QUT researchers bring their ‘A’ game to science festival

The university is hosting public talks, exhibits and workshops as part of the annual festival, which runs from March 21 to 30 and is presented by the Queensland Museum and Queensland Government, with support from partners including QUT.

The QUT events include QUT Bold: The Infinite Awe of Robotics on March 27 – a free public lecture on the future of robotics, including robot helpers in our homes and workplaces.

It will feature two of Australia’s leading robotics experts, Professor Michael Milford (director of the QUT Centre for Robotics), and QUT Adjunct Professor Dr Sue Keay (director of the UNSW AI Institute) in a conversation and Q&A session at QUT Gardens Theatre (also livestreamed).

The session will be moderated by artificial intelligence (AI) expert Professor Marek Kowalkiewicz (QUT Chair in Digital Economy).

Together, the trio will discuss bold questions such as whether robots should have rights and if we should buy a humanoid robot from Elon Musk.

Other festival highlights will include a free exhibition on Antarctica at The Cube at QUT Gardens Point campus on March 28 and 29.

Explore Antarctica will give visitors the chance to step into the heart of Antarctica with The Cube’s digital interactive display (over eight metres wide and three metres high) and experience the icy frontier through stunning real-life footage and photography. It’s an opportunity to see how QUT researchers are using robots to do groundbreaking data collection in one of the most sensitive environments on Earth.

There will also be an Antarctic clothing display, expedition tent, virtual drones and visiting robots including Spot the robotic dog (pictured at top), RangerBot the underwater explorer and Pepper the interactive robot. 

And while robots are already helping scientists, the free QUT Bold public talk on March 27 will examine how they are also learning to help around the home and workplace.

Back in 2008, Bill Gates wrote about how we’d soon see ‘a robot in every home’ and cited the Japanese Robot Association’s prediction that by 2025 the personal robot industry would be worth more than $50 billion a year worldwide.

While that hasn’t yet happened, Bold guest speaker Professor Milford believes we are getting closer.

“One of the main reasons that robots have failed to gain wider traction is that they've been pretty stupid in terms of common sense, and pretty underwhelming to interact with,” he said.

“But recent AI advances have changed all that.

“We’re now at a turning point because these AI advances are making robots smarter and better at interacting with people – plus we’ve seen advances in hardware like humanoid robots.

“Some new robots that didn’t exist a few years ago are now operating in society: robot cars in certain cities are doing hundreds of thousands of paid rides per week.

“In homes, a robot doesn't have to be perfect, but it has to be useful enough most of the time and not require too much supervision. Robot vacuums have succeeded here, but not other types yet.

“The game changer now is these new AI techniques which really make a huge difference in robot capabilities. We’re seeing better and better household cleaning and laundry demos every day. So instead of robot vacuums being in just some houses, we could very well have more general-purpose helper robots in most homes.

“In workplaces like manufacturing, operations need to be fast, reliable and accurate. All the easy-to-automate tasks have been automated already. There’s a range of future exciting opportunities, especially in the area of collaborative robotics, where there’s increased automation but also enhancement of how robots and people work together.

“Major technology advances and growing investment in recent years means the chances of widespread robots soon is now much greater than it was just a few years ago.”

QUT Bold: The Infinite Awe of Robotics will be held at QUT Gardens Theatre on March 27 from 5.30pm. Interested people can book free tickets (until sold out) or register for the livestream.

The event is part of the flagship QUT Bold event series, which features thought leaders who take the public on deep dives into visionary fields.

Check out the World Science Festival Brisbane’s full speaker line-up, and other events, at the official festival site.

World Science Festival Brisbane – QUT highlights

Talks

March 26

• Explore Mars, our Galaxy and Beyond – Panel discussion and Q&A with QUT experts Associate Professor David Flannery (pictured at top, lower right), Associate Professor Selen Turkay and Dr Michael Cowley, plus interactive displays showing how astronomers captured the night sky before space observatories, videos of Mars exploration, and virtual reality exploration of geology and space. Tickets are still available for the free panel discussion, with the rooftop observatory sessions currently booked out and waitlist only.

March 27

•  QUT Bold: The Infinite Awe of Robotics – A conversation and Q&A on the future of robotics with Professor Michael Milford, Dr Sue Keay and Professor Marek Kowalkiewicz. Book tickets to attend in person, or register for the livestream.

March 30

• Love Your Guts: Health and the Microbiome – A public talk with speakers including QUT Professor Gene Tyson (currently sold out, waitlist only).  Explore the dynamic world of the gut microbiome and its profound impact on health and disease and discover how recent breakthroughs in microbiome research are reshaping our understanding of digestion, immunity, and even mental health.

Displays, workshops and demonstrations

March 28-29

• QUT Cube: Explore Antarctica – Step into the heart of Antarctica with The Cube’s digital interactive display, measuring over eight metres wide and three metres high. Experience the icy frontier through stunning real-life footage and photography, while discovering how cutting-edge robotics, AI, and satellites are transforming polar research. (No bookings required.)
   
• Labs Unlocked: QUT Centre for Robotics – Meet the Pepper robot (who interacts with humans in social and educational contexts), Spot the robotic dog (pictured right, developed for tasks like inspection and data collection in challenging environments) and the underwater RangerBot, a robotic vehicle designed to monitor coral reefs and collect data underwater. (Book here.)

• Labs Unlocked: Interactive Future Cities Lab – These workshops challenge visitors to design an autonomous vehicle or take part in a cybersecurity challenge to defend the city from a simulated hack. The QUT Future Cities Lab is an AI-driven, programmable city model that showcases the diverse roles of autonomous vehicles, drones and ground robots and how they will work together in future urban technology. (Book here.)

Pictured at top of page, clockwise from top left: Professor Michael Milford with some QUT robots, icebergs in Antarctica, Associate Professor David Flannery, and Spot the robotic dog with researchers Dr Juan Sandino Mora, Marisa Bucolo and Professor Matt Dunbabin.

QUT Media contacts:
- Mechelle McMahon, media@qut.edu.au
- After hours, 0407 585 901 or media@qut.edu.au