Dr Sean Anderson
School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Senior Lecturer
s.anderson@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 5608
+44 114 222 5608
Amy Johnson Building
Full contact details
Dr Sean Anderson
School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Amy Johnson Building
Portobello Street
Sheffield
S1 3JD
School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Amy Johnson Building
Portobello Street
Sheffield
S1 3JD
- Profile
-
Dr Sean Anderson is a senior lecturer in the Department of Automatic Control and Systems Engineering, University of Sheffield; He received the MEng degree in Control Systems Engineering from the Department of Automatic Control and Systems Engineering, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, U.K., in 2001, and the PhD degree from the Department of Chemical and Process Engineering, University of Sheffield, in 2005.
He then moved to the Centre for Signal Processing in Neuroimaging and Systems Neuroscience at the Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield, where he worked as a Research Associate from 2005-2010. He moved to the Department of Automatic Control and Systems Engineering in 2010 where he is currently pursuing research themes in bioinspired robotics as well as adaptive and optimal control in biological systems.
- Research interests
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- Linear, Nonliner and Spatiotemporal System Identification
- Robotics and Biomechatronics
- Theoretical Neuroscience and Computational Biology
Research Experience
- Research Associate in Complex Systems and Signal Processing Group, Dept of ACSE, Univ of Sheffield, 2010-2011.
- EU FP7 project "Biomimetic Technology for Vibrissal Active Touch" (Biotact), 2009-2010.
- EPSRC project "Functions of Distributed Plasticity in a Biologically-Inspired Adaptive Control Algorithm: From Electrophysiology to Robotics" (Eyerobot), 2005-2008.
- Publications
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Journal articles
- Hybrid metric‐topological localization for robots in pipe networks. Journal of Field Robotics, 42(3), 806-826. View this article in WRRO
- Acoustic echo sensing for robot localization in buried pipe networks. IEEE Sensors Journal, 24(16), 26506-26521. View this article in WRRO
- Sensor placement for data assimilation of turbulence models using eigenspace perturbations. Physics of Fluids, 36, 015144. View this article in WRRO
- Interpretable deep learning for nonlinear system identification using frequency response functions With ensemble uncertainty quantification. IEEE Access, 12, 11052-11065. View this article in WRRO
- Robotic sensing for buried pipes with sound waves. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 154(4_supplement), A68-A68.
- Plant leaf deep semantic segmentation and a novel benchmark dataset for morning glory plant harvesting. Neurocomputing, 555. View this article in WRRO
- Visual simultaneous localisation and mapping for sewer pipe networks leveraging cylindrical regularity. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 8(6), 3406-3413. View this article in WRRO
- A robust method for approximate visual robot localization in feature-sparse sewer pipes. Frontiers of Robotics and AI, 10. View this article in WRRO
- Microphone array analysis for simultaneous condition detection, localization, and classification in a pipe. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 153(1), 367-383. View this article in WRRO
- Fast tube model predictive control for driverless cars using linear data-driven models. IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology.
- Simultaneous localization and mapping for inspection robots in water and sewer pipe networks: a review. IEEE Access, 9, 140173-140198. View this article in WRRO
- Linear System Identification Versus Physical Modeling of Lateral-Longitudinal Vehicle Dynamics. IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology, 29(3), 1380-1387.
- Assessing ground support of plastic pipes using ultrasound. Infrastructures, 6(2). View this article in WRRO
- A multizone cerebellar chip for bioinspired adaptive robot control and sensorimotor processing. Journal of The Royal Society Interface, 18(174).
- Robot localization in water pipes using acoustic signals and pose graph optimization.. Sensors, 20(19).
