I've been programming computers since 1974 and built my first PC from scratch - running CP/M - in 1980. I co-founded and ran a business for ten years, building safety-critical mobile radio systems, before returning to academia in 1992. For the last fifteen years I've been researching robots, primarily Swarm Intelligent systems, although I'm equally committed to science communication and public engagement. A deep interest in music, art and philosophy - and a profound desire to work on projects that straddle the natural sciences and arts/humanities - means that I think of myself as a kind of renaissance nerd.