Dr Ian Howard

My research covers a range of periods in brain development as well as different motor systems: from the acquisition of speech in infants to the learning of novel arm movement in adults. In addition, I have designed and built a range of novel robotic interfaces which have facilitated research both in our laboratory and in groups in the UK and internationally. I have a background in electronic and electrical engineering, speech science and motor neuroscience, which allows me to adopt a multidisciplinary approach.

Qualifications

• Electrical and Electronic Engineering, B.Sc.(Eng.), University College London 
• PhD, Speech Fundamental Period Estimation using Pattern Recognition, University College London
• PostDoc, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge

Professional membership

• Society for the Neural Control of Movement
• Society for Neuroscience
• International Speech Communication Association (ISCA) 
• MIET

Teaching interests

Module leader for:

• AINT351Z Machine Learning
• ROCO219 Control Engineering
• AINT516Z Topics in Advanced Intelligent Robotics 
  

Previously module leader for:

• ROCO224 Introduction to Robotics
• ROCO222 Introduction to Sensors and Actuators
• SOFT561 Robot Software Engineering
• SOFT141 Network Programming

Research interests

I am actively involved in neuroscience research and the study of the human motor system, with particular emphasis on arm and hand movements. This research involves running experiments with people, developing computational models of arm movement control based on control engineering and machine learning approaches

I also design and build physical robotic systems to both investigate and test theories of motor control, as well as building robots to perform useful tasks, with a particular focus on Agri-Tech robots for fruit harvesting.

In addition, I work on speech processing using deep neural networks to estimate characteristics of speech such as characteristics of voicing and estimating the presence of voice pathology.

Links