- Longitudinal vehicle dynamics : a comparison of physical and data-driven models under large-scale real-world driving conditions. IEEE Access, 8, 73714-73729. View this article in WRRO
- World statistics drive learning of cerebellar internal models in adaptive feedback control : a case study using the optokinetic reflex. Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience, 14(1). View this article in WRRO
- Sensorimotor maps can be dynamically calibrated using an adaptive-filter model of the cerebellum. PLoS Computational Biology, 15(7). View this article in WRRO
- Frequency-domain analysis for nonlinear systems with time-domain model parameter uncertainty. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 64(5), 1905-1915. View this article in WRRO
- Sparse Bayesian Nonlinear System Identification using Variational Inference. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 63(12), 4172-4187. View this article in WRRO
- Simultaneous Force Regression and Movement Classification of Fingers via Surface EMG within a Unified Bayesian Framework. Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology. View this article in WRRO
- Integrating Brain and Biomechanical Models—A New Paradigm for Understanding Neuro-muscular Control. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 12, 1-33. View this article in WRRO
- Frequency and function in the basal ganglia: the origins of beta and gamma band activity
. Journal of Physiology, 595(13), 4525-4548. View this article in WRRO
- Target-distractor synchrony affects performance in a novel motor task for studying action selection. PLoS One, 12(5). View this article in WRRO
- Cerebellar-inspired algorithm for adaptive control of nonlinear dielectric elastomer-based artificial muscle.. Interface, 13(122). View this article in WRRO
- Spatiotemporal System Identification With Continuous Spatial Maps and Sparse Estimation.. IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems, 26(11), 2978-2983. View this article in WRRO
- Biohybrid Control of General Linear Systems Using the Adaptive Filter Model of Cerebellum.. Frontiers in Neurorobotics, 9. View this article in WRRO
- Mechanics of mouse ocular motor plant quantified by optogenetic techniques. Journal of Neurophysiology, 114(3), 1455-1467. View this article in WRRO
- Control-focused, nonlinear and time-varying modelling of dielectric elastomer actuators with frequency response analysis. Smart Materials and Structures, 24(5). View this article in WRRO
- A zebrafish compound screen reveals modulation of neutrophil reverse migration as an anti-inflammatory mechanism.. Sci Transl Med, 6(225), 225ra29.
- An adaptive filter model of cerebellar zone C3 as a basis for safe limb control?. Journal of Physiology, 591(22), 5459-5474. View this article in WRRO
- Computational system identification for Bayesian NARMAX modelling. Automatica, 49(9), 2641-2651.
- Adaptive filters and internal models: Multilevel description of cerebellar function. Neural Networks, 47, 134-149.
- An internal model architecture for novelty detection: implications for cerebellar and collicular roles in sensory processing.. PLoS One, 7(9), e44560-e44560.
- Repelled from the wound, or randomly dispersed? Reverse migration behaviour of neutrophils characterized by dynamic modelling.. J R Soc Interface, 9(77), 3229-3239.
- Drift-Diffusion Analysis of Neutrophil Migration during Inflammation Resolution in a Zebrafish Model.. Adv Hematol, 2012, 792163.
- Structure detection and parameter estimation for NARX models in a unified EM framework. Automatica.
- The neutrophil's eye-view: Inference and visualisation of the chemoattractant field driving cell chemotaxis in vivo. Plos One, 7(4).
- A Data-Driven Framework for Identifying Nonlinear Dynamic Models of Genetic Parts. ACS SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY, 1(8), 375-384.
- Adaptive cancelation of self-generated sensory signals in a whisking robot. IEEE Transactions on Robotics, 26(6), 1065-1076.
- An iterative Kalman smoother/least-squares algorithm for the identification of delta-ARX models. INT J SYST SCI, 41(7), 839-851.
- Nonlinear Dynamic Modeling of Isometric Force Production in Primate Eye Muscle. IEEE T BIO-MED ENG, 57(7), 1554-1567.
- Predictive control of fast-sampled systems using the delta-operator. INT J SYST SCI, 40(7), 745-756.
- Cerebellar-inspired adaptive control of a robot eye actuated by pneumatic artificial muscles.. IEEE Trans Syst Man Cybern B Cybern, 39(6), 1420-1433.
- Dynamics of primate oculomotor plant revealed by effects of abducens microstimulation.. J Neurophysiol, 101(6), 2907-2923.
- Maximum-likelihood estimation of delta-domain model parameters from noisy output signals. IEEE T SIGNAL PROCES, 56(8), 3765-3770.
- System identification from multiple short-time-duration signals.. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng, 54(12), 2205-2213.
- Modelling and identification of non-linear deterministic systems in the delta-domain. AUTOMATICA, 43(11), 1859-1868.
- Multi-objective optimization of operational variables in a waste incineration plant. COMPUT CHEM ENG, 29(5), 1121-1130.
