Professor Rob Deaves 

Rob has 35 years of experience gained in the defence, microelectronic and consumer product industries at 3 iconic companies; BAE Systems, STMicroelectronics and Dyson respectively.

Early career work pioneered decentralised navigation architectures applied to robotic systems. Latterly, at Dyson, he provided leadership for teams innovating robotic conceptual research. As Product Technical Lead, he managed the application of those innovations to the 360Heurist, Dyson’s second automated vacuum cleaner on World-wide sale.

His public contributions include chairing advisory boards for EPSRC projects on ground-breaking research. These projects have resulted in successful exploitative and highly innovative companies, including SLAMCore and Opteran Technologies.

In 2017, Rob was awarded a RAEng Visiting Professorship at Imperial College. He developed this role to engage with 21 national and 12 international universities. In 2023, he was conferred as Honorary Professor at the School of Engineering, University of Birmingham; and was awarded a FREng by the Royal Academy of Engineering.

In Wales, Rob chairs the International Scientific Board of a Government/ Cardiff University project, IROHMS. Here the schools of engineering, computing/informatics and psychology provide research for innovation through synergy. He has also supported teaching/research at all 8 Welsh Universities.

Rob is particularly interested in how university research and advanced technologies (including AI) can help grow and sustain economies and improve wealth and wellbeing of people in Wales and the World