Raja Chatila

LAAS-CNRS, Toulouse

France

Research Areas

Automation, Automation Applications, Control Design & Engineering, Human-computer Interaction, Image Processing, Machine Intelligence, Machine Learning, Robot Programming, Robots

Interview Synopsis

In this interview, Chatila discusses his early interest in scientific research and outlines his research and accomplishments throughout his career, such as his involvement with the development of SLAM and with CNRS. Additionally, he explores the difficulties that the field presented him, as well as his unique insights into the issues of robotics. He reflects on the future challenges of the field, and provides advice to young people interested in the field of robotics.

Biography

Raja Chatila was born on January 29th, 1952 in Damascus, Syria. He attended school in Syria, until left he left at the age of seventeen to pursue higher studies in France. He achieved an engineering degree in Electronics from the National Civil Aviation School in Toulouse, and master degrees in Advanced Control Science and in Geophysics and Space Sciences from the Space and Aeronautics School and University Paul Sabatier, respectively. He completed his Ph.D. in Control Science from University Paul Sabatier in 1981. He has spent most of his career with CNRS in Paris. His research encompasses a broad range of topics within robotics, especially in creating an understanding of the interactions and applications of autonomous and cognitive robotics. Throughout his career, Chatila has authored over 140 publications, served on several committees as both a director and board member, and as a general member, led the research of several projects, and participated in several international robotics activities, such as EDEN, COMET, and Cogniron. He is currently a professor of the Institute of Intelligent Systems and Robotics at the University Pierre and Marie Curie in Paris.