The role of the Robotics Council is to provide advice and recommendations to the Robotics Australia Group Board on the major issues relating to the operation of the network, and to perform various functions set out in the Network Rules.
Professor Peter Corke | Chair
Peter is is a robotics researcher and educator. He is the distinguished professor of robotic vision at Queensland University of Technology, and former director of the QUT Centre for Robotics and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Robotic Vision (2014-20). His research is concerned with enabling robots to see, and the application of robots to mining, agriculture and environmental monitoring. He serves as a technical advisor to Emesent, LYRO Robotics, ARMHub and CSIRO/Data61. He created widely used open-source software for teaching and research, wrote the best selling textbook “Robotics, Vision, and Control”, created several MOOCs and the Robot Academy, and has won national and international recognition for teaching including 2017 Australian University Teacher of the Year. He is a fellow of the IEEE, the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering, the Australian Academy of Science; former editor-in-chief of the IEEE Robotics & Automation magazine; founding editor of the Journal of Field Robotics; founding multi-media editor and former executive editorial board member of the International Journal of Robotics Research; member of the editorial advisory board of the Springer Tracts on Advanced Robotics series; recipient of the Qantas/Rolls-Royce and Australian Engineering Excellence awards; and has held visiting positions at Oxford, University of Illinois, Carnegie-Mellon University, and University of Pennsylvania. He received his undergraduate and masters degrees in electrical engineering and PhD from the University of Melbourne.
Nicci Rossouw
Nicci Rossouw is a board member and CEO of Robotics Australia Group. Prior to that she was the founder and CEO of Exaptec, a start-up company she founded in 2015 to provide service robotics solutions to the Australian market. She has provided numerous robotic telepresence solutions to educational facilities and businesses to augment communication and movement for disabled and incapacitated people.Nicci believes that well designed application of robotics will leadto the emergence of new business models that will change the way people work and play for the better. Noted as one of six women who “rock” robotics in Australia, Nicci is a passionate educator of how robots can augment your life for the better. Exaptec was one of Westpac’s 2018 top 200 Businesses of Tomorrow winners, Nicci was noted as “30 women you need to know about in robotics” in 2020. This is a global recognition and Nicci was one of two women in Australia to be awarded this accolade in 2020.Nicci is the Co-host of Women in Robotics Group|Melbourne Chapter. She also hosts the podcast, “Let’s talk robotics” which focuses on the talented and inspirational robotics and AI community in Australia. She organised the Generate22 – a robotics & AI conference held in Melbourne on 30 & 31 March 2022.
Dr Catherine Ball
Associate Professor, Dr Catherine Ball (PhD, DSc) is a scientific futurist, speaker, advisor, author, founder, and company director working across global projects where emerging technologies meet humanitarian, education and environmental needs. Catherine also likes to create businesses and champion movements, collaborate with peers, and advise game-changers. A sought-after voice across the start-up, futurist and tech world. Catherine works globally across a wide range of projects from creating documentaries and world leading conferences and events, to advising on the use of novel approaches (e.g. drones) across environmental and humanitarian projects. Catherine is a proponent of community engagement with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), and likes to demystify emerging tech. Catherine continues to support Australia as being the world leader in the advancement of ethically driven technological applications.
Clyde Campbell AM
After more than 40 years in the Industrial Automation and robotics industry and having built several highly successful businesses, Clyde launched his latest venture, Intelligent Robotics (IR), in 2020 with a vision to create world class innovative technology products. Clyde also founded the successful business Machinery Automation & Robotics (MAR), which was sold to SCOTT Technologies in 2014. As a testament to their success, MAR won the Telstra Business of the Year award in 2008 and employed 70 staff throughout their Brisbane, Sydney & Melbourne offices. Clyde is passionate about driving innovation and working collaboratively with clients to understand their needs and opportunities. Together with his highly experienced team at Intelligent Robotics, they have extensive knowledge to design, develop and bring these new technologies to market.
