Join us for an exciting L-CAS/CDT Seminar with Prof Mohan Sridharan from the University of Edinburgh

We’re delighted to announce the next instalment of our L-CAS/CDT Seminar Series, featuring Professor Mohan Sridharan from the University of Edinburgh. Prof Sridharan will be presenting his thought-provoking talk titled “Back to the Future of AI in Robotics” – a timely discussion that challenges current paradigms in robotics research.

Event Details

📅 Date & Time: Tuesday, 16th September 2025, 10:00 AM
📍 Location: Room DCB1111, University of Lincoln

About the Talk

In an era dominated by deep networks and foundation models, Prof Sridharan presents a compelling alternative vision for robotics research. His talk argues for returning to foundational AI principles that, whilst pioneered by early AI researchers, remain underutilised in modern robotics.

The presentation will explore how opaque, resource-intensive systems often make arbitrary decisions in novel situations, raising critical questions about research reproducibility and sustainability. Prof Sridharan will describe an innovative architecture that harnesses the complementary strengths of both knowledge-based and data-driven approaches, demonstrating practical applications in visual scene understanding, manipulation, and multiagent collaboration.

About Prof Mohan Sridharan

Professor Mohan Sridharan holds the Chair in Robot Systems at the School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh, where he serves as Director of the Institute of Perception, Action and Behaviour and Co-Director of the UKRI AI Centre for Doctoral Training in Dependable and Deployable AI for Robotics.

His distinguished career has taken him from The University of Texas at Austin (where he completed his Ph.D.) to academic positions at Texas Tech University, The University of Auckland, and the University of Birmingham, before his current role in Edinburgh.

Prof Sridharan’s research spans cognition and control in both robots and humans, with particular expertise in knowledge representation, cognitive systems, interactive learning, and control systems. His work extends beyond robotics into developing algorithms that promote autonomy and sustainability across diverse domains including transportation, agriculture, and climate informatics.

This seminar is kindly sponsored by the EPSRC CDT for Agri-Food Robotics AgriFoRwArdS.