Professor Marc Hanheide

Professor Marc Hanheide is Director of the Lincoln Centre for Autonomous Systems (L-CAS) at the University of Lincoln, UK, where he leads a team of around 50 researchers in robotics and autonomous systems. After receiving his PhD from Bielefeld University, Germany, in 2006, he held positions at Bielefeld and the University of Birmingham before joining Lincoln in 2012, where he now serves as Professor of Intelligent Robotics & Interactive Systems.

His research focuses on enabling long-term autonomy and adaptation in robotic systems that operate "in the wild" alongside humans. As Principal Investigator on numerous large-scale projects funded by the EU, EPSRC, and Innovate UK, he has pioneered approaches for robust robot navigation, human-robot spatial interaction, and system integration. He currently directs the world's first EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Agri-Food Robotics (AgriFoRwArdS) and leads major initiatives in agricultural robotics, including the "Robot Highways" project developing autonomous fleet management for crop monitoring and harvesting. His work spans multiple domains including agriculture, logistics, nuclear decommissioning, and service robotics.

Professor Hanheide has published over 130 peer-reviewed papers and secured more than £10M in research funding as PI. He is passionate about public engagement in robotics research and regularly features in national media. Through his leadership of L-CAS and involvement in projects like STRANDS, ILIAD and the National Centre for Nuclear Robotics, he continues to advance the integration of autonomous systems into real-world environments where they can work safely and effectively alongside humans.

Long-Term Autonomy, Agri-Robotics, Robotic Navigation and Mapping, Human-Robot Interaction.