Professor Bronwyn Fox
Professor Bronwyn Fox is Chief Scientist of CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency and innovation catalyst. Professor Bronwyn Fox joined CSIRO in October 2021 and became CSIRO’s fourth female Chief Scientist. She is known globally as a leader in advanced manufacturing, materials science, and industry 4.0 technologies, and is passionate about bringing together multidisciplinary teams for collaborative research. She was formerly Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Enterprise) at Swinburne University of Technology and founding Director of Swinburne’s Manufacturing Futures Research Institute. During that time, she established of a world first Industry 4.0 Testlab for additive manufacturing of carbon fibre composites, in collaboration with CSIRO.
Dr Sue Keay
Sue is a recognised leader in robotics, AI and automation who is passionate about helping emerging technology businesses, the companies adopting new technologies and their workforces. Recognised as one of Queensland's most influential people, on SME’s global list of 20 women making their mark in robotics and automation, as an outstanding contributor to the drone and robotics industry and as a Superstar of STEM. Sue is a fellow of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE), a member of the prestigious Kingston AI Group, Founder and Chair of Robotics Australia Group and an Adjunct Professor at QUT. She has an MBA from UQ Business School, PhD in Earth Sciences from ANU and is a Graduate of the AICD.
Colonel Robin Smith OBE, CSC
Robin Smith is the inaugural Director of the Army’s Robotic & Autonomous Systems Implementation & Coordination Office (RICO) within Future Land Warfare Branch of the Australian Army HQ. RICO’s role is to inspire, innovate, educate and lead the exploration of the application of emerging and disruptive technology for Army, including autonomy and AI, Quantum Technologies and alternative power and energy. He has overseen Army’s exploration of autonomous systems since 2017 after he authored the first Australian Army Robotic and Autonomous Systems Strategy. He is a logistician by background and served for over 30 years in the British Army before transferring to the Australian Army in 2017. He has commanded at all levels up to and including Regimental level and deployed a number of times. He was made an Officer of the Order of British Empire (OBE) in 2013 and awarded the Conspicuous Service Cross (CSC) in 2022. He has a background in Electronic Engineering and has fulfilled a number of roles in the joint logistics domain at the tactical and operational levels.
Dr Hugh Durrant-Whyte
Hugh Durrant-Whyte is NSW Chief Scientist and Engineer. From 2017-18 he was Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK Ministry of Defence, from 2010-2014, he was CEO of National ICT Australia (NICTA), and from 1995-2010 Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Autonomous Systems, an ARC Federation Fellow, and the founding Director of the Australian Centre for Field Robotics (ACFR) at the University of Sydney. Hugh is a world-leading authority on machine learning and robotics, and their application. He has published over 300 research papers, graduated over 70 PhD students, and has won numerous awards and prizes for his work, including being named 2010 NSW Scientist of the Year and the 2017 Sargent Medal from the Institute of Engineers Australia. In his career he has worked with many major companies, has co-founded three successful start-up companies. He is particularly well known for his work with Patrick in delivering the automated container terminals in Brisbane and Port Botany, and for his work with Rio Tinto in pioneering the automated “Mine of the Future”. Hugh is an honorary Fellow of Engineers Australia (HonFIEAus), a Fellow of the IEEE (FIEEE), of the Australian Academy of Science (FAA), of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng), and of the Royal Society of London (FRS).
Michael Zimmerman
Michael Zimmerman is a founding partner of Main Sequence, a deep tech venture capital firm backing companies to address the planet’s greatest challenges in food, healthcare, climate, space, security and heavy industries. Main Sequence was started in partnership with the Australian Government and CSIRO to leverage world-leading science and engineering research in solving these planetary challenges, and manages just over $1B AUM with 50+ portfolio companies. At Main Sequence, Michael focuses on solutions for the Feeding 10 Billion People, Supercharge Industrial Productivity and Decarbonise the Planet Challenges. Investments include Avarni, Castlepoint, Emesent, Kasada, Loam Bio, Lumachain, Plotlogic and Regrow. He is also a Director of the Australian Investment Council, and a Board Member of Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business Alumni Association. Prior to Main Sequence, he spent more than 20 years as a founder, executive and investor in Australia and the US. Earlier in his career he worked with Bain & Company and Goldman Sachs. He holds an MBA from Stanford University and a BA with honours from Amherst College.
