Professor Matthew Dunbabin
Faculty of Engineering,
School of Electrical Engineering & Robotics
Biography
Matthew conducts transdisciplinary research into environmental robotics focusing on advanced perception-to-action solutions with application to large-scale management and monitoring challenges. He currently holds the position of Professor at the Queensland University of Technology as well as Chief Investigator at the Australian Centre for Robotic Vision (ACRV). An experienced researcher and robotics specialist, Matthew has a proven track record in the research, development, field evaluation and operational use of vision-enabled autonomous systems for performing unsupervised monitoring and management tasks in complex environments. His wide research interests include vision-based perception and classification, vision-based navigation, adaptive sampling and path planning, and cooperative robotics. Through application to large-scale marine habitat restoration, marine pest identification and control, conservation, greenhouse gas mapping and utility compliance monitoring, his research has received numerous national and international R&D and engineering awards. Matthew received his Bachelor of Engineering in Aerospace Engineering from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and his PhD from the Queensland University of Technology. He started his professional career in 1995 as a project engineer at Roaduser Research International, and following his PhD joined the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in the Autonomous Systems Laboratory. At CSIRO he held various roles including Principal Research Scientist, project leader and the Robotics Systems and Marine Robotics team leader before moving to QUT in 2013. A strong advocate of robotic systems in civilian applications, Professor Dunbabin is involved in a number of initiatives aimed at promoting, educating and demonstrating autonomous systems to a range of interest groups nationally and internationally. Awards and recognitions- 2019: Australian Water Association Award (Program Innovation Award for over 250,000 end users – SAMMI: Chief Investigator)
- 2019: Good Design Award - Sustainability Award (RangerBot: Chief Investigator)
- 2018: Out of the Blue Box Challenge (Tiffany & Co Foundation, GBRF – Mass coral reseeding: Matthew Dunbabin and Peter Harrison).
- 2016: Google Impact Challenge – People’s Choice Award (Great Barrier Reef Foundation – RangerBot AUV: Chief investigator)
- 2016: Eureka Prize Finalist (research and innovation in environmental science), COTSBot team – Chief Investigator
- 2010: Australian ICT Industry Association (AIIA) National iAward for Research & Development (iSnet – Chief Investigator)
- 2007: Australasian Hydrographic Society Award of Recognition for Scientific & Technical Achievement.
- 2006: Australian Engineering Excellence Award, Engineers Australia (Starbug – Chief Investigator).
- 2006: Innovation Award, Queensland Engineering Excellence Awards, Engineers Australia (Queensland Division).
- 2018 - Present: Professor: Institute for Future Environments, and School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Queensland University of Technology.
- 2017 - Present: Chief Investigator, ARC Centre of Excellence for Robotic Vision (ACRV).
- 2013-2018: Principal Research Fellow: Institute for Future Environments, and School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Queensland University of Technology.
- 2009-2013: Principal Research Scientist, Team Leader and Project Leader: Autonomous Systems Laboratory, CSIRO ICT Centre.
- 2007-2009: Stream Leader, Wealth from Oceans Flagship, CSIRO.
- 2001-2007: Senior Research Scientist and Project Leader, Autonomous Systems Laboratory, CSIRO ICT Centre.
- 1995-1998: Project Engineer, Roaduser Research International Pty Ltd.
Personal details
Positions
- Professor
Faculty of Engineering,
School of Electrical Engineering & Robotics
Keywords
Field Robotics, Environmental Monitoring, Adaptive Sampling, Dynamics and Control, Sensor Networks, Marine Robotics, Greenhouse Gas Monitoring
Research field
Artificial intelligence, Electrical engineering
Field of Research code, Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2020
Qualifications
- PhD (Queensland University of Technology)
- BEng(hon)(Aerospace) (Royal Melbourne Inst. of Tech)
Professional memberships and associations
- Member IEEE Robotics and Automation Society
- Member Australian Robotics & Automation Association (ARAA)
- Member Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO)
Publications
- Dayoub, F., Dunbabin, M. & Corke, P. (2015). Robotic detection and tracking of Crown-of-Thorns starfish. Proceedings of the 2015 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 1921–1928. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/85974
- Dunbabin, M. & Marques, L. (2012). Robots for environmental monitoring: Significant advancements and applications. IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine, 19(1), 24–39. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/63029
- Grinham, A., Dunbabin, M., Gale, D. & Udy, J. (2011). Quantification of ebullitive and diffusive methane release to atmosphere from a water storage. Atmospheric Environment, 45(39), 7166–7173. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/63609
- Dunbabin, M. & Grinham, A. (2010). Experimental evaluation of an autonomous surface vehicle for water quality and greenhouse gas emission monitoring. Proceedings of the 2010 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 5268–5274. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/68823
- Dunbabin, M., Udy, J., Grinham, A. & Bruenig, M. (2009). Continuous monitoring of reservoir water quality: The Wivenhoe project. Water: Journal of the Australian Water Association, 36(6), 74–77. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/63610
- Dunbabin, M., Corke, P., Vasilescu, I. & Rus, D. (2009). Experiments with cooperative control of underwater robots. International Journal of Robotics Research, 28(6), 815–833. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/63605
- Dunbabin, M., Corke, P., Vasilescu, I. & Rus, D. (2006). Data muling over underwater wireless sensor networks using an autonomous underwater vehicle. Proceedings of the 2006 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2091–2098. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/32678
- Dunbabin, M., Usher, K. & Corke, P. (2006). Visual motion estimation for an autonomous underwater reef monitoring robot. Field and service robotics: Results of the 5th International Conference [Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics, Volume 25], 25, 31–42. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/33806
- Vasilescu, I., Kotay, K., Rus, D., Dunbabin, M. & Corke, P. (2005). Data collection, storage, and retrieval with an underwater sensor network. Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Embedded Networked Sensor Systems, 154–165. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/33832
- Clement, R., Dunbabin, M. & Wyeth, G. (2005). Toward robust image detection of crown-of-thorns starfish for autonomous population monitoring. Proceedings of the 2005 Australasian Conference on Robotics and Automation, 1–8. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/32830
QUT ePrints
For more publications by Matthew, explore their research in QUT ePrints (our digital repository).
Awards
- Type
- Academic Honours, Prestigious Awards or Prizes
- Reference year
- 2010
- Details
- National iAward for Research & Development (iSnet - Chief Investigator)
- Type
- Academic Honours, Prestigious Awards or Prizes
- Reference year
- 2007
- Details
- Award of Recognition for Scientific & Technical Achievement
- Type
- Academic Honours, Prestigious Awards or Prizes
- Reference year
- 2018
- Details
- Australian Engineering Excellence Award (Starbug - Chief Investigator)
- Type
- Academic Honours, Prestigious Awards or Prizes
- Reference year
- 2018
- Details
- Innovation award, Queensland Engineering Excellence Awards (Starbug Project - Chief Investigator)
Selected research projects
- Title
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Robotic Vision (ACRV)
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- CE140100016
- Start year
- 2014
- Keywords
- Robotic Vision; Robotics; Computer Vision
- Title
- Revolutionising protection against air pollution
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- DP150101828
- Start year
- 2015
- Keywords
- personal exposure monitoring; air pollution exposure; exposure risk management
- Title
- Establishing Advanced Networks for Air Quality Sensing and Analyses
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- LP160100051
- Start year
- 2017
- Keywords
Projects listed above are funded by Australian Competitive Grants. Projects funded from other sources are not listed due to confidentiality agreements.