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Chairperson’s Report
2020
Cha I rp E r SON ’ S R E p O rt
ALFRED DEAKIN PROFESSOR JULIE OWENS Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research Chairperson, IISRI Board
During 2020, despite the many challenges, the Institute for Intelligent Systems Research and Innovation (IISRI) has continued to explore and discover new knowledge through cutting edge initiatives, and develop and implement them to address national challenges to the benefit of industry and society. A number of great opportunities have been realised in partnership with local and international industry and other organisations. A series of key challenging research questions in the fields of autonomous systems, data sciences and AI applications have been addressed. One such question has been “humanmachine trust” – considering and developing the trustworthiness of autonomous systems. During 2020, despite the many challenges, the Institute for Intelligent Systems Research and Innovation (IISRI) has continued to explore and discover new knowledge through cutting edge initiatives, and develop and implement them to address national challenges to the benefit of industry and society.
This has been demonstrated through the “human-on-the-loop” concept which brings humans into the nexus of robotic and haptic systems to enhance their robustness and adaptability, and thereby establishing a level of ‘trust’ between humans and machines. Despite restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, IISRI has adapted to continue its work including remotely. Defence related research continued unabated, along with building the future pipeline, with three successful ARC grant awards and other key research grants and contracts in the last year. IISRI’s research collaboration with the Australian Air Force was marked by the completion and operation of Australia’s first human centrifuge, located within IISRI at Deakin - with the potential to facilitate aviation based medical research and advance Australian space research and space tourism training systems. Numerous IISRI researchers made their mark in 2020 through the creation of new knowledge and technology innovations with their research partners. These research partners ranged from a large infrastructure company, to a small technology company, to world leading research institutions, such as the Bionic Institute of Australia. This would not be possible without the strong commitment of IISRI as a whole, a great testament to a series of highly motivated and well-orchestrated research teams. Finally, we congratulate Professor Nahavandi as Deakin’s first IEEE Fellow, in recognition of his world leading contributions to the field of Haptically Enabled Robotics, and with over 30 years of contributions to this body of knowledge.
