Dr David Western

Dr David Western

Health tech researcher based at UWE Bristol's Health Tech Hub; Specialist in AI, physiological sensing, and movement analysis; Leader of REACH research group.

RoboSafe (2014-2016)

I joined the RoboSafe project as a post-doctoral researcher (part-time, 2014-2016). This project focused on the safety and reliability of autonomous robotic systems. Its goal was to develop frameworks, methodologies, and tools to ensure that robotic agents can operate safely in complex, real-world environments. We gave particular attention to the challenge of fusing verification and validation across multiple levels of abstraction - realistic testing, detailed simulation, and highly abstracted formal modelling - to combine realism and exhaustiveness in a corroborative framework.

Introduction Video

I compiled this video to summarise the project:

Relevant References

The following references are selected from my Google Scholar profile and are relevant to RoboSafe:

  1. Webster, M., Western, D., Araiza-Illan, D., Dixon, C., Eder, K., Fisher, M. and Pipe, A.G., 2020. A corroborative approach to verification and validation of human–robot teams. The International Journal of Robotics Research, 39(1), pp.73-99.
  2. Araiza-Illan, D., Western, D., Pipe, A.G. and Eder, K., 2016. Systematic and realistic testing in simulation of control code for robots in collaborative human-robot interactions. In Towards Autonomous Robotic Systems: 17th Annual Conference, TAROS 2016, Sheffield, UK, June 26–July 1, 2016, Proceedings 17 (pp. 20-32). Springer International Publishing.
  3. Araiza-Illan, D., Western, D., Pipe, A. and Eder, K., 2015. Coverage-Driven Verification— An Approach to Verify Code for Robots that Directly Interact with Humans. In Hardware and Software: Verification and Testing: 11th International Haifa Verification Conference, HVC 2015, Haifa, Israel, November 17-19, 2015, Proceedings 11 (pp. 69-84). Springer International Publishing.