Martin Smith is a former Professor of Robotics at Middlesex University[1] in north London, UK. He is also a former President of the Cybernetics Society in the UK (1999–2020).[2]
Smith was awarded Freedom of the City of London,[3] [1] and was awarded the Public Awareness of Physics Award by the Institute of Physics.[3]
Smith has appeared on many television programmes: as a technical presenter on the BBC television programme Techno Games [3] and as a judge on Robot Wars from the third series having previously competed in the first two series. He was a judge and programme consultant on Channel 4's Scrapheap Challenge [3] [1] and technical presenter on Granada TV's Mutant Machines.[3] [1] He has also appeared on Tomorrow's World,[3] Tomorrow's World Live at the NEC,[3] and the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures series entitled The Rise of Robots.[3] [1]
Smith is a member of the editorial boards of Kybernetes: The International Journal of Cybernetics and Systems,[4] 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.[5]
He has held posts as Visiting Research Professor in Robotics at the Open University,[3] Professor at the University of Central England UK, (now Birmingham City University)[1] [3] and at the University of East London (UK)[3] where he was founder and Head of the Mobile Robots Research Unit.[1]