Subramanian Ramamoorthy
Professor of Robot Learning and Autonomy | UKRI Turing AI World-leading Researcher Fellow | Director of Centre for AI in Assistive Autonomy
I am a computer scientist with research specialisation in robotics and machine learning.
Within the University of Edinburgh, I am Director of the Centre for AI in Assistive Autonomy, established with funding from my UKRI Turing AI World-Leading Researcher Fellowship. Also, I hold lead roles within multi-university initiatives including the UKRI AI CDT in Dependable and Deployable AI for Robotics and the AI Hub for Productive Research and Innovation in Electronics.
Tell us about your journey before you joined the Centre for AI in Assistive Autonomy?
I joined the faculty in Informatics at Edinburgh in 2007, after receiving my PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. Before that, I received a Master of Engineering from the University of Virginia, and Bachelor of Engineering (with Distinction) from Bangalore University, India. I have also held visiting academic positions at the University of Rome “”La Sapienza” and at Stanford University.
I have worked in many different areas of AI and robotics, with a focus on issues faced by autonomous robots interacting with complex worlds and other agents. This has taken me from fundamental algorithmic questions around topology-based motion synthesis, and novel learning architectures for integrated prediction and planning, to broader system-level questions around explainability, trustworthiness and governance of autonomous systems.
Over the years, this work has been funded by a variety of sources including UKRI, EC, RAEng, Royal Society, DARPA and DSTL.
Between 2017-2020, I was a Vice President at Five AI, a technology start-up company in the area of autonomous vehicles, continuing as Scientific Advisor between 2021-23 when the company’s acquisition by Bosch GmbH was completed.
What motivates you to work in this area?
I have travelled a lot – literally (having lived in eight cities across three continents) and intellectually (with degrees in different aspects of engineering and computer science, and interests in subjects well beyond), which informs my approach to the development of AI to address hard problems of broad societal interest. I seek fresh perspectives by synthesising ideas from different disciplines.
What do you love about Edinburgh?
Playing tennis, occasional long drives into the countryside and mountains, exploring world cultures through travel, food, movies and books.