QUT Bold: Robotic Revolution Calls For Diverse Skills
And there’s good news for those keen to future-proof a career in robotics, with traditional pathways on the move.
QUT Bold: a forum for bold ideas welcomed people of all ages to the QUT Gardens Theatre in Brisbane’s CBD to explore ‘The Infinite Awe of Robotics’.
Centre stage was QUT Centre for Robotics director Professor Michael Milford and Australian Centre for Robotic Vision founder Dr Sue Keay, with global AI thought leader, QUT’s Professor Marek Kowalkiewicz, moderating.
Sassy vacuum cleaners, robot rights, cyborgs, and Australia’s strengths in autonomous navigation set the scene.
The realities of very human challenges around capitalism, functional safety, ethics, and the failure of design, were mapped out.
And a robo-utopia was explored with robots responding to global issues on a scale beyond human capacity and improved levels of productivity with the view to ending human slavery.
“For the same reason that a lot of us are captivated by the prospect of aliens, the idea of having (robots) that are intelligent, that act around us, work with us, collaborate with us, don’t replace us, but are alongside us in society and work, I find that really captivating,” Professor Milford said.
For Professor Milford, that vision included robots in humanoid form. For Dr Keay, functional robots not necessarily in human form were part of her future vision.
“In my vision they are purely functional, they don’t need to look like people,” Dr Keay said.
“We’re still a long way from robots doing useful tasks around the home like helping put the washing on, collect the dishes, and picking up the Lego off the floor. Hopefully we will get to have that … and for robots operating in ways that make sense to us that don’ t take us by surprise.”
Dr Keay said Australia had pioneered robotics in big industry. It was the first country in the world to automate its ports and mine sites, and punched above its weight in the development of robust, reliable technologies that operate in extreme environments and even underwater.
“There are a whole bunch of problems that we need to solve at scale, like the protection of the Great Barrier Reef.
“So the real promise of robotics is if you are interested in being able to solve some of these challenges that we can’t solve at the moment, then please come and do a PhD in robotics. It really is an opportunity to have that impact.”
Professor Milford said with a diversity of challenging applications for robotics in society, students and researchers in this space are being drawn from a diverse range of backgrounds.
“There is no such thing as a traditional pathway into these fields,” Professor Milford said.
“Some of the highest profile CEOs of robotics companies have come from an ethics or an arts background. So there is no single pathway.”
But both experts agreed on having good fundamentals in traditional skills.
“Study maths for as long as possible and consider the fundamental sciences as well, like physics, chemistry,” Dr Keay said.
“There are a whole bunch of areas outside of computer science and mechanical and electrical engineering that can contribute to the robotics industry.
“We need people who can understand how humans interact with robots and how you would design systems and make them functionally safe.”
QUT Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research Distinguished Professor Christopher Barner-Kowollik addressed the Gardens Theatre crowd on behalf of QUT, saying the exponential growth of AI had captivated the world over recent years and robotics was set to follow.
“We’ve seen a revolution in generative AI including software like ChatGPT and there’s a significant focus on AI development in the news,’ Professor Barner-Kowollik said. “We will see something similar happen with robots.”
Professor Milford agreed.
“Things are changing really quickly in robotics,” he said.
“Four years ago, robots were widely ridiculed by the public as glorified puppets. Then ChatGPT and other AI agents came along and without doing anything differently the robot could appear to interact and talk with you in a sophisticated manner.
“So suddenly something that was ridiculed can be flipped quickly especially with transformational changes in things like AI.”
QUT has hosted public talks, exhibits and workshops as part of the annual World Science Festival Brisbane which has celebrated it’s 10th anniversary this year, presented by the Queensland Museum and Queensland Government, with support from partners including QUT.
https://www.qut.edu.au/news?id=199450