Pat Ambler

Timeline

1. 1936

   Born in Woodford Wells

   She is born in Woodford Wells, Essex, in 1936.

2. 1957–1961

   Studying at Newnham College

   At Newnham College, Cambridge, she studies the Natural Sciences Tripos, specialising in Chemistry, Physics, Biological Chemistry and Mathematics; she earns a BA in 1957 and an MA in 1961. After graduation, she works as information officer for Cambridge's organic chemistry department with Alexander R. Todd.

3. 1968

   Research scientist at Edinburgh

   She joins the AI laboratory at the University of Edinburgh as a research scientist in 1968.

4. 1969–1976

   Freddy's versatile assembly system

   At Edinburgh, Donald Michie's group develops a camera-equipped series of Freddy robots, ending with Freddy Mark 2; Freddy I dates to 1969–1971 and Freddy II to 1973–1976. In 1973, she coauthors the IJCAI paper “A Versatile Computer-Controlled Assembly System” with Harry Barrow, Christopher Brown, Rod Burstall and Robin Popplestone; it describes TV cameras, a computer-controlled arm and moving table that separates parts from a heap and assembles a toy car, and a 1973 film shows Freddy assembling a car and ship. In 1975, the same team publishes “A versatile system for computer controlled assembly” in Artificial Intelligence, where Freddy recognises simple wooden parts and assembles a toy car and ship.

5. 1975

   Inferring object positions

   In 1975, she and Robin Popplestone publish “Inferring the Positions Of Bodies From Specified Spatial Relationships” in Artificial Intelligence; the paper uses algebraic descriptions and an equation solver to determine absolute positions.

6. 1978–1983

   RAPT robot programming

   In 1978, Ambler, Robin Popplestone and Ilona Bellos publish “RAPT: A language for describing assemblies,” which specifies robot behavior at the object level through spatial relationships. In 1980, a film shows Freddy assembling a benchmark task under RAPT. In 1983, she coauthors an IJCAI paper with D. F. Corner and Popplestone on reasoning about spatial relationships in RAPT; its geometric version uses constraint reasoning to determine positions.

7. 1986–2017

   Senior lecturer at Aberdeen

   In 1986, she becomes a senior lecturer in the University of Aberdeen's Department of Computing and remains there until her death. She is credited as Pat Fothergill on the WPFM work with Jonathan C. Aylett and Robert B. Fisher, which appears in John E. W. Mayhew and John P. Frisby's 1991 MIT Press book “3D Model Recognition From Stereoscopic Cues.”

8. 2017

   Death in Stonehaven

   She dies in Stonehaven, Scotland, in 2017.