Jonathon Roberts

Jonathan is a Professor in Robotics at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and is a Chief Investigator at the Australian Centre for Robotic Vision (ACRV). He is part of the School of Electrical Engineer and Robotics. His main research interests are in the areas of Field Robotics, Medical Robotics, Performance Robotics and Design Robotics.

Jonathan graduated from the University of Southampton, UK, in 1991 with an Honours degree in Aerospace Systems Engineering. Jonathan furthered his interest in computer vision while completing a PhD (1991-1994) at the University of Southampton where he also developed skills in parallel computing.

In 2013 he and his research team won the Australia and New Zealand Internet Award for Innovation for their Museum Robot project. This project deployed two mobile robots in the National Museum of Australia in Canberra and continues to be used by remote school students to visit the museum with an educator guide, on a weekly basis. In 2013 Jonathan made international news by being the first person to 3D map the interior of the Leaning Tower of Pisa using his team’s Zebedee mobile mapping system. He continues to have an interest in the use of robotics technology for the use in documenting and protecting important cultural heritage sites. His team’s mapping of Fort Lytton in Brisbane in conjunction with Queensland Parks and The University of Queensland was the first Australian heritage site to be archived on CyArk, the international digital cultural heritage database.

In 2017, Jonathan became a Chief Investigator at the Australian Centre for Robotic Vision. He and his team were also awarded an Australia-India Strategic Research Fund project in 2017 to develop new vision technologies for minimally invasive knee surgery. Jonathan was President of the Australian Robotics & Automation Association Inc. from 2007-2008, and between 2008 and 2013 was Deputy Research Director of the Australian Research Centre for Aerospace Automation (ARCAA), a joint venture between CSIRO and Queensland University of Technology (QUT).