Profile - Tony Prescott - Academic Staff - People - Computer Science

Professor Tony Prescott

Professor of Cognitive Robotics

Telephone: +44 (0) 114 222 6657 (email is better)
Email: T.J.Prescott@sheffield.ac.uk

Director of Sheffield Robotics

Selected publications All publications

In addition to his research output Professor Tony Prescott has authored a number of shorter pieces of general interest, about artificial intelligence and robotics, for the online magazine The Conversation.

Profile	Biography I am a Professor of Cognitive Robotics at the University of Sheffield and Director of Sheffield Robotics an inter-disciplinary research institute across both Universities in Sheffield. This is my departmental home-page. I also maintain profiles on ResearchGateand Linkedin, and a Youtube Channel with links to online interviews, talks and movies about our robots and research. Qualifications MA Psychology (Edinburgh), MSc Applied Artificial Intelligence (Aberdeen), PhD Machine Learning (Sheffield). CPsychol FBPsS. 2017 Highlights After 28 happy years at the University of Sheffield Department of Psychology I swapped departments and faculties to join the Department of Computer Science. They say a change is a good as a rest! Sheffield Robotics' iCub robot was guest editor of a special edition of the BBC Radio 4 Today programme broadcast on December 30th 2017 showing case our research on the FP7 WYSIWYD Project and the Horizon 2020 Human Brain Project. Sheffield Robotics also featured alongside Ed Sheeran in a BBC Radio 1 Special in March. The MiRo biomimetic companion robot that I co-designed won the best demonstration prize at the 2017 Human-Robot Interaction Conference in Vienna, Austria. MIRo also made an appearance on the BBC's Tomorrow's World Live. I was lead author of the EPSRC RAS Network's White Paper Robotics in Social Care: A Connected Care Eco-System for Independent Living. The Barcelona Summer School on Cognition Brain and Technology, which I co-founded, ran a successful 10th anniversary school. I co-edited a journal double theme issue on Ethical Principles of Robotics with Michael Szollosy. The Sheffield Robotics' Roadshow appeared at the BlueDot Festival and at New Scientist Live with support from the Human Brain Project. We won an AHRC Public Engagement and Impact Award Cyberselves: How Immersive Technologies will Impact our Future Selves which will support a range of events in 2018. I wrote a blog piece on Robot Companions in Imagination and Reality for the Arts and Humanities Research Council and a short article on human-robot relationships for "The Hindu" newspapers. 2017 Invited talks The development of the self: a robotics perspective, University of Bangor, Department of Psychology, 8th December. Are Friends Electric?, Robot: Lates, Manchester Museum of Science and Industry, 25th October. Towards multimodal perception and social cognition for co-botics, IROS 2017 Human-In-The-Loop Workshop, Vancouver, Canada, 23rd September. Assistive and Companion Robot Technologies. AAATE Conference, Sheffield, 13th September. The Integration of Sensing, Attention and Memory in Robots, The 10th Barcelona Summer School on Cognition Brain and Technology, 6th September. The evo-devo of living machines. Living Machines VI Workshop on Evolution and Development, Stanford, USA, 25th July. Assistive and companion robot technologies. Technology and Dementia (AAIC 17 Satellite Meeting), London, 15th July. Robots and the future of work. York, Festival of Ideas: Re-imagining Work. 16th July. Could a robot be a person? Science in Public Conference, Sheffield, 10th July. Interdependence: We need to talk (panel discussion). Guardian Live and Manchester International Festival. 8th July. Robotics and autonomous systems for social care. UK RAS Network Showcase, 30th June. Are friends electric? Could we one day have personal relationships with robots? Pint of Science, Sheffield, 17th May. Designing Robots For Human Physical and Social Interaction, Thames Valley Chamber of Commerce Group, International Technology Conference, Microsoft Research Centre, Reading, 17th May. Robots in the Water Sector: A View from Sheffield Robotics, TWENTY65 Annual Conference 2017, Manchester, 5th April. From animism to vitalism in children's perceptions of robots, Workshop on Child-Robot Interaction at the 2017 ACM/IEEE Human-Robot Interaction Conference in Vienna, 14th March. Autonoetic consciousness and sense of self in humans and robots, Human Brain Project Workshop on Consciousness, Institute for Theoretical Neuroscience, Paris, 10th March. Through a glass, darkly; then face to robot face, Public Symposium in Honour of the Artist Jordan Wolfson at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, February 18th. Activities and Distinctions Fellow of the British Psychological Society (FBPsS), 2011– Co-founder of the University of Sheffield spin-out company Consequential Robotics, 2016– Editor of Connection Science, 2014- Co-founder of the "Living Machines" International Conference Series, 2012- Co-organiser of the European Union FP7 Co-ordination Action Convergent Science Network for Biomimetics and Neurotechlog Co-founder and Director of the Sheffield Robotics, 2011- Partner in the "Robot Companions for Citizens" FET Flagship pilot project and leader of a working group on Societal Impacts and Ethical Issues in Robotics, 2011-12 Cofounder and co-organiser of the annual Barcelona Summer School on Cognitiion, Brain & Technology, 2008- Co-ordinator of the EU FP7 BIOTACT project, 2008-12 Visiting Research Fellow at Bristol