Best known as the initiator of AIBO, Sony’s robotic pet, and the founder of RoboCup (robotics world cup), Professor Hiroaki Kitano is coming to Luxembourg to give a talk on 11 May about his latest challenge: artificial intelligence (AI) systems that could make major scientific discoveries with minimal or zero human interventions and win a Nobel Prize. 

Part of the “Biology of the 21st century” conference cycle organised by the Association des Biologistes Luxembourgeois (ABIOL), the lecture addresses how systems biology approaches combined with big data and recent breakthroughs in AI could be key to understanding complex systems, from medicine to financial markets. 

Professor Hiroaki Kitano is the president and founder of the Systems Biology Institute in Tokyo, one of the first research institutes dedicated to systems biology. He is also president and CEO of Sony Computer Sciences Laboratory Inc., along with being principle investigator at the Open Biology Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST), and group director at the Laboratory for Disease Systems Modelling, RIKEN Centre for Integrative Medical Sciences. He is a member of the AI and Robotics Council of the World Economic Forum as well.

Professor Kitano studied particle physics (B.A. from the International Christian University, Tokyo) and computer science (Ph.D. from the Kyoto University), in particular artificial intelligence. He is known for developing AIBO, Sony robotic pet, and the robotic world cup tournament known as Robocup. This project aims at developing a team of fully autonomous humanoid robots able to win the FIFA World Cup by 2050.

Professor Kitano started doing research in biosciences in the mid 1990s and advocated “systems biology” with the aim of promoting a systems-oriented view in biology and to introduce more systematic measurements, proper applications of engineering, mathematical, and information science principles into life science.

He received The Computers and Thought Award from the International Joint Conferences on Artificial Intelligence in 1993, Prix Ars Electronica 2000, Design Award 2001 from Japan Inter-Design Forum, Good Design Award 2001 and Nature’s 2009 Japan Mid-Career Award for Creative Mentoring in Science.

The lecture starts at 19:30 in room 3.500 of the Maison du Savoir of the University of Luxembourg’s Belval Campus.