Robotics@UNSW connects researchers, industry and government

A new initiative launched to advance robotics research and innovation at UNSW Sydney and beyond.

UNSW students, researchers and industry partners attended the inaugural Robotics@UNSW Showcase this week, highlighting the breadth of robotics research and innovation across the University.

The event marked the launch of Robotics@UNSW, a new university-wide initiative designed to connect researchers and students and strengthen collaboration with industry and government.

The showcase featured live demonstrations, robot displays and discussions exploring the future of robotics and intelligent systems.

Established within the UNSW AI Institute, Robotics@UNSW brings together expertise spanning autonomous systems, embodied AI, health care and medical robotics, advanced manufacturing, maritime robotics and infrastructure.

UNSW AI Institute Director Dr Sue Keay said bringing the University’s robotics community together would create new opportunities for collaboration and help translate research expertise into practical applications.

“For years, UNSW's robotics strength has been spread across a dozen schools and labs, each grouped in isolation. Today is about bringing that all under one banner, so that we can see the full picture,” Prof. Keay said.

“Robotics at UNSW isn't a new idea; it's just a new name for something that's been building for 25 years. We hope to make this an annual event and continue to raise the profile of robotics at UNSW as a globally recognised concentration of robotics talent and technologies.”

Showcasing UNSW’s expertise

Researchers from across UNSW brought their robotics research to life through hands-on demonstrations. The displays showcased how robotics is being applied across fields including healthcare, manufacturing, infrastructure and autonomous systems.

Dean of Engineering Julien Epps highlighted UNSW’s decades of leadership in robotics and the breadth of research underway across the university.

“We have a big team working in human-centred computing, with many representatives here today. We do a huge amount of work in medical and soft robotics, including a system for 3D printing directly onto internal organs, robotic and image-guided surgery, a soft robotic heart sleeve, and a spin-out combining robotics, AI and ultrasound imaging to automate vascular ultrasound acquisition,” Prof. Epps said.

“We also work on AI companions and have a long-standing strength in cognitive robotics and AI for robotics. Our work extends into architecture and construction, including an origami-style meeting room that adapts to the external environment and human behaviour by changing its shape.”

Celebrating decades of robotics research

Addressing the showcase, NSW Chief Scientist and Engineer Professor Hugh Durrant-Whyte reflected on the evolution of robotics research in Australia and the country’s unique opportunities to apply the technology.

“It must be 30 years since I first came to UNSW to talk about robotics,” he said.

“It was very federated even then, but nevertheless, we were at the dawn of a really good time for robotics in Australia. It wasn't just me, I have to say. The people at CSIRO at the time and several other universities had realised that some of the biggest applications in robotics were actually in Australia. They were things like mining, agriculture, defence, a whole range of opportunities. You know, and in some sense, I came to Australia for exactly that: big, empty, a long way from anywhere, a perfect place to automate.”

Prof. Durrant-Whyte offered advice to the next generation of leaders in robotics.

“Come up with something new, not just derivative of what everyone else is doing. Get out there, think about what's important in Australia, start doing not just demos but real practical implementations of what you've got.”