Robotics Laboratory, 2003- Founder and co-director of the Adaptive Behaviour Research Group, 1996- My research has been covered by the BBC One Show, Radio 4 Material World & Costing the Earth, Discovery Channel, The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Observer, The Economist, Science Magazine, New Scientist, Focus Magazine and American Scientist. Earlier Plenary and Invited Talks Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences, 6th October 2016 (Invited talk) Battle of Ideas, London Barbican Centre, 22nd October 2016 (Debate) IEEE ICDL-EPIROB 2016, 22nd September 2016 (Plenary talk) Tencent "Way to Evolve" Conference, November 2015 (Invited talk, live streamed) Institute of Contemporary Art "Fear of Missing Out", 30th May 2015 (invited talk) SPIE Biomimetics, San Diego, USA, March 2014 (Opening talk) 'Socially-responsible research in Cognitive Systems: A no-win or a win-win'. EU Cognition III Annual Meeting, Brighton, UK, December 2013 (Plenary talk) IEEE World Haptics, Daejeon, South Korea, April 2013 (Opening talk) European Conference for Complex Systems, Warwick, 2009 (Opening talk)
Research	Research My research is within the areas of cognitive neuroscience, artificial intelligence and bio-inspired robotics. A particular focus is on the investigation of biomimetic and biohybrid systems: an example of the former would be an animal-like or humanoid robot, of the latter a human-machine interface. Current research is directed towards (i) social cognition for humanoid robots including the possibility synthetic autobiographical memory and of a robot "sense of self”; (ii) active touch sensing for attention, orienting, and spatial memory; (iii) assistive and companion robotic technologies; (iv) haptic interfaces for sensory augmentation; (v) telepresence robotics, and (vi) societal and ethical issues in technology. Some of my research is done under the auspices of the Department's Adaptive Behaviour Research Group and the Active Touch Laboratory.
Grants	Research grants Human Brain Project: EU Future Emerging Technologies Flagship. T.J. Prescott (Sheffield PI): The Human Brain Project (2016-). Project value to Sheffield €774,000 (over four years). Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). T. J. Prescott (PI): Cyberselves in Immersive Technologies (2014-2015). Project value £50,000. EU Framework 7 Cognitive and Robotics Systems. T. J. Prescott (PI): What You Say Is What You Did (WYSIWYD) (2014 - 2017). Total project value €3,500,000 (€575,000 to Sheffield). EU Framework 7 Cognitive and Robotics Systems. T.J. Prescott (PI): Expressive Agents for Symbiotic Education and Learning (EASEL) (Nov 2013 - 2016). Total project value €2,910,000 (€595,000 to Sheffield). UK Technology Strategy Board. T.J. Prescott (PI): IntelliTable (Sept 2013 -14). Total project value £100,000 (£27,000 to Sheffield). EPSRC Capital for Great Technologies. T.J. Prescott (PI): Human-Machine Cooperation In Robotics And Autonomous (July 2013 -14). £1,000,000. European Union Framework 7 Programme. T.J. Prescott (PI for Sheffield component): Convergent Science Network for Biomimetics and Neurotechnology (Mar 2013-2016). Total project value €950,000 (€172,711 to Sheffield). Weizmann – UK Joint Research Programme. T.J. Prescott (PI): Development of motor-sensory strategies for vibrissal active touch (Oct 2012-2014). Total project value $100,000 ($50,000 to Sheffield). EPSRC. T.J. Prescott (Co-Investigator): Bio-inspired Control of Electro-Active Polymers for Next Generation Soft Robots (Jan 2012-2015). Total project value £359,094 (~£170,000 to Sheffield). EPSRC/UoS. T.J. Prescott (PI): A wearable active sensing device using tactile displays (Sept 2011-2012). £49,998. European Union Framework 7 Programme. T.J. Prescott (PI for Sheffield component): CA-RoboCom: Coordination Action for the design and description of the FET Flagship candidate Robot Companions for Citizens (May 2011-2012). Total project value €1,500,000 (€90,000 to Sheffield). European Union Framework 7 Programme. T.J. Prescott (PI for Sheffield component): Experimental Functional Android Assistant (EFAA) (Jan 2011-2014). Total project value €2,858,000 (€517,000 to Sheffield). UoS Proof of Concept. T.J. Prescott (PI): Virtual Whiskers for Navigation in Hazardous Environments (Nov 2010-May 2011). £10,000. European Union Framework 7 Programme. T.J. Prescott (PI for Sheffield component): Convergent Science Network for Biomimetic and Biohybrid Systems (Jan 2009-2012). Total project value €520,000 (€108,000) to Sheffield). European Union Framework 7 ICT Project 215910. T. J. Prescott (Co-ordinator and PI): BIOmimetic Technology for vibrissal ACtive Touch (BIOTACT) (2008-). (Jan 2008-Dec 2011). Total project value €7.8M (~€1.4M European Union contribution to Sheffield). European Union Framework 6 Cognitive Systems Project ST-027819-IP. T.J. Prescott (PI): Integration Cognition, Emotion, and Action (ICEA). (Jan 2006–Dec 2009). €8.08M (~€0.9M to Sheffield). EPRSC EP/C516303/1. Collaboration between 5 UK Universities. K. Gurney (PI) and TJ. Prescott: REVERB: Reverse Engineering the VERtebrate Brain (April 2005-March 2010). £1.8M (~£0.7M to Sheffield). EPRSC GR/S19639/01. Collaboration with Bristol Robotics Laborator. TJ. Prescott (PI): WhiskerBot: A Robot Whisker System Modelled on the Rat Mystacial Vibrissae (September 2003-August 2006). £430k (~£150k to Sheffield). EPRSC GR/R95722/01 T. J. Prescott (PI), K. Gurney, P. Redgrave: Robot control using a model of central structures in the vertebrate brain (Sept 2002–August 2005). £161k.

