Inaugural Lecture: Bruce MacDonald

My Robotics Research Journey

Join us for Professor Bruce MacDonald's inaugural lecture, where he will reflect on his family history, career, and what brought him into engineering and robotics, followed by general observations on research and innovation in the field.

Bruce's ultimate goal is to create intelligent robotic assistants that help people, subsequently allowing science and technology to be central to our everyday routines. Much of his research focuses on human-robot interaction and robotic programming systems. These cover: how humans and robots work together, how humans can program robots to be helpful, and how robots can contribute to various fields including healthcare, agriculture, and manufacturing.

He will also share insights on his work as Director of the University of Auckland's Centre for Automation and Robotic Engineering Science (CARES), a multidisciplinary research group that showcases much of his group’s expertise with healthcare and orchard robotics.

The lecture will commence at 4pm, with refreshments to follow.

About Professor Bruce MacDonald:

Professor Bruce MacDonald completed his BE and PhD in Electrical Engineering at the University of Canterbury. He then worked for NZ Electricity and the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, and spent ten years at the University of Calgary's Department of Computer Science. He joined the Faculty of Engineering in 1995, where he started the Robotics Laboratory, helped to develop our programme in Computer Systems Engineering, and is now the Director of CARES.

Outside the University, he is the Deputy Director for the Science for Technological Innovation National Science Challenge, where he also leads the Sensors, Robotics and Automation category. He is also co-chair for the IEEE technical committee on software engineering for robotics.