Florian Shkurti is an assistant professor in computer science at the University of Toronto, where he leads the Robot Vision and Learning lab (http://rvl.cs.toronto.edu/). He is a faculty member of the University of Toronto Robotics Institute, the Acceleration Consortium, and a faculty affiliate at Vector Institute. His research group develops methods that enable robots to perceive, reason, plan, and act effectively and safely, particularly in dynamic environments and alongside humans. Application areas of his research include mobile manipulation robotics for chemistry lab automation, field robotics for environmental monitoring, and visual navigation for autonomous vehicles. He is the recipient of the Alexander Graham Bell Doctoral Award, the Amazon Research Award in Robotics, the Connaught New Researcher Award, and the TRI Young Faculty Researcher award.
AI2050 Project
Florian’s AI2050 project aims to revolutionize materials discovery by developing autonomous, “self-driving” labs that integrate advanced AI and robotics. Current lab experimentation is slow, prone to errors, and not scalable for exploring the vast chemical space of potential new materials. This approach involves creating AI-driven methods for efficiently generating hypotheses about chemical properties, developing machine learning models for predicting the behavior of challenging lab materials like liquids and powders, and equipping robots with the ability to safely manipulate these materials. These innovations promise to greatly speed up and lower the cost of discovering new materials, improving drug discovery and energy storage.