Profile

Biography

I am a Professor of Cognitive Robotics at the University of Sheffield and Director of Sheffield Robotics an inter-disciplinary research institute across both Universities in Sheffield. This is my departmental home-page. I also maintain profiles on ResearchGateand Linkedin, and a Youtube Channel with links to online interviews, talks and movies about our robots and research.

Qualifications

MA Psychology (Edinburgh), MSc Applied Artificial Intelligence (Aberdeen), PhD Machine Learning (Sheffield). CPsychol FBPsS.

2017 Highlights

After 28 happy years at the University of Sheffield Department of Psychology I swapped departments and faculties to join the Department of Computer Science. They say a change is a good as a rest!
Sheffield Robotics' iCub robot was guest editor of a special edition of the BBC Radio 4 Today programme broadcast on December 30th 2017 showing case our research on the FP7 WYSIWYD Project and the Horizon 2020 Human Brain Project. Sheffield Robotics also featured alongside Ed Sheeran in a BBC Radio 1 Special in March.
The MiRo biomimetic companion robot that I co-designed won the best demonstration prize at the 2017 Human-Robot Interaction Conference in Vienna, Austria. MIRo also made an appearance on the BBC's Tomorrow's World Live.
I was lead author of the EPSRC RAS Network's White Paper Robotics in Social Care: A Connected Care Eco-System for Independent Living.
The Barcelona Summer School on Cognition Brain and Technology, which I co-founded, ran a successful 10th anniversary school.
I co-edited a journal double theme issue on Ethical Principles of Robotics with Michael Szollosy.
The Sheffield Robotics' Roadshow appeared at the BlueDot Festival and at New Scientist Live with support from the Human Brain Project.
We won an AHRC Public Engagement and Impact Award Cyberselves: How Immersive Technologies will Impact our Future Selves which will support a range of events in 2018.
I wrote a blog piece on Robot Companions in Imagination and Reality for the Arts and Humanities Research Council and a short article on human-robot relationships for "The Hindu" newspapers.

