We’re excited to be introducing David to the MiRo community! David joins the team as a Software Developer who will be working on making MiRo a more intelligent and more sociable robot friend. Scroll down to read about David in his own words.

My background

Computers and "brain stuff" have always been two big interests in my life, and while I was at college I expected I'd have to choose one or the other to study at university. So when I picked up a brochure promoting Cognitive Science as a course bringing together neuroscience, psychology, and artificial intelligence, I chose my undergraduate degree on the spot.

This was perhaps not the best way to decide on a field of study, but fortunately it worked out for me in the end. During my undergraduate years I found I was more interested in the computational and AI aspects of the course than the psychology modules, and after graduating I followed this educational trajectory to a Master's in Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience and all the way through to PhD level, eventually earning my doctorate from the University of Sheffield in 2018.

Previous work

I stayed on at Sheffield as a postdoctoral researcher working on the Human Brain Project, where I had the opportunity to meet MiRo and to implement some of my PhD work in modelling cognitive processes on something more tangible than a software simulation. It turns out I really enjoy working with robots; solving real-world problems that don't fit into a pure computerised abstraction is a whole new challenge — and it's also much easier to explain to friends and family!

Two of our big projects at Sheffield involved giving MiRo an upgraded action selection mechanism based on the basal ganglia and an entirely new motivational drive system modelling the hypothalamus, each of which had their share of frustrating setbacks and rewarding triumphs. We also had several side projects to keep us busy, including modifying MiRo's audiovisual attention system, overhauling a visual interface showing how his cognitive architecture works, and assisting students with their own impressive projects. So when the opportunity arose to work for Consequential Robotics, I was already quite familiar with the robot and I jumped at the chance.

My role at Consequential Robotics

Now that I'm working for CqR full-time, I'll be using my experience with MiRo and computational neuroscience models to improve and expand MiRo's brain-based cognitive architecture. One of my first priorities will be addressing specific issues highlighted by Katie's work with MiRo in the field; in general terms, this means helping him to become more attentive to people nearby, better at navigating his environment, and overall a more intelligent and more sociable robot friend. I'm looking forward to getting stuck in!

Twitter: @dave_bux