- Constructing informative Bayesian map priors: A multi-objective optimisation approach applied to indoor occupancy grid mapping. The International Journal of Robotics Research. View this article in WRRO
Book chapters
- A Hybrid RANS-LES Dataset for Data-Driven Turbulent Mean Flow Reconstruction, Proceedings of the Cambridge Unsteady Flow Symposium 2024 (pp. 121-133). Springer Nature Switzerland
- Interpretable Deep Learning for System Identification Using Nonlinear Output Frequency Response Functions, Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing (pp. 361-366). Springer Nature Switzerland
- The robot vibrissal system: Understanding mammalian sensorimotor co-ordination through biomimetics In Krieger P & Groh A (Ed.), Sensorimotor Integration in the Whisker System (pp. 213-240). New York: Springer. View this article in WRRO
Conference proceedings
- A deep learning benchmark analysis of the publicly available WRc dataset for sewer defect classification. Proceedings of 21st Computing & Control for the Water Industry Conference (CCWI 2025). Sheffield, UK, 1 September 2025 - 1 September 2025. View this article in WRRO
- Feature detection and classification in buried pipes using LiDAR technology. Proceedings of the The 21st International Computing & Control in the Water Industry Conference,, CCWI 2025. Sheffield, UK, 1 September 2025 - 1 September 2025. View this article in WRRO
- Improving Motor Imagery-Based Brain-Computer Interfaces with Simple EEG Data Augmentation Algorithms: A Comparative Analysis. 2024 IEEE International Conference on Metrology for eXtended Reality, Artificial Intelligence and Neural Engineering (MetroXRAINE) (pp 423-428), 21 October 2024 - 23 October 2024.
- Aerodynamic shape optimisation using a machine learning-augmented turbulence model. AIAA SCITECH 2024 Forum. Orlando, FL, USA, 8 January 2024 - 8 January 2024. View this article in WRRO
- A priori sensor placement strategy for turbulent mean flow reconstruction using parametric model perturbations. AIAA SCITECH 2024 Forum. Orlando, FL, USA, 8 January 2024 - 8 January 2024. View this article in WRRO
- Holistic self-distillation with the squeeze and excitation network for fine-grained plant pathology classification. 2023 26th International Conference on Information Fusion Proceedings. Charleston, SC, USA, 27 June 2023 - 27 June 2023. View this article in WRRO
- A deep learning method with cross dropout focal loss function for imbalanced semantic segmentation. 2022 Sensor Data Fusion: Trends, Solutions, Applications (SDF) Proceedings. Bonn, Germany, 12 October 2022 - 12 October 2022. View this article in WRRO
- An open-source adjoint-based field inversion tool for data-driven RANS modelling. AIAA AVIATION 2022 Forum(2022). Chicago, IL, USA (and online), 27 June 2022 - 27 June 2022. View this article in WRRO
- Turbulent mean flow reconstruction based on sparse multi-sensor data and adjoint-based field inversion. AIAA AVIATION 2022 Forum. Chicago, IL, USA (and online), 27 June 2022 - 27 June 2022. View this article in WRRO
- Assessing the feasibility of monocular visual simultaneous localization and mapping for live sewer pipes : a field robotics study. 2021 20th International Conference on Advanced Robotics (ICAR) (pp 1073-1078). Virtual conference, 6 December 2021 - 6 December 2021. View this article in WRRO
- Robust top-down and bottom-up visual saliency for mobile robots using bio-inspired design principles. 2021 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) (pp 8444-8449). Prague, Czech Republic, 27 September 2021 - 27 September 2021. View this article in WRRO
- Improving SLAM in pipe networks by leveraging cylindrical regularity. TAROS 2021: Towards Autonomous Robotic Systems, Vol. 13054 (pp 56-65). Lincoln, UK (virtual conference), 8 September 2021 - 8 September 2021. View this article in WRRO
- Toward robust visual odometry using prior 2D map information and multiple hypothesis particle filtering. Towards Autonomous Robotic Systems; 22nd Annual Conference, TAROS 2021, Lincoln, UK, September 8–10, 2021, Proceedings(13054) (pp 188-192). Lincoln, UK (virtual conference), 8 September 2021 - 8 September 2021. View this article in WRRO
- Robust efficient localization of robots in pipe networks using a particle filter for hybrid metric-topological space. Proceedings of 2021 European Conference on Mobile Robots (ECMR). Bonn, Germany, 31 August 2021 - 31 August 2021. View this article in WRRO
- Robot Localization in a Pipe Network using a Particle Filter with Error Detection and Recovery in a Hybrid Metric-Topological Space. 2021 IEEE International Conference on Multisensor Fusion and Integration for Intelligent Systems (MFI) (pp 1-8), 23 September 2021 - 25 September 2021.
