dr Jongrae Kim, University of Leeds 2.00 pm Talk: “Thinking Inside the pipe….robotics for extreme environments”

Wez Little, Innovations Director, Synthotec Ltd

2.20 pm Talk: “Robotics and Automation in a Harsh Nuclear Environment” Dr Carwyn Jones, Technical Consultant, James Fisher Nuclear Ltd

2.40 pm Refreshment break

3.00 pm Talk: “How University and City collaboration can aid local

infrastructure funding, finance and value creation: A case study of the

Leeds Climate Commission” Tom Knowland, Head of Sustainable

Development, Leeds City Council

Prof Netta Cohen, University of Leeds

3.20 pm Talk: “Autonomous weed spraying on disadvantaged farms”. Charles

Fox, Director, Ibex Automation Ltd / University of Leeds

3.40 pm Video-only entry robots

4.00 pm Refreshment break

Challenge Demonstrations: exterior demonstrations to be held on

cricket ground

4.20 pm Computational Engineering and Design group, University of

Southampton: Aerial perching and manipulation

Dr Charles Fox, University of Leeds 4.40 pm Institute of Design, Robotics and Optimisation group, University of

Leeds: A mock-up earthmoving truck autonomous operation from

drones

7.00 pm Evening Meal

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Day 2, Wednesday 28th June

Time Wed 28th June Chair

9.00 am Keynote: “Developing materials technologies for self-repairing roads”

Prof Mark Miodownik, Director of Institute of Making, University

College London

Prof Abbas Dehghani, University of Leeds

9.40 am Talk: “UAVs in self-repairing cities” Dr Bilal Kaddouh, Research

Fellow in Robotics, Autonomous Systems & Sensing, University of

Leeds

10.00 am Talk: “Innovations in Autonomous Aircraft Design and Operations in

Southampton”. Dr Chang Liu, Department of Engineering and the

Environment, University of Southampton

10.20 am Refreshment break

10.40 am Competition entry pitches (Day 2) Juliet Jopson, University of Leeds

11.10 am Discussion session: Road mapping the future

12.00 pm Lunch and exhibition stands

Challenge Demonstration: to view during lunch.

- Multimedia and Vision group, Queen Mary University of London: Automatic emotion detection in group settings

1.00 pm Talk: "Autonomous Robots for Long-Term Environment Monitoring" Dr

Nick Hawes, Reader in Autonomous Intelligent Robotics, University of

Birmingham

Prof Tony Cohn, University of Leeds

1.20 pm Talk: “Responsible Autonomy” Prof Michael Fisher, Professor of

Computer Science, University of Liverpool

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Time Wed 28th June Chair

1.40 pm Talk: “Challenges and Solutions of Robotic Space Missions” Shaun

Whitehead, CTO, ThumbSat Inc

2.00 pm Talk: “Challenges in Drone Autonomy” Dr Arthur Richards, Deputy

Director of Bristol Robotics Lab, University of Bristol

2.20 pm Talk: Title to be confirmed. Prof Sandor Veres, Professor of Autonomous Control Systems, University of Sheffield

2.40 pm Refreshment break

Challenge Demonstrations: exterior demonstrations to be held on

cricket ground

3.00 pm Institute of Design, Robotics and Optimisation / Institute of Robotics,

Autonomous systems and Sensing, University of Leeds: Wireless

power transfer for buried infrastructure inspection

Dr Charles Fox, University of Leeds

3.20 pm Centre for Robotics Research group, Kings College London:

Metamorphic walker

3.40 pm Statistical Learning and Motor Control Group, University of Edinburgh: Robust shared autonomy for mobile manipulation with continuous scene monitoring

Dr Charles Fox, University of Leeds

4.00 pm Event close and thanks Prof Rob Richardson University of Leeds

4.20 pm Prize Giving Mr Michael Cook, Kier Utilities

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Register for the Event

The event is free to attend but places are limited so you must register. For further information and to

register for the event, please see our website (link above).

Acknowledgements

The challenge is supported by The Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC)

through the Grand Challenge of “Balancing the impact of City infrastructure engineering on natural

systems using robots” & EPSRC investment in capital equipment. It is organised in collaboration

with the UK RAS Network and UK Robotics Week. The challenge is also supported by the

International Association for Automation and Robotics in Construction (I.A.A.R.C.), Kier and

AEROWORKS.