Dave Barnes' Short Biography

Prof. Dave Barnes is Head of Space Robotics at Aberystwyth University (AU), and holds the position of Professor of Space & Planetary Robotics (2009) within the Department of Computer Science. Previous posts include a Readership in Space & Planetary Robotics (2005); a Royal Society Industry Fellowship hosted at UK Robotics Ltd. Manchester (1996); a Senior Lectureship (1995), Lectureship (1991), and Research Fellowship in Advanced Robotics (1989) at the University of Salford, and a Senior Research Associate position (1985) at AU.

Dave attended the Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School, Blackburn, and graduated from the University of Bradford (1980) with a B.Tech. (Hons) degree. He obtained a Masters degree in Machine Intelligence and Robotics from the University of London, Queen Mary College, and a Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics from AU.

Dave has been member of the UK STFC Aurora Advisory Committee (AurAC) since 2005, and represents the interests of the UK EPSRC community on issues relating to the ESA Aurora Programme and Planetary Exploration. He is a founding member of the UK Space and Planetary Robotics Network, and is a member of the UK STFC Particle Physics, Astronomy and Nuclear Physics Science Committee (PPAN).

He is a member of the ESA Mars Express consortium, and was responsible for the Beagle 2 Lander robot arm calibration, software modelling, simulation, and visualisation for planning and arm commanding purposes during the mission. He is a member of the ESA ExoMars rover team, and is researching autonomous science sample acquisition methods for the ExoMars mission. Dave is a Co-I for the ExoMars Panoramic Camera (PanCam) science instrument. As a member of the PanCam 3D Vision Team, Dave’s responsibilities include PanCam modelling, simulation, image data processing and science data visualisation.

Dave is a member of the team involved with the design and construction of the ExoMars Mars Terrain Simulator (MTS) Facility which will be part of the Rover Operations Control Centre (ROCC) in Turin. Working with EADS Astrium Ltd., Dave has been responsible for undertaking a study into the control and performance requirements for the proposed ExoMars Instrument (robot) arm. This required the design and implementation of new control software that was validated using the Beagle 2 Development Model (DM) arm.

He has been active in robotics research for over 25 years, and has been a PI on numerous projects funded by the EPSRC, STFC, Royal Society, and European projects including ESA. One area of his ESA work has involved the research and development of aerobot technology for planetary exploration. Dave’s research interests include intelligent computing methods for autonomous robot enabled planetary science, and novel computer vision methods for increased planetary science return.

The information provided on this and other pages by me, Dave Barnes, is under my own personal responsibility and not that of Aberystwyth University. Similarly, any opinions expressed are my own and are in no way to be taken as those of Aberystwyth University.

Last Modified: 17th March 2009
email: dpb@aber.ac.uk