EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Agri-Food Robotics: AgriFoRwArdS - Garry Clawson

Garry Clawson

  • University of Cambridge in collaboration with Dyson Farming

Research Interests

Garry’s research interests focus on food supply chain, traceability, and nutritional delivery

ORCiD: 0000-0003-0315-4147.

Publications

Presentations

  • International Computer Music Conference 2022 (July 2022): Towards Open Source Hardware Robotic Woodwind: an Internal Duct Flute Player
  • UK Robotics and Autonomous Systems Conference 2022 (September 2022): Blockchain Crop Assurance and Localisation
  • 23rd Towards Autonomous Robotics Systems (TAROS) Conference 2022 (September 2022): Blockchain Crop Assurance and Localisation
  • IEEE/SICE International Symposium on System Integration (SII) Conference 2023 (January 2023): Applications of Distributed Ledger Technologies in Robotics

Posters

  • AgriFoRwArdS CDT Annual Conference 2022 (June 2022): Applications of Distributed Ledger Technologies in Robotics.
  • UK Robotics and Autonomous Systems Conference 2022 (September 2022): SUB-SPARC: Investigation of Imperfect Teachers.
  • Institute for Manufacturing, University of Cambridge First Year PhD Conference 2023 (May 2023): Designing Food Supply Chain for Nutritional Delivery and Traceability.
  • The Towards Autonomous Robots and Systems (TAROS) Conference 2023 / CDT Annual Conference / Joint Robotics CDT Conference (September 2023): Designing Food Supply Chain for Nutritional Delivery and Traceability.

Policy

Prizes

  • Best Question Award at the AgriFoRwArdS CDT Annual Conference 2021
  • Best Poster Award at the AgriFoRwArdS CDT Annual Conference 2022
  • Best Paper Award at the 5th UK Robotics and Autonomous Systems Conference 2022
  • IMechE Whitworth Senior Scholarship Award 2022
  • First Prize for Management Track Presentation, Institute for Manufacturing, University of Cambridge First Year PhD Conference 2023

Other Activities and Outputs

  • Member of the AgriFoRwArdS CDT Advisory Board
  • Member of the AgriFoRwArdS CDT EDI Panel
  • Cohort 3 representative on AgriFoRwArdS CDT Student Panel
  • Panel member for the November 2021 AgriFoRwArdS Seminar Series with Prof Dionysis Bochtis, watch here.
  • Panel member for the February 2022 AgriFoRwArdS Seminar Series with Dr Mark Ryan, watch here.
  • Panel member for the May 2022 AgriFoRwArdS Seminar Series with Ali Capper, National Farmers Union, watch here.
  • Panel member for the June 2022 AgriFoRwArdS Seminar Series with Prof Megan Povey, University of Leeds, watch here.
  • Chaired the March 2022 AgriFoRwArdS Seminar Series with Ayse Kucukyilmaz, watch here.
  • Represented the CDT at the Douglas Bomford Trust bi-annual meeting (Mar 2022)
  • Represented the CDT at the school outreach University of Lincoln British Science Week event (Mar 2022)
  • Represented the CDT at the University of Lincoln, Boston College: Institute of Technology outreach event (June 2022)
  • Lead on the AgriFoRwArdS CDT student blog
  • Lead on the CDT/L-CAS submission for the UKRAS RoboLab Live 2022, watch here
  • Committee member – University of Cambridge, IfM, First Year PhD Conference 2023
  • Committee member – University of Cambridge, IfM, IRRG Agri-Food Supply Chain Resilience Workshop 2023
  • Member of the Institute for Manufacturing First Year PhD Conference 2023 Conference organising committee
  • Project featured in Hackaday Magazine.
  • Project received an official CERN-OHL-W (open hardware) license.

About me

Garry joined the Institute for Manufacturing (IfM), Industrial Resilience Research Group in 2022 as a PhD candidate under the supervision of Dr Mukesh Kumar being advised by Professor Chander Velu. Garry’s research is in the domain of food security focusing on nutrient supply chain design through the lens of configuration theory. Garry holds a BSc (Hons) in Computer Science and an MSc in Robotics and Autonomous Systems from the University of Lincoln. Garry is a recipient of the IMechE Whitworth Senior Scholarship Award and Alec Dyson Studentship in Engineering supported by the Dyson Foundation. Garry’s research is enabled by the AgriFoRwArdS Centre for Doctoral Training, an EPSRC funded programme which specialises in Agri-Food Robotics.

MSc Project

Applications of Distributed Ledger Technologies in Robotics

Increased farm level robotisation driven by the fourth agricultural revolution has focused research on distributed ledger technologies (DLT) to investigate how trust in robotics and autonomous systems can be enhanced through decentralised frameworks for decision making and consensus building. Applications in agri-tech, industrial, embedded, and multi-robot systems have seen some growth in the adoption of DLTs. However, implementations are currently ad-hoc and held back due to limited middleware availability and no standardised technology readiness level available to identify DLT maturity. This project aims to address this gap through the development of a novel Blockchain Readiness Level (BRL) and an associative middleware DLT bridge.

PhD Project

Designing Food Supply Chain for Nutritional Delivery and Traceability

More than 2 billion people do not have regular access to sufficient food; over 30% of the global population are estimated to suffer from some type of nutritional deficiency, while global food volume production has increased 25% over the last 20 years. There is a global paradox of undernourishment and overproduction.

To address this challenge, this research focuses on the intersection of supply chain, traceability, and nutritional delivery. It aims to explore the combination of theory and practice on developing and understanding relationships between supply chain design and product functionality within the context of food supply chain and nutrition.

Garry’s PhD project is being carried out in collaboration with Dyson Farming, with primary supervision by Dr Mukesh Kumar.