Flying
Robots (yeh... i make'm)
Tim
Wilkin
I work in the area of Artificial Intelligence research;
my current research
is focused on the problem of autonomous control. That is,
we are having a computer control a given dynamic process to
a specified behaviour, without the need for human intervention.
There are many sub-problems to solve within this large problem.
The one I am
working on at the moment involves the architecture of the
controller itself. In doing my
research, I need to test out my ideas; so I develop simulations
of processes to control
and control them with simulated controllers.
On this particular day, I was writing computer code as part
of the development of a new kind of artificial neural network
that I believe will be a good basis for an autonomous controller.
The high point of my day was solving a tricky programming
problem involving the structure and manipulation of data within
this program. While this might sound insignificant in the
grand scale of my research, it's these little problems that
must be overcome on a daily basis in order to create large
scale systems that do interesting (and hopefully
intelligent) things!
"I'm also still very much interested in computers,
and I play on-line
computer games regularly each week with my friends."
My current job is as a Research Fellow at Deakin University,
which means I'm
employed to work predominantly on this particular research
project. My research fits into a larger framework of Intelligent
Systems research within my School.
The current stage of my career is focused on work as a Research
Fellow on a number of successive projects, while developing
my own research ideas and seeking funding for
them from Government bodies. Working as a Research Fellow
allows you to broaden your research experience, publish papers
(gain exposure), and learn a lot about
your field of research.
As for the future direction of my career, that will either
be to stay in a University research and teaching environment
or take my research skills into industry to work on advanced
R&D projects.
During high school, I had a variety of interests. In my first
few years, I was heavily involved in our school music
program, and I played several instruments. After changing
schools though, I couldn't continue with music and focused
more on my other interests, which revolved around aircraft
and the flight.
I learned to fly at the start of my final year of
school, which was certainly a highlight for me. I was also
involved in computers, although back then desktop computers
were still very new! While I no longer fly, I am still involved
in aircraft and flight. During my PhD...
I developed software for an intelligent autopilot
for a robotic aircraft
... that is used for many civilian and military roles. The
one I focused on was flying around inside tropical cyclones
to gather important data for weather forecasters.
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