Wow it really has been a long time since I last updated (RoboCup in mid 2009)! Here are some highlights from the last year-and-a-half since my last update ;-)

I've graduated!

On the 14th of December, 2010, I graduated with a PhD!

I submitted my thesis, entitled "Learning Robot Behaviours by Observing and Envisating", for examination at the beginning of June and received reviewer comments in late November. I was particularly pleased at getting scores of 1, 1 and 2 from the 3 examiners (1 = accepted with optional corrections, 2 = accept with minor corrections). Many thanks to everyone who helped make this possible, especially my supervisors, Claude Sammut and Bernhard Hengst, my parents and sister, my wife Ayako, my friends and colleagues in the 3rd floor lab and the three anonymous reviewers!

You can now download my thesis from the UNSW library at http://handle.unsw.edu.au/1959.4/45703  .

Since then, I've been busy with RoboCup, our honeymoon, writing papers, moving out, driving from Sydney back to Perth, the Magic 2010 Competition and other travelling. I'm now doing some more paper writing, doing all the things I've been putting off for the last 6 years or so and getting ready to start work as a Guest Researcher at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in the US! I'll be working with the Intelligent Systems Division on standard test methods for response robots - very similar to the sorts of things I've done in the past with them and with RoboCup Rescue.

I plan on being there for around 1.5-2 years before coming back to Perth ... so while it's a bit early for me to be looking for a job right now, if you're an innovative research lab in Perth and anticipate being in need of someone with both practical and theoretical robotics R&D skills starting around the end of 2012, please do have a look at my resume and get in touch! ;-D

 

Magic 2010 in Adelaide!

Magic 2010, a military robotics competition, came to Australia in November 2010! I was involved as part of the NIST crew, responsible for the evaluation of maps generated by the various teams. It was an interesting variation on the robotics and competitions that I've been involved in previously.

We're married!

Ayako and I had our wedding on the 6th of December 2009 (yup I'm really *THAT* behind in my updates)! We were married at the chapel of All Saints' College, where I went to high school, by Reverend Canon Terrence Curtis, the College Chaplain from when I went to school! We also had a Chinese ceremony at home and in April 2010 we had a Japanese ceremony in Ayako's hometown of Yokohama!

RoboCup 2010 and our Honeymoon

We did have to wait about half a year before we went on honeymoon to Europe ... we figured I was pushing my luck getting married so close to handing in my thesis, the least I could do was hand in before disappearing on a 3 week trip ;-) Of course, the first stop on our honeymoon was RoboCup 2010 in Singapore! :-D

Team CASualty at RoboCup 2010 in Singapore.

Raymond and Ayako in front of Legoland Germany, one of the stops on their European Honeymoon!

As I spent most of the preceeding few months frantically writing up, I wasn't able to do anywhere near as much development as in past years so my main contribution to the team this year was as robot operator. Once again, we won the Best-in-Class Autonomy challenge (although this time I can't claim credit - the code was written by Adam Milstein ;-D ). However, we also won Best-in-Class Mobility, driving our stripped down RoboticFX Negotiator around *almost* 11 laps of the standard NIST advanced mobility test method in just over 10 minutes - after only a 1 lap practice!

Driving across Australia

In September 2010, Ayako and I left Sydney to move back to Perth. Instead of flying like we usually do, we decided to drive. 7 days at around 7-8 hours a day. Quite an experience! 

The route from Sydney to Perth.

 

Raymond and Ayako at the Eastern end of the Nullarbor Plain.