Talks and shows

The magic of motion

An evening with Raffaello D’Andrea, a professor at ETH Zürich and the founder/CEO of Verity, a self-flying drone systems company.

 

Photo by Jelleke Vanooteghem on Unsplash

Small, low-power, and accurate sensors are ubiquitous. For example, a smartphone has multiple cameras that serve as electronic eyes, a 3D depth sensor that measures distance, accelerometers and rate gyros that sense motion, and a compass that senses orientation.

The raw data that sensors generate can be converted to useful information with equally small and extremely powerful processors that can perform computations millions of time faster than a person, without making errors.

So what happens when you combine these capabilities with actuators, such as motors, that can create motion?Nothing short of magic. 

The presentation will include live demonstrations.

Event type

This is a theatre only event where the speakers and audience are together in our Theatre.

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For any queries regarding this event please get in touch by phone 020 7409 2992 or email events@ri.ac.uk.

About the Speaker: Raffaello D'Andrea

A man holds drone
Bret Hartman via TED

Raffaello D’Andrea is a professor at ETH Zürich and the founder/CEO of Verity, a self-flying drone systems company. He cofounded Kiva Systems, which was acquired by Amazon and rebranded as Amazon Robotics. During his time as a professor at Cornell University, he cofounded the systems engineering program and led the Cornell Robot Soccer team to four world championships. He is also a founder of RoboGlobal, a company that introduced the world’s first Robotics and AI Exchange Traded Fund. 

Raffaello work as a new media artist has been exhibited at the Venice Biennale and is part of the permanent collections of the National Gallery of Canada and France’s FRAC Centre. He is the co-creator of the Robotic Chair, a plain-looking wooden chair that falls apart and seems to defy the second law of thermodynamics by reassembling itself. He created the drone design and choreographies for Cirque du Soleil’s Paramour on Broadway and Metallica’s WorldWired tour, and was executive producer for the drone light shows in Drake’s Aubrey & the Three Migos tour, Céline Dion’s Courage tour, and Justin Bieber’s Justice tour. 

In 2020 Raffaello was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame and was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Engineering. His TED and research videos, with tens of millions of views, offer an inspiring view into the world of engineering, robotics, and computer science.

Timing

Doors to the theatre will open at 6.45pm and the talk will begin at 7.00pm.

Accessibility

The event will take place on the first floor and there is step-free access from the street via lift.

The closest underground station is Green Park, which is step-free.

There is space at floor level in the theatre for wheelchair users.

Seating is usually unreserved for our events. If you and your group require seating reservations, please do let us know by emailing us at events@ri.ac.uk, and we’ll be more than happy to help.

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Our theatre is equipped with an Audio Induction Loop. 

Covid guidelines

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