- Topological robot localization in a large-scale water pipe network. Towards Autonomous Robotic Systems 21st Annual Conference, TAROS 2020, Nottingham, UK, September 16, 2020, Proceedings, Vol. 12228 (pp 77-89). Nottingham, UK, 16 September 2020 - 16 September 2020. View this article in WRRO
- Acoustic echo-localization for pipe inspection robots. 2020 IEEE International Conference on Multisensor Fusion and Integration for Intelligent Systems (MFI), Vol. 2020 (pp 160-165). Karlsruhe, Germany, 14 September 2020 - 14 September 2020. View this article in WRRO
- Topological robot localization in a pipe network. UKRAS20 Conference: “Robots into the real world” Proceedings (pp 59-60). Online conference, 17 April 2020 - 17 April 2020. View this article in WRRO
- Visual saliency with foveated images for fast object detection and recognition in mobile robots using low-power embedded GPUs. Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Advanced Robotics (ICAR) (pp 773-778). Belo Horizonte, Brazil, 2 December 2019 - 2 December 2019. View this article in WRRO
- Foveated image processing for faster object detection and recognition in embedded systems using deep convolutional neural networks. Biomimetic and Biohybrid Systems (pp 193-204), 9 July 2019 - 12 July 2019.
- Linear system identification of longitudinal vehicle dynamics versus nonlinear physical modelling. Proceedings of 2018 UKACC 12th International Conference on Control (CONTROL) (pp 146-151). Sheffield, UK, 5 September 2018 - 5 September 2018. View this article in WRRO
- A Data-Driven Framework for Identifying Tropical Wetland Model. 2018 UKACC 12th International Conference on Control (CONTROL) (pp 242-247), 5 September 2018 - 7 September 2018.
- Compact Deep Neural Networks for Computationally Efficient Gesture Classification From Electromyography Signals. 2018 7th IEEE International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics (Biorob) View this article in WRRO
- Top-down bottom-up visual saliency for mobile robots using deep neural networks and task-independent feature maps. Towards Autonomous Robotic Systems, Vol. 10965 (pp 489-490). Bristol, UK, 25 July 2018 - 25 July 2018. View this article in WRRO
- Compact Deep Neural Networks for Computationally Efficient Gesture Classification From Electromyography Signals. 2018 7TH IEEE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON BIOMEDICAL ROBOTICS AND BIOMECHATRONICS (BIOROB2018) (pp 891-896)
- PipeSLAM: Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping in Feature Sparse Water Pipes using the Rao-Blackwellised Particle Filter. 2017 IEEE International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics (AIM). Munich, Germany View this article in WRRO
- Feather-Inspired Sensor for Stabilizing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Turbulent Conditions (pp 230-241)
- Exploiting dream-like simulation mechanisms to develop safer agents for automated driving: The “Dreams4Cars” EU research and innovation action. 2017 IEEE 20th International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITSC) (pp 1-6), 16 October 2017 - 19 October 2017.
- Robot mapping and localisation in metal water pipes using hydrophone induced vibration and map alignment by dynamic time warping. 2017 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) (pp 2548-2553). Singapore
- Person-specific gesture set selection for optimised movement classification from EMG signals. 2016 IEEE 38th Annual International Conference of the Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC) (pp 880-883), 16 August 2016 - 20 August 2016.
- Robotic Mapping and Localisation in Feature Sparse Water Pipes. 19th World Conference on Non-Destructive Testing. Munich View this article in WRRO
- Visual-tactile sensory map calibration of a biomimetic whiskered robot. Proceedings - IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Vol. 2016 (pp 967-972). Stockholm, Sweden View this article in WRRO
- Sparse Bayesian identification of polynomial NARX models. IFAC-PapersOnLine, Vol. 48(28) (pp 172-177). Beijing, China, 19 October 2015 - 19 October 2015. View this article in WRRO
- Robot Mapping and Localisation for Feature Sparse Water Pipes Using Voids as Landmarks. Towards Autonomous Robotic Systems, Vol. 9287 (pp 161-166). Liverpool, UK View this article in WRRO
- Constructing contextual SLAM priors using architectural drawings. 2015 6th International Conference on Automation, Robotics and Applications (ICARA) (pp 50-56), 17 February 2015 - 19 February 2015.
