Team

After completing a PhD in computer vision (Cambridge University), Duncan established an engineering consultancy business with the goal of facilitating the commercialization of cutting-edge machine learning and computer vision technology. He has worked closely with a variety of clients such as Microsoft Research and Samsung. He has had a pivotal role in the success of high-growth technology start-ups including Metail (Co-Founder, Chief Scientific Officer) and TrialReach (CSO). Duncan has authored numerous patents and high-profile technical publications. He is also an active angel investor, and has invested in and advised several exciting technology businesses including HowdyHub and FlyLogix. In his free time, Duncan enjoys windsurfing, sailing, piano, art collecting, and heritage building restoration.

Having studied undergraduate Engineering Mathematics at Bristol, Ed spent a year cycling solo from Vancouver to Buenos Aires. Since then, his self-evident tenacity and initiative have been put to equally good use in the world of technology start-ups – of which he has gained considerable experience. He was a founder member of the R&D team at Metail and an engineering consultant at Redimension. His roles have spanned writing cutting edge research software to building mechanical mannequins for garment photography. He is an inventor of several patents.

Frank is an experienced automation engineer and project manager both in industry and consultancy. At The Automation Partnership (now TAP Biosystems) he led large robotics developments, including all automation for the UK Biobank’s POLAR automated sample store which contains 10M blood samples – for which he came runner up in the MacRobert Engineering Award. More recently he led the Systems Development Group at 42 Technology, developing innovative automated processes for several clients. He has a M.Eng. degree from Cambridge University, and recently completed his MBA.

Dr Nick Scott has almost thirty years experience of manufacturing and engineering. Having studied Manufacturing Engineering Tripos at Cambridge University, he gained a PhD in complex systems whilst working full time in an operations leadership role. He has spent time in both consulting and manufacturing. Starting out as a special purpose machine designer, he has worked in precision engineering manufacture of capital equipment, inkjet printing, IoT devices, medical devices and fast moving consumer goods. Trained in lean manufacturing by Shingijutsu, his lean manufacturing transformations have won three international “most improved” plant awards. Additionally, he has improved operational performance in the NHS, utilities, logistics, government and a charity. When not enjoying his work Nick runs, has an engineer’s workshop at home and stands next to football pitches and basketball courts embarrassing his sons.

Mat was awarded the highly prestigious MacRobert Engineering Award in recognition of his role within the Microsoft Research team that developed the body tracking software at the heart of Microsoft Kinect (>20M units sold). However, as well as being an extremely talented software engineer, Mat is also one of a rare breed of technologists who is equally at home in front of an electronics bench, milling machine, or welding gun. This, added to his track record of managing the development of complex engineering systems, makes him the ideal person to head up Dogtooth’s technology team.

Cat heads up our Project Management department having spent over eleven years designing, debugging and delivering electronic hardware. She combines her technical engineering background with her skills and experience of running projects and enjoyment of of process management.

Cat spent 8 years prior to Dogtooth working on engineering projects across Aerospace & Defence, Medical, Life Sciences and Industrial sectors. This includes many exciting projects that she sadly can’t tell us about, but loves working within the Agriculture industry with exciting state-of-the-art robotics.

She holds a Masters Degree in Electronics Engineering from Durham University, and engineering chartership with the IET.

When Cat isn’t designing, debugging and improving electronic systems and processes she loves spending time with her young family, playing boardgames, and enjoying something sweet. We are assured these are not all at the same time.

Tom is a mechanical engineer with experience in design and analysis of systems ranging across the consumