I am currently a Visiting Fellow at the Department of Computer Science. Previously, I was a postdoctoral Senior Research Associate in the project "Robust Integrated Verification of Autonomous Systems (RIVERAS)" at the University of Bristol. As part of RIVERAS, I have developed tools and methodologies to verify control requirements of interest in control systems modelled in Simulink, using automatic theorem proving (SMT solvers), model checking, and assertion checks in simulation. I have also contributed in the exploration of the limits of model checking for the verification of swarm navigation algorithms. Additionally, I have contributed to the fuzzy modelling of vague requirements, and to a formalization of design exploration for autonomous systems.

I also worked in the project "Trustworthy Robotic Assistants (RoboSAFE)", in collaboration with the Bristol Robotics Laboratory. As part of RoboSAFE, I researched the application of established frameworks and methods for comprehensive test-based verification in simulation of robotic software, human-robot simulators in ROS-Gazebo for verification purposes, the use of formal methods and model-based approaches in test generation for human-robot interactions, and experimental setups to validate the verification with real robots. Most recently, I investigated the use of Belief-Desire-Intention agents as models for test generation, representing the agency of software and hardware in a robot, along with the people that interact with the robot.

I obtained my PhD from the University of Sheffield, in the Department of Automatic Control and Systems Engineering, where I worked on improving the self-preservation of robots as part of autonomous navigation tasks by incorporating biologically inspired actions in the trajectory planning and machine learning mechanisms. Prior to this, I read for a BSc in Mechatronics from ITESM CCM, in Mexico City, where I was involved in research projects such as autonomous navigation through neuro-fuzzy controllers and industrial motor control.

My research interests include:

I co-organized the Workshop on Verification of Robots and Autonomous Systems, at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) 2016, Stockholm, Sweden. Link to the webpage

I co-organized and chaired the special session on Verification Methods for Control Systems, at the European Control Conference (ECC) 2016, Aalborg, Denmark.


Contact: Dejanira (dot) Araizaillan (at) bristol (dot) ac (dot) uk


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