CISE Seminar: Tobias Fischer, Associate Professor, Queensland University of Technology

Visual Place Recognition: Navigating Without GPS Using Bio-Inspired Approaches

Knowing your location is fundamental to navigation – for humans, animals, and autonomous systems alike. But how can robots determine their position with confidence and precision in environments where satellite systems are unavailable or unreliable? The central theme of this talk explores Visual Place Recognition (VPR), which is the ability to recognize previously visited locations using only visual data. I will demonstrate how energy-efficient approaches using event-based cameras and spiking neural networks can provide low-power edge devices with location information with superior energy efficiency, adaptability, and data efficiency. Beyond this central theme and depending on audience preferences, I can also talk about our work on underwater perception for reef restoration, and about RoboStack, a powerful tool to run the Robot Operating System (ROS) on any operating system (Linux, MacOS, Windows, or even your browser!).

Tobias Fischer is a Senior Lecturer (US: Associate Professor) and ARC DECRA Fellow at the Queensland University of Technology. He conducts research in robot localisation and underwater perception, blending neuroscience and robotics to push the boundaries of intelligent systems operating under resource constraints. Dr Fischer has secured over $3M in competitive funding, and currently is a Chief Investigator of the $1.3M Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program and the $700k Queensland Quantum Technologies Talent Building Program, with previous grants from Intel Labs and Amazon. He obtained a PhD from Imperial College and has published 50 papers in prestigious venues including PAMI, TRO, CVPR, ECCV, ICCV, IJCAI, ICRA, and IROS. Dr Fischer received the UK Best PhD in Robotics Award and several best paper and best poster awards. He has been serving as an Area Chair / Associate Editor for leading conferences (ICRA/IROS/RSS) and journals (RAL). As a co-chair of the IEEE-RAS Women in Engineering Committee, he actively promotes gender diversity in STEM. His PhD students have gone on to successful careers as Assistant Professor, Research Scientists, and Research Fellows.

Faculty Host: John Baillieul

Student Host: Onur Okuducu