Kevin Warwick : biography

He is a regular presenter at the annual Careers Scotland Space School, University of Strathclyde.

He appeared at the 2009 World Science Festival with Mary McDonnell, Nick Bostrom, Faith Salie and Hod Lipson.

Awards and recognition

Warwick was presented with The Future of Health Technology Award from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was made an Honorary Member of the Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, was awarded the University of Malta medal from the Edward de Bono Institute and in 2004 received The Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) Achievement Medal.. The IET. Retrieved on 2011-04-23.

In 2008 Warwick was awarded the Mountbatten Medal. In 2009 he received the Marcellin Champagnat award from Universidad Marista Guadalajara and the Golden Eurydice Award.. ICTthatmakesthedifference.eu. Retrieved on 2011-04-23. In 2011 he received the Ellison-Cliffe Medal from the Royal Society of Medicine.

He has received Honorary Doctor of Science degrees from Aston University, Coventry University, Bradford University,. Brad.ac.uk. Retrieved on 2011-04-23.. YouTube (22 July 2010). Retrieved on 2011-04-23. University of Bedfordshire and Portsmouth University. He also received an Honorary Doctor of Technology degree from Robert Gordon University.

Work

Warwick carries out research in artificial intelligence, biomedical engineering, control systems and robotics. Much of Warwick’s early research was in the area of discrete time adaptive control. He introduced the first state space based self-tuning controller and unified discrete time state space representations of ARMA models.Warwick, K: "Relationship between Åström control and the Kalman linear regulator – Caines revisited", Journal of Optimal Control:Applications and Methods, 11(3), pp.223–232, 1990 However he has also contributed in mathematics,Warwick,K:"Using the Cayley–Hamilton theorem with N partitioned matrices",IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, AC.28(12),pp.1127–1128, 1983 power engineeringWarwick, K, Ekwue, A and Aggarwal, R (eds). "Artificial intelligence techniques in power systems", Institution of Electrical Engineers Press, 1997 and manufacturing production machinery.Sutanto, E and Warwick, K: "Multivariable cluster analysis for high speed industrial machinery", IEE Proceedings – Science, Measurement and Technology, 142, pp. 417–423, 1995 Kevin presented the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, entitled ‘The Rise of Robots’ in the year 2000.

Artificial intelligence

Warwick presently heads an Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council supported research project which investigates the use of machine learning and artificial intelligence techniques in order to suitably stimulate and translate patterns of electrical activity from living cultured neural networks in order to utilise the networks for the control of mobile robots. Hence a biological brain actually provides the behaviour process for each robot. It is expected that the method will be extended to the control of a robot head.

Previously Warwick was behind a genetic algorithm called Gershwyn, which was able to exhibit creativity in producing pop songs, learning what makes a hit record by listening to examples of previous hit songs., 1 July 1998 Gershwyn appeared on BBC’s Tomorrow’s World having been successfully used to mix music for Manus, a group consisting of the four younger brothers of Elvis Costello.

Another Warwick project involving artificial intelligence is the robot head, Morgui. The head contains 5 senses (vision, sound, infrared, ultrasound and radar) and is being used to investigate sensor data fusion. The head was X-rated by the University of Reading Research and Ethics Committee due to its image storage capabilities – anyone under the age of 18 who wishes to interact with the robot must apriori obtain parental approval.

Warwick has very outspoken views on the future, particularly with respect to artificial intelligence and its impact on the human species, and argues that we will need to use technology to enhance ourselves in order to avoid being overtaken. He also points out that there are many limits, such as our sensorimotor abilities, that we can overcome with machines, and is on record as saying that he wants to gain these abilities: "There is no way I want to stay a mere human."Kevin Warwick, FAQ, http://www.kevinwarwick.com/faq.htm (last question)