- Estimation of Fingertip Force from Surface EMG - A Multivariate Bayesian Mixture of Experts Approach. Proceedings of the International Conference on Bio-inspired Systems and Signal Processing (pp 270-276), 12 January 2015 - 15 January 2015.
- Soft Robotics: Cerebellar Inspired Control of Artificial Muscles. The University of Sheffield Engineering Symposium Conference Proceedings Vol. 1, Vol. 1. The Octagon Centre, University of Sheffield View this article in WRRO
- Control-Oriented Nonlinear Dynamic Modelling of Dielectric Electro-Active Polymers (pp 259-260)
- Developing the Cerebellar Chip as a General Control Module for Autonomous Systems (pp 53-63)
- Analysis of composite plate dynamics using spatial maps of frequency-domain features described by Gaussian processes. IFAC Proceedings Volumes IFAC Papersonline, Vol. 3(PART 1) (pp 949-954)
- A Bayesian framework for identifying cell migration dynamics.. Annu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc, Vol. 2013 (pp 3455-3458). United States
- A Bayesian framework for identifying cell migration dynamics. 2013 35TH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE IEEE ENGINEERING IN MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY SOCIETY (EMBC) (pp 3459-3462)
- Bioinspired adaptive control for artificial muscles. Lecture Notes in Computer Science Including Subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics, Vol. 8064 LNAI (pp 311-322)
- Bioinspired control of electro-active polymers for next generation soft robots. Lecture Notes in Computer Science Including Subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics, Vol. 7429 LNAI (pp 424-425)
- Exploration and control of stochastic spatiotemporal systems with mobile agents. IFAC Proceedings Volumes IFAC Papersonline, Vol. 44(1 PART 1) (pp 4489-4494)
- Can cerebellar input calibrate collicular topographic maps?. BMC Neuroscience, Vol. 11(S1)
- <title>Distributed data fusion over an ad hoc network</title>. SPIE Proceedings, Vol. 4741 (pp 202-210)
- <title>Distributed SLAM</title>. SPIE Proceedings, Vol. 4729 (pp 62-68)
- <title>SLAM in a van</title>. SPIE Proceedings, Vol. 4729 (pp 56-61)
- Reinforcement Learning for Robot Fracture Reduction Surgery. HSMR 2025
Preprints
- Acoustic Echo Sensing for Robot Localization in Buried Pipe Networks, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).
- Compact Deep Neural Networks for Computationally Efficient Gesture Classification From Electromyography Signals, arXiv.
- Target-distractor Synchrony Affects Performance in a Novel Motor Task for Studying Action Selection, arXiv.
- Hybrid metric‐topological localization for robots in pipe networks. Journal of Field Robotics, 42(3), 806-826. View this article in WRRO
- Grants
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Major Grants
- EU H2020, Dreams4Cars - Dreamlike Simulation Abilities for Automated Cars (Sheffield PI), Jan 2017-Dec 2019, EUR 4 million.
- EU FP7, NoTremor - Virtual, Physiological and Computational Neuromuscular Models for the Predictive Treatment of Parkinson’s Disease (CI), Jan 2014-Dec 2016, EUR 2.9 million.
- EPSRC, Assessing the Underworld - An integrated performance model of city infrastructures (EP/K021699/1) (CI), Jun 2013-May 2017, £5,782,838.
- EPSRC, Bioinspired Control of Electro-Active Polymers for Next Generation Soft Robots (EP/I032533/1) (CI), Jan 2012-Jul 2015, £1,081,051. http://www.bellaproject.co.uk/
Pilot Funding, Feasibility Studies and Equipment Grants
- Royal Society Equipment Grant, Oct 2013-Sep 2014, £15,000.
- Insigneo Bursary for Clinical Translation, funded by Sheffield Hospitals Charity Trust. Gastric Surface Mapping for Future Automated Approaches to Wireless Capsule Endoscopy of the Upper Gastrointestinal (GI) Tract, Dec 2013-Apr 2014, £15,500.
- Engineering for Life award, funded by the University of Sheffield. Towards a smart vest for sensing and actuation of wireless capsule endoscopes (PI), Oct 2012-Mar 2013, £31,741.
- Peninne Water Group, University of Sheffield. Developing ultrasound sensing technology to assess infrastructure and soil conditions external to buried pipes, Sep 2012-Jan 2013, £15,000.
- Teaching activities
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- ACS61011 Deep Learning