Luc Steels

Luc Steels obtained a Masters in Computer Science at MIT, specializing in AI under the supervision of Marvin Minsky and Carl Hewitt. He obtained a Ph.D at the University of Antwerp with a thesis in computational linguistics on a parallel model of parsing. In 1980, he joined the Schlumberger-Doll Research Laboratory in Ridgefield (US) to work on knowledge-based approaches to the interpretation of oil well logging data and became leader of the group who developed the Dipmeter Advisor which he transferred into industrial use while at Schlumberger Engineering, Clamart (Paris). In 1983, he was appointed tenured professor in Computer Science with a chair in AI at the Free University of Brussels (VUB). The same year he founded the VUB Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and became the first chairman of the VUB Computer Science Department from 1990 to 1995. The VUB AI Lab focused initially on knowledge-based systems for various industrial applications (equipment diagnosis, transport scheduling, design) but gradually focused more on basic research in AI, moving at the cutting edge of the field.

More than 30 doctoral students graduated under his direction and many since developed distinguished careers in academic (e.g. Pattie Maes, Tony Belpaeme, Frederic Kaplan, Pierre-yves Oudeyer), industrial (e.g. Michael Spranger, Jean-Christophe Baillie, Pieter Wellens) or governmental functions (e.g. Walter Van de Velde [eu]).

In 1996 Luc Steels founded the Sony Computer Science Laboratory (CSL) in Paris and became its acting director. This laboratory was a spin-off from the Sony Computer Science Laboratory in Tokyo directed by Mario Tokoro and Toshi Doi. The laboratory targeted cutting edge research in AI, particularly on the emergence and evolution of grounded language and ontologies on robots, the use of AI in music, and contributions to sustainability. The CSL music group was directed by Francois Pachet and the sustainability group by Peter Hanappe.

In 2011 Luc Steels became fellow at the Institute for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA) and research professor at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) in Barcelona, embedded in the Evolutionary Biology Laboratory (IBE). There he pursued further his fundamental research in the origins and evolution of language through experiments with robotic agents.

Throughout his career Luc Steels spent many research and educational visits to other institutions. He was a regular lecturer at the Theseus International Management Institute in Sophia Antipolis, developed courses for the Open University in the Netherlands, was Fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin during the years 2015-16 and 2009-10, Fellow at Goldsmiths College London (computer science department) from 2010, visiting scholar or lecturer at La Sapienza University Rome (physics department), Politecnico di Milano, the universities of Ghana and Beijing (Jiaotong University) among others.

Luc Steels was member of the New York Academy of Sciences, and is elected member of the Academia Europea, and the Royal Belgian Academy of Arts and Sciences (Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie voor Wetenschappen en Kunsten),  where he serves as vice-director of the Natural Science section.

• Behavior based robotics
• Evolutionary linguistics
• Fluid construction grammar

• Manuel, Tyrus L. (2003). "Creating a Robot Culture: An Interview with Luc Steels" (PDF). IEEE Intelligent Systems. 18 (3 May/June 2003): 59–61. doi:10.1109/MIS.2003.1200730.

• Luc Steels (ICREA)
• Luc Steels (Institut de Biologia Evolutiva)
• Luc Steels (Sony CSL Paris)
• Luc Steels (Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, VUB, Brussels)