Jazz and dance with AI 

Steve Benford is the Dunford Professor of Computer Science at the University of Nottingham where he is a member of the Mixed Reality Lab and Directs the Horizon Centre for Doctoral Training. He is also a keen musician, performing and accompanying traditional tunes on guitar at folks clubs and sessions around Nottingham. He created the Carolan guitar. Prof Steve Benford will accompany traditional-sounding folk tunes on the Carolan guitar and discuss how they were generated and what it feels like to play a supporting role to AI as a human musician.

Ayse Kucukyilmaz is an Assistant Professor in Computer at the University of Nottingham. Her research focus is on human-centered robotics, where she specialises in adjustable autonomy paradigms to enable dynamic switching behaviours between different levels of robotic autonomy (e.g. full human control vs. full autonomy) during shared and traded control, enabling effective human-autonomy teaming. In this talk, Ayse will present her team’s research efforts to develop robotics solutions to make wheelchair mobility more accessible through automating parts of driving experience through shared contro

Craig Vear is Professor of Music and Computer Science at the University of Nottingham split between music and the mixed reality lab. His research is naturally hybrid as he draws together the fields of music, digital performance, creative technologies, Artificial Intelligence, creativity, gaming, mixed reality and robotics. Prior to his commitment to research and academia, Craig was a professional musician. During these 30+ years, he worked with pop acts such as Tom Jones, Roddy Frame, Wolfgang Press, and his own band Cousteau which sold over 300,000 records and received awards.