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Robert Reid

Address:

4800 Oak Grove Dr.
M/S 198-219

Pasadena, CA 91109

Phone:

818.393.5946

Fax:

818.393.5007
FORMER MEMBER

Robert G Reid

Biography

Robert Reid is a robotics research engineer in the Robotic Mobility group with expertise in robotic simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) with a particular focus on visual SLAM for rovers and spacecraft. His expertise includes robotic and electromechanical system engineering. He is currently researching and developing autonomy algorithms and rover prototypes for extreme terrain mobility and navigation and microgravity mobility.
Rob has worked with a variety of unmanned rovers including driving, flying, tumbling and rappelling platforms. His current research looks beyond mobility over regular terrains in Earth gravity. His extreme terrain work includes the tethered two-wheeled “Axel” rover, capable of descending cliff-faces while performing remote science operations, while his micro-gravity work includes “Hedgehog”, a hybrid rover/spacecraft system designed to tumble and hop on asteroids, comets and other small bodies.
Rob has over 10 years experience in engineering and more than 5 years in robotics research. His doctoral work focused on large-scale multi-robot SLAM and included designing a robust collaborative SLAM system with over 20 robots in real-time in a large urban environment. He was a lead engineer and core team-member in the Multi-Autonomous Ground-robotic International Challenge (MAGIC) in 2010. In 2011, he was a visiting researcher at the University of Pennsylvanias GRASP lab where he researched vision and LIDAR-based SLAM for micro-air vehicles. He has owned and operated an engineering & IT consulting business for the last 12 years.

Education

• 2008-2013 Ph.D. in Multi-Robot Localization and Mapping at the University of Western Australia.
• 1998-2002 B.Eng. in Mechatronics (Robotics) awarded with Honors from Curtin University, Australia

Professional Experience

• 2013 Robotics Software Engineer, Robotic Mobility Group, JPL
• 2000-2013 Engineering Consultant, business owner, 12 years part-time
• 2011 Robotics Engineer, GRASP Laboratory, University of Pennsylvania
• 2009-2010 Robotics Engineer, Team WAMbot, MAGIC2010 Challenge, Australia
• 2007 Lecturer, Electrical Engineering, Murdoch University, Australia
• 2005-2006 Financial Engineer, Company Director, Zone Capital Pty Ltd, Australia
• 2004 Financial R&D Engineer, Smart Capital Management Pty Ltd, Australia
• 2003 Graduate Process Control Engineer, Honeywell, Australia

Research Interests

• Multi-robot simultaneous localization & mapping (SLAM)
• Visual SLAM for small spacecraft and interplanetary exploration
• Cooperative multi-robot systems
• Asteroid mining