PROFILE: PAUL NEWMAN OXFORD
Becoming an EPSRC Leadership Fellow transformed my career The Government’s ambitions to support the UK development of driverless cars was recently strengthened through the formation of the cross departmental Centre for Connected Autonomous Vehicles. It is one further and significant step forward for a research and development story that owes much to the support of EPSRC. In 2010, Professor Paul Newman, at the University of Oxford, became an EPSRC Leadership Fellow. Paul leads the Oxford Mobile Robotics Group (MRG), which is at the cutting-edge of UK research into mobile autonomy. The fellowship gave him the opportunity to take things forward on a number of levels from establishing essential industrial links with partners such as BAE Systems and Nissan to setting up a spin out company Oxbotica. It also gave Paul the chance to contribute to the Department for Transport’s review on driverless vehicle technology. “Becoming an EPSRC Leadership Fellow totally transformed things for me. It freed up time so that I could do the basic research, pull the different technologies together, garner industrial support and work with policy makers in Westminster to make the UK a place for testing driverless cars and to put our own test vehicle on the road.” That vehicle was the all-electric RobotCar. Cameras and laser sensors provide the necessary information for an on-board computer to calculate and control speed, direction and avoid obstacles; the driver can take back control at any time. MRG with the support of Oxbotica are also developing the software autonomy system for driverless Autonomous Pods. These will be trialled on a footpath area in Milton Keynes. If the trials are successful, the idea is to start using them for short journeys for the general public. However, driverless cars are just one of many applications that Paul is working on in the vast and varied area of mobile robotics. EPSRC has played a long-term key role in supporting his research work since 2003.
“EPSRC funding has enabled all of our fundamental technological developments. Everything that we are doing involves software and that’s where the innovation is in mobile autonomy. If you think about all the areas where machines can help us by moving things around, then you get a true sense of the incredible potential. At MRG, as well as driverless cars, we are also working in the areas of surveying, mining, warehousing and agriculture. Our navigation software has also been licenced for use on the European Space Agency’s ExoMars project. Everything can be touched and moved by machines: from parcels in warehouses, cabbages in fields, rocks down mines and people along streets.” The story of EPSRC’s support for research that Paul is involved with continues with a £5 million Programme Grant that has just begun (March 2015). He is already looking at how big data could be harnessed in this area and will be linking up with some new industrial names for robotics exploitation.
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The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)
As the main funding agency for engineering and physical sciences research, our vision is for the UK to be the best place in the world to Research, Discover and Innovate. By investing £800 million a year in research and postgraduate training, we are building the knowledge and skills base needed to address the scientific and technological challenges facing the nation. Our portfolio covers a vast range of fields from healthcare technologies to structural engineering, manufacturing to mathematics, advanced materials to chemistry. The research we fund has impact across all sectors. It provides a platform for future economic development in the UK and improvements for everyone’s health, lifestyle and culture. We work collectively with our partners and other Research Councils on issues of common concern via Research Councils UK. www.epsrc.ac.uk