Torsten Merz

Senior Research Scientist

Contact

QCAT Technology Court
Pullenvale QLD 4069

Tel: 61 7 3327 4123
Fax: 61 7 3327 4455
torsten.Merz@csiro.au

Projects

• Smart Skies
• Airborne Inspection Robot

Science Area

• Robotics

Biography

Torsten Merz studied "Applied Computer Science in the Natural Sciences" at the University of Bielefeld (Germany) and graduated 1995 with the degree of "Diplom-Informatiker".

From 1995 to 2000, he was a research assistant at the Institute for Pattern Recognition at the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg (Germany). In 2000, he completed a doctoral thesis on the topic of model-based analysis of interference patterns and received a doctorate in engineering (Dr.-Ing.) from the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg.

From 2001 to 2005 he was with the Artificial Intelligence and Integrated Computer Systems Division of the Department of Computer and Information Science at Linköping University (Sweden). He joined the division as a Postdoc and later became assistant professor in AI robotics. He was head of the Perception and Control Group which, among others, developed an avionics system for an autonomous mini-helicopter.

In 2006, he joined CSIRO's Autonomous Systems Laboratory. He was leading the development of an aerial robot for power line inspection until the project was merged into the Smart Skies project. Since 2008 he has been acting as technical lead across different aerial robotics projects. Currently, his research focus is on dependable autonomous rotary UAV systems for research applications.