Staying humble
Doing these types of articles, you’ll typically at some point cover the researcher’s career highlights, or what they’re most proud of to leave behind as part of their scientific legacy. Lazaros’ response to this question, however, is anything but typical. The statement he would like to leave behind for the world of research is, that hard work is at least as large as big brains, elaborating: “I don’t think a successful research career is just about being smart, but an equally important ingredient is working hard and being there every day”. He acknowledges, that this might not be the inspiring quotation the reader would be hoping for from an article like this, but consistency is key in the long run.
For the interviewer’s sake, Lazaros adds, that staying humble and realizing that there will always be more things you don’t know, than things you do actually know, is part of what has gotten him this far in his career.
Lazaros did his bachelor in physics, but his curiosity went beyond physics, so he decided to switch to electronics engineering, then realizing that his curiosity was still not satisfied; he was fascinated by the world of AI, robotics, and machines that can work for themselves. That is when he decided to do a PhD on this.
Curiosity
Lazaros attributes large parts of his scientific journey to his curiosity. This curiosity has amongst other things led him to switch between fields throughout his career. Some might think this would be a bad thing, because switching fields means, you need to “start over”, to Lazaros though, switching fields was a way to keep his excitement levels for the science high enough to keep on pushing.
The professor is not only curious about the science itself, but also the people in the field. He considers himself very privileged to have met some remarkable people with unique skills throughout his years in research. He tries to learn from everyone he meets along the way, adding that even non-scientific personnel can teach people like him a thing or two.
Becoming a professor in a different country than his home country was quite important to Lazaros. He explains, that it is quite a big deal, being able to go to a different country and joining a society he likes, as well as being able to operate within that society to a level, at which people would let him continue developing in an upward spiral. Adding, that this too has to do with learning and taking in all of the best parts of the people or the environment you’re in.
Cool factor
Lazaros’ interest in autonomous systems initially came from a children's curiosity about something fascinating, and cool, and how far you can push the game. Maturing and growing up, he realized that technological progress will probably never stop, and that he needed to make a choice. He could work to make this technological progress more human- and planet-friendly, or he could just let it grow the way some others want it to grow.
He decided that his way of having an impact on how technology will influence his children, is through being a part of it. Asked about what then drives him in the field of autonomous systems today, the answer is a mix. The curiosity is still there. Excitement, play, finding out, and being surprised. But at the same time Lazaros explains that all this playing around also means, that he can actually have a positive impact on the world.
The privilege of teaching
A part of the joy of the job as a professor comes from interacting with other people, who also wish to make an impact on the world. Interacting with clever, eager, young people is some of what makes it all worth it to Lazaros.
Teaching and getting people to understand, is part of why Lazaros does what he does. He says, that he gets energy from teaching, and that there is so much reward in seeing the spark in students’ eyes, when they understand something, “if you can help them? I think that's invaluable”.
The future of the field
Lazaros reflects on the field and thinks, that we are now at a point in time, where AI has made huge progress. However, now that pure AI has made great strides, he thinks that robotics are still in a situation, where they are not fully taking advantage of these new capabilities. The professor thinks, that the future in automation will be having intelligent autonomous robots, that will be able to interact with the physical world in ways as exciting as ChatGPT can interact with text. So if we have an assistant on our screen helping us do our homework, we should in the near future have a physical assistant in our living room helping us with the household.
“All the difficult, mundane and unhealthy work tasks, that humans need to do today, can be replaced by such autonomous machines, and one can start thinking about which other tasks can be handled by robots”.
Lazaros predicts, that we will start relieving ourselves from the difficult and unhealthy tasks, while at the same time sparing the environment.
For example in agriculture, we need to cultivate huge amounts of land to produce food for humanity, and since human labor cannot fully cater to that amount of space - at least if they are to be paid a living wage - you would resort to non-sustainable solutions like chemicals.
Lazaros states, however, that in the near future we can have robots that can do this human-like labor, which we can't afford to do ourselves. “We could have robots, which could autonomously remove weeds with their hands, as my grandfather would have done, instead of just needing to spray the whole thing with chemicals”.
The professor thinks, that we as humans at any given point in time have had a tendency to feel like we knew everything, and that there's little more in this world to find, but as he states, there are always ways in which the world is surprising us. Then, people tend to ask the question “Why open up and explore entirely new areas of research, when we have such big problems already, which need solving”. Lazaros says, that he’s heard plenty of responses to that question, but that the one i he bought was, that it is human nature to be curious about what we don't know, and if we always focus on the little things that are wrong are need solving, we will never have time to focus on the bigger things.
Lazaros also thinks, this is true about trying to make artificial versions of ourselves. To him, autonomous systems can assist us, by being an extension of ourselves, that doesn't need to have a lifespan of 80 years, doesn't need to be fragile to heat or radiation for example, and can extend our capabilities beyond what's possible now.
Creating these robots that think and behave like us, and can open up a world of possibilities to us is, to Lazaros, a part of our DNA as humans, and to the child in each of us - even if we don’t know, what the purpose of it is right now,it would just be cool to try it out. He thinks, this curiosity is what drives us as humankind - and at the very least, it is what has driven Lazaros himself this far.
Inaugural lecture
Under the title “Autonomous Systems for the Benefit of Society”, Professor Lazaros Nalpantidis will cover, how autonomous systems are entering our working, urban, and domestic environments, and will revolutionize our society—the way we live, work, and interact. With the ability to make decisions and perform tasks without human intervention, these systems are driving innovation and growth across industries by improving efficiency, safety, and sustainability. Ultimately, autonomous systems can help our society achieve the goal of the twin—green & digital—transition.
In his lecture, Lazaros will discuss how research can pave the way toward Autonomous Systems. He argues that robust perception is the key to this direction and that the way to achieve it is through the incorporation of artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques for adapting and coping with unforeseen situations.
Profile
Professor Lazaros Nalpantidis received his BSc (2003) and MSc (2005) from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece and his PhD (2010) in Robot Vision from Democritus University of Thrace, Greece.
Subsequently, he worked as a post-doctoral researcher at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Sweden. In 2012, he moved to Aalborg University in Copenhagen, where he worked as Assistant Professor, and later Associate Professor and Head of Section.
Since 2019, Lazaros has been with DTU initially as Associate and now as Full Professor. Lazaros’ academic interests focus on Autonomous Systems, lying at the intersection of robotics, AI and perception. Within the field of Autonomous Systems, Lazaros has exhibited a remarkable track of achievements both in research and teaching, promoting the field within Denmark and internationally.
We hope you will all join us for Lazaros’ inaugural lecture on Friday, March 24th at 15:00, in Room M1, building 101, Anker Engelundsvej, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby.
The lecture will be followed by a reception.
We look forward to celebrating Lazaros and seeing all of you.
