Robotics Institute Seminar: James R. Forbes (McGill University)

Name: Robotics Institute Seminar: James R. Forbes (McGill University)
Start: 2025-11-21T15:00:00+00:00
End: 2025-11-21T16:00:00+00:00
Location: Myhal Centre for Engineering Innovation & Entrepreneurship, Room 580, or on Zoom

November 21, 2025 @ 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Robot Navigation Using Ultra-Wideband Radio

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Ultra-wideband (UWB) radios technology is capable of generating distance measurements between a pair of transceivers with approximately 10 cm of standard deviation. UWB is inexpensive, lightweight, and can be simultaneously used as a data transfer medium, thus making it particularly attractive for small, mobile robots. UWB can enable both absolute and relative robot navigation, a prerequisite for a variety of multi-robot tasks that require collaboration, such as maintaining a formation or collaboratively exploring a space. This talk will present an overview of recent developments in UWB-based robot navigation. In particular, the use of directional coordinates, as well as the use of multiple UWB transceivers enabling relative position and attitude estimation, will be discussed.

Speaker Bio

James Richard Forbes (Member, IEEE) received the B.A.Sc. degree in mechanical engineering (Honors, Co-op) from the University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada, in 2006, and the M.A.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in aerospace science and engineering from the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies, Toronto, ON, in 2008 and 2011, respectively.

Dr. Forbes is currently a Professor and William Dawson Scholar with the Department of Mechanical Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada. He oversees the Dynamics, Estimation, and Control in Aerospace and Robotics (DECAR) lab. DECAR conducts both theoretical and experimental research in navigation, guidance, and control of robotic systems.

Dr. Forbes is a Member of the Centre for Intelligent Machines, a Member of the Group for Research in Decision Analysis, a Member of the Centre de Recherches Mathématiques, a Member of the Trottier Institute for Sustainability in Engineering and Design, and an Associate Academic Member of Mila. He was the recipient of the McGill Association of Mechanical Engineers Professor of the Year Award in 2016, the Engineering Class of 1944 Outstanding Teaching Award in 2018, the Carrie M. Derick Award for Graduate Supervision and Teaching in 2020, and the Samuel and Ida Fromson Outstanding Teaching Award in Engineering in 2024. He is currently a Senior Editor for the International Journal of Robotics Research (IJRR).

Details

Date:: November 21, 2025
Time:: 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Event Category:: U of T Robotics Institute Seminar Series
Website:: https://robotics.utoronto.ca/seminar-series/

Venue

: Myhal Centre for Engineering Innovation & Entrepreneurship, Room 580, or on Zoom
: 55 St. George Street
Toronto, Ontario M5S 0C9 Canada + Google Map