Panel Discussion: It All Started with Čapek - Czech Robotics Today

INVITATION:

The Embassy of the Czech Republic and CzechInvest invite you to the panel discussion It All Started with Čapek: Czech Robotics Today on Tuesday, November 3, 2015, at 7 pm.

The evening features a discussion with leading robotics experts from the Czech Republic on specialized issues, such as industrial robotics, UAV cooperation and communication, objects recognition, and teleoperated robotic vehicles. Enjoy a discussion with some of the top robotics professionals from the Czech Republic. Revel in an evening of robotics at the Czech Embassy!

Moderator:
Vladimír Mařík, Professor and Director, Czech Institute of Informatics, Robotics and Cybernetics, Czech Technical University, Prague

Panelists:
Václav Hlaváč, Czech Technical University, Prague
Libor Přeučil, Czech Technical University, Prague
Pavel Václavek, University of Technology, Brno
Pavel Ircing, West Bohemia University Pilsen

RSVP: https://roboticslecture.eventbrite.com

Location: Embassy of the Czech Republic
3900 Spring of Freedom Street, NW, Washington, DC 20008

The event is part of the Mutual Inspirations Festival 2015-Karel Čapek, celebrating the work of the extraordinary Czech author. Visit www.mutualinspirations.org for more information about the festival.

MODERATOR:

Vladimír Mařík is an expert in the field of artificial intelligence. He co-founded the Gerstner Laboratory for Intelligent Decision Making, one of the leading workplaces in the field of artificial intelligence in the Czech Republic. He has more than 30 years of experience in leading research activities in the field of applied artificial intelligence, namely in the fields of expert systems, multi-agent systems, intelligent planning and scheduling. His research has been supported by EU funding (12 projects bringing in 8 mil EUR). He has been involved in the development of many industrial solutions, e.g. in the Shipboard Automation (funded by ONR, 2002-2006), AgentFly (AFRL, 2004-2010), EXPLANTECH for Skoda/Volkswagen (2006-2008). Currently, he is acting as the technical lead of the EU Project ARUM aimed at multi-agent production scheduling at AIRBUS Group (12 mil. EUR). He is an author/co-author of more than 160 journals and conference papers, co-author/editor of 17 books, and co-author of 5 US patents.

PANELISTS:

Václav Hlaváč received his MSc degree in control engineering in 1981, followed by a Ph.D. in engineering cybernetics in 1987. In 1990, he became head of the computer vision laboratory and then head of the robotics group in 1991, and an associate professor in 1992. He has served as the head of the Center for Machine Perception since 1996 and as a full professor since 1998. He is deputy director of the Czech Institute of Informatics, Robotics and Cybernetics, where he also leads the Robotics and Machine Perception Group. His research interests and experience include 3D computer vision, videoanalytics, reconstruction of 3D scenes from 2D images, omnidirectional vision, pattern recognition, industrial applications of machine vision, robotics, dual-arm robotic manipulation and high-level reasoning in robotics.

Libor Přeučil received a MSc. in Technical Cybernetics and Robotics (1985), and a Ph.D. in Computer Vision (1993) from the Czech Technical University in Prague (CTU). He founded the Intelligent and Mobile Robotics group (1993) and co-founded the Center for Advanced Field Robotics (2013). Currently, he leads the respective group and center at the Czech Institute of Informatics, Robotics and Cybernetics at CTU. He has led or been involved in projects within the EU FP5-FP7 and Horizon 2020 programs, served as the national coordinator of the European Robotics Network of Excellence (EURON II), and executed many industrial contracts. He is a guarantor of cooperation with GRASP Laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania. His research interests cover unmanned robot control: robot perception and navigation, long-term autonomy, cooperative robotics, large-environment robot operation, all in the UGV and UAV domains.

Pavel Ircing studied cybernetics at the University of West Bohemia in Plzeň, where he also obtained his Ph.D. in 2004. He is currently an assistant professor at the Department of Cybernetics, senior researcher at the NTIS Research Centre and deputy head of the Department of Interdisciplinary Activities, all at the University of West Bohemia. From 1999-2000 and 2004 he spent several months as a visiting researcher at Johns Hopkins University. His main research interests include speech recognition, information retrieval from speech data and machine learning in general.

Jan Mazal, Ph.D., is a graduate of the Faculty of Military Systems Management of the Military College of Ground Forces in Vyškov, where he specialized in command of reconnaissance units. In 2003, he graduated from the Academic Course of Military Intelligence at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, USA. Since 2005, he has worked in the field of the theory of national defense management. Since 2013, he has served as an associate professor in the area of military management and C4ISR systems. He currently works at the University of Defense in Brno as a senior researcher in the Department of Military Management and Tactics. He is focused on the issue of military intelligence and reconnaissance, C4ISR systems and implementation of information and model support for commanders’ decision-making process at the tactical level.