2017 Invited talks

The development of the self: a robotics perspective, University of Bangor, Department of Psychology, 8th December.
Are Friends Electric?, Robot: Lates, Manchester Museum of Science and Industry, 25th October.
Towards multimodal perception and social cognition for co-botics, IROS 2017 Human-In-The-Loop Workshop, Vancouver, Canada, 23rd September.
Assistive and Companion Robot Technologies. AAATE Conference, Sheffield, 13th September.
The Integration of Sensing, Attention and Memory in Robots, The 10th Barcelona Summer School on Cognition Brain and Technology, 6th September.
The evo-devo of living machines. Living Machines VI Workshop on Evolution and Development, Stanford, USA, 25th July.
Assistive and companion robot technologies. Technology and Dementia (AAIC 17 Satellite Meeting), London, 15th July.
Robots and the future of work. York, Festival of Ideas: Re-imagining Work. 16th July.
Could a robot be a person? Science in Public Conference, Sheffield, 10th July.
Interdependence: We need to talk (panel discussion). Guardian Live and Manchester International Festival. 8th July.
Robotics and autonomous systems for social care. UK RAS Network Showcase, 30th June.
Are friends electric? Could we one day have personal relationships with robots? Pint of Science, Sheffield, 17th May.
Designing Robots For Human Physical and Social Interaction, Thames Valley Chamber of Commerce Group, International Technology Conference, Microsoft Research Centre, Reading, 17th May.
Robots in the Water Sector: A View from Sheffield Robotics, TWENTY65 Annual Conference 2017, Manchester, 5th April.
From animism to vitalism in children's perceptions of robots, Workshop on Child-Robot Interaction at the 2017 ACM/IEEE Human-Robot Interaction Conference in Vienna, 14th March.
Autonoetic consciousness and sense of self in humans and robots, Human Brain Project Workshop on Consciousness, Institute for Theoretical Neuroscience, Paris, 10th March.
Through a glass, darkly; then face to robot face, Public Symposium in Honour of the Artist Jordan Wolfson at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, February 18th.

Activities and Distinctions

Fellow of the British Psychological Society (FBPsS), 2011–
Co-founder of the University of Sheffield spin-out company Consequential Robotics, 2016–
Editor of Connection Science, 2014-
Co-founder of the "Living Machines" International Conference Series, 2012-
Co-organiser of the European Union FP7 Co-ordination Action Convergent Science Network for Biomimetics and Neurotechlog
Co-founder and Director of the Sheffield Robotics, 2011-
Partner in the "Robot Companions for Citizens" FET Flagship pilot project and leader of a working group on Societal Impacts and Ethical Issues in Robotics, 2011-12
Cofounder and co-organiser of the annual Barcelona Summer School on Cognitiion, Brain & Technology, 2008-
Co-ordinator of the EU FP7 BIOTACT project, 2008-12
Visiting Research Fellow at Bristol Robotics Laboratory, 2003-
Founder and co-director of the Adaptive Behaviour Research Group, 1996-
My research has been covered by the BBC One Show, Radio 4 Material World & Costing the Earth, Discovery Channel, The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Observer, The Economist, Science Magazine, New Scientist, Focus Magazine and American Scientist.

Earlier Plenary and Invited Talks

Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences, 6th October 2016 (Invited talk)
Battle of Ideas, London Barbican Centre, 22nd October 2016 (Debate)
IEEE ICDL-EPIROB 2016, 22nd September 2016 (Plenary talk)
Tencent "Way to Evolve" Conference, November 2015 (Invited talk, live streamed)
Institute of Contemporary Art "Fear of Missing Out", 30th May 2015 (invited talk)
SPIE Biomimetics, San Diego, USA, March 2014 (Opening talk)
'Socially-responsible research in Cognitive Systems: A no-win or a win-win'. EU Cognition III Annual Meeting, Brighton, UK, December 2013 (Plenary talk)
IEEE World Haptics, Daejeon, South Korea, April 2013 (Opening talk)
European Conference for Complex Systems, Warwick, 2009 (Opening talk)

Research

My research is within the areas of cognitive neuroscience, artificial intelligence and bio-inspired robotics. A particular focus is on the investigation of biomimetic and biohybrid systems: an example of the former would be an animal-like or humanoid robot, of the latter a human-machine interface. Current research is directed towards (i) social cognition for humanoid robots including the possibility synthetic autobiographical memory and of a robot "sense of self”; (ii) active touch sensing for attention, orienting, and spatial memory; (iii) assistive and companion robotic technologies; (iv) haptic interfaces for sensory augmentation; (v) telepresence robotics, and (vi) societal and ethical issues in technology. Some of my research is done under the auspices of the Department's Adaptive Behaviour Research Group and the Active Touch Laboratory.

Grants

Research grants

Human Brain Project: EU Future Emerging Technologies Flagship. T.J. Prescott (Sheffield PI): The Human Brain Project (2016-). Project value to Sheffield €774,000 (over four years).
Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). T. J. Prescott (PI): Cyberselves in Immersive Technologies (2014-2015). Project value £50,000.
EU Framework 7 Cognitive and Robotics Systems. T. J. Prescott (PI): What You Say Is What You Did (WYSIWYD) (2014 - 2017). Total project value €3,500,000 (€575,000 to Sheffield).
EU Framework 7 Cognitive and Robotics Systems. T.J. Prescott (PI): Expressive Agents for Symbiotic Education and Learning (EASEL) (Nov 2013 - 2016). Total project value €2,910,000 (€595,000 to Sheffield).
UK Technology Strategy Board. T.J. Prescott (PI): IntelliTable (Sept 2013 -14). Total project value £100,000 (£27,000 to Sheffield).
EPSRC Capital for Great Technologies. T.J. Prescott (PI): Human-Machine Cooperation In Robotics And Autonomous (July 2013 -14). £1,000,000.
European Union Framework 7 Programme. T.J. Prescott (PI for Sheffield component): Convergent Science Network for Biomimetics and Neurotechnology (Mar 2013-2016). Total project value €950,000 (€172,711 to Sheffield).
Weizmann – UK Joint Research Programme. T.J. Prescott (PI): Development of motor-sensory strategies for vibrissal active touch (Oct 2012-2014). Total project value $100,000 ($50,000 to Sheffield).
EPSRC. T.J. Prescott (Co-Investigator): Bio-inspired Control of Electro-Active Polymers for Next Generation Soft Robots (Jan 2012-2015). Total project value £359,094 (~£170,000 to Sheffield).
EPSRC/UoS. T.J. Prescott (PI): A wearable active sensing device using tactile displays (Sept 2011-2012). £49,998.
European Union Framework 7 Programme. T.J. Prescott (PI for Sheffield component): CA-RoboCom: Coordination Action for the design and description of the FET Flagship candidate Robot Companions for Citizens (May 2011-2012). Total project value €1,500,000 (€90,000 to Sheffield).
European Union Framework 7 Programme. T.J. Prescott (PI for Sheffield component): Experimental Functional Android Assistant (EFAA) (Jan 2011-2014). Total project value €2,858,000 (€517,000 to Sheffield).
UoS Proof of Concept. T.J. Prescott (PI): Virtual Whiskers for Navigation in Hazardous Environments (Nov 2010-May 2011). £10,000.
European Union Framework 7 Programme. T.J. Prescott (PI for Sheffield component): Convergent Science Network for Biomimetic and Biohybrid Systems (Jan 2009-2012). Total project value €520,000 (€108,000) to Sheffield).
European Union Framework 7 ICT Project 215910. T. J. Prescott (Co-ordinator and PI): BIOmimetic Technology for vibrissal ACtive Touch (BIOTACT) (2008-). (Jan 2008-Dec 2011). Total project value €7.8M (~€1.4M European Union contribution to Sheffield).
European Union Framework 6 Cognitive Systems Project ST-027819-IP. T.J. Prescott (PI): Integration Cognition, Emotion, and Action (ICEA). (Jan 2006–Dec 2009). €8.08M (~€0.9M to Sheffield).
EPRSC EP/C516303/1. Collaboration between 5 UK Universities. K. Gurney (PI) and TJ. Prescott: REVERB: Reverse Engineering the VERtebrate Brain (April 2005-March 2010). £1.8M (~£0.7M to Sheffield).
EPRSC GR/S19639/01. Collaboration with Bristol Robotics Laborator. TJ. Prescott (PI): WhiskerBot: A Robot Whisker System Modelled on the Rat Mystacial Vibrissae (September 2003-August 2006). £430k (~£150k to Sheffield).
EPRSC GR/R95722/01 T. J. Prescott (PI), K. Gurney, P. Redgrave: Robot control using a model of central structures in the vertebrate brain (Sept 2002–August 2005). £161k.