martin smith was born and studied in london uk and is professor of robotics at middlesex university in north london he is also president of the cybernetics society in the uk he has held posts as visiting research professor in robotics at the open university professor at the university of central england in birmingham uk and at the university of east london uk where he was founder and head of the mobile robots research unithe has appeared on over 300 tv programmes including as a technical presenter on the bbc television programme techno games and as a judge on robot wars he was a judge and programme consultant on channel 4s scrapheap challenge and technical presenter on granada tvs mutant machines he has also appeared on tomorrows world tomorrows world live at the nec and the royal institution christmas lectures series entitled the rise of robots he is a member of the editorial boards of kybernetes the international journal of cybernetics systems the international journal of advanced robotic systems the international journal of applied systemic studies the international journal of general systems and the international journal of social robotics he is a director of the world organisation of systems and cybernetics and a former registrant on the uk register of expert witnesseshe is a chartered physicist a chartered engineer a european engineer eur ing a fellow of the institute of physics a fellow of the institution of engineering and technology a fellow of the royal astronomical society a fellow of the royal society of arts a fellow of the institute of leadership and management a fellow of the cybernetics society and a senior member of the institute of electrical and electronic engineers usa he is a member of the society for the study of artificial intelligence and the simulation of behaviour he is a past member of the lunar society and a former fellow of the royal institutionhe presented his silvanus p thompson lecture homo sapiens to robo sapiens the future of artificial life robots and humans to 45 iee institution of electrical engineers now the iet the institution of engineering and technology centres in the uk eire the hague holland and at cern the european organization for nuclear research in genevahe was awarded freedom of the city of london and was awarded the public awareness of physics award by the institute of physicshe was a member of council of the iee for six years chairman of the iee london centre chairman of the engineering council london regional organisation representing londons 7200 registered engineers and a member of the engineering council standing committee for the regions and assemblyrobot projects he has led have been demonstrated to hrh the duke of edinburgh the house of commons the science museum london the launch of the year of engineering success the think tank at birmingham and roboshop imperial collegehe was awarded the contract to develop three educational robots to go into schools to inspire primary school children to learn about waste reduction reuse and recycling for the educational charity waste watch which is part of the keep britain tidy campaign the robot campaign started in 1994 and continues to run as of december 2014 the robots have performed in thousands of schools and have been seen by over two million children over the twenty year period it is believed that this is the largest programme of interaction between primary school children and robots in the world1 2 3 4 5 6 7he has acted as expert commentator for bbc2 tv news and sky news he was a monthly feature page writer for a popular high street robotics magazine and has written articles for magazines and newspapers he regularly provides answers to science questions on james obriens mystery hour which is broadcast nationally live on lbc on thursdays from 1200 to 100he has been an invited speaker for the cardiff scientific society the robocup national competition finals the chartered institute of patent attorneys the think tank at birmingham iee setpoint the institute of physics the hampstead scientific society the institution of mechanical engineers the british association for the advancement of science robotix 97 glasgow he was awarded the 2004 ieeraesimeche sir isaac newton annual prestige lectureship he was a member of the debating panel in the kings college london 175th anniversary debate presenting his view in opposition to the view presented by the rev dr john polkinghorne kbe frs