# Episode Forty-Nine: Nick Hawes

- Show: [Robot Talk](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk)
- Published: 2023-05-19
- Length: 33m
- Episode: 49
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2023-05-19-episode-forty-nine-nick-hawes
- Listen: https://ukrobotics.libsyn.com/episode-forty-nine-nick-hawes

## Summary

Nick Hawes, Professor of AI and Robotics at the University of Oxford and director of the Oxford Robotics Institute, discusses his GOALS group's work on goal-oriented decision-making for autonomous systems under uncertainty. He details the challenges of long-term autonomy, citing a month-long continuous run of a mobile robot in the Strands project, and explains how hardware degradation and environmental changes complicate sustained operation. Hawes also describes the Hudson project, where an autonomous underwater vehicle (Nico Sub) harvests data from a sensor network in Loch Ness, optimizing routes based on epistemic and aleatoric uncertainty.

## Chapters

- [0:07](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2023-05-19-episode-forty-nine-nick-hawes#t=7) Introduction: Nick Hawes and the GOALS Group
- [1:53](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2023-05-19-episode-forty-nine-nick-hawes#t=113) Goal-Oriented Decision Making Under Uncertainty
- [6:06](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2023-05-19-episode-forty-nine-nick-hawes#t=366) Long-Term Autonomy: The Strands Project and Hardware Challenges
- [12:23](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2023-05-19-episode-forty-nine-nick-hawes#t=743) The Hudson Project: Autonomous Underwater Data Harvesting
- [18:42](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2023-05-19-episode-forty-nine-nick-hawes#t=1122) Valuing Data: Anomalies and Predictability in Sensor Networks
- [20:29](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2023-05-19-episode-forty-nine-nick-hawes#t=1229) Robotics vs. Other AI: Situated Planning and Abstraction
- [24:49](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2023-05-19-episode-forty-nine-nick-hawes#t=1489) Using Machine Learning and Reinforcement Learning in Robotics
- [27:23](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2023-05-19-episode-forty-nine-nick-hawes#t=1643) Public Demonstrations: Robustness, Failures, and Anthropomorphism

## Topics

- [Robotics & autonomy](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/robotics-and-autonomy)
- [AI & machine learning](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/ai-and-machine-learning)
- [Sensors & measurement in products](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/sensors)
- [Embedded firmware](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/embedded-firmware)
- [Careers & education](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/engineering-careers-and-education)

## Most relevant to

early-stage companies

## Mentioned

- Oxford Robotics Institute (company)
- GOALS (other)
- Strands (other)
- Hudson (other)
- Orca Hub (other)
- National Oceanography Centre (company)
- Nico Sub (product)
- Argo floats (product)
- Loch Ness (other)
- Spot (product)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [Marc Raibert on the future of robotics](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-robot-report-podcast/2023-07-25-marc-raibert-on-the-future-of-robotics) (The Robot Report Podcast)
- [Nic Radford on developing underwater robots; Celebrating 100 episodes](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-robot-report-podcast/2022-12-01-nic-radford-on-developing-underwater-robots-celebrating-100-episodes) (The Robot Report Podcast)
- [Boston Dynamics talks about its big year, Hyundai acquisition](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-robot-report-podcast/2020-12-16-boston-dynamics-talks-about-its-big-year-hyundai-acquisition) (The Robot Report Podcast)
- [397: Owl](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2021-12-31-397-owl) (Embedded.fm)
- [Ep. 22 | Cruise's Sr. VP of Engineering, Mo ElShenawy, on Developing Autonomous Vehicles](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/moores-lobby/2021-04-15-ep-22-cruises-sr-vp-of-engineering-mo-elshenawy-on-developing-autonomous-vehicle) (Moore's Lobby)

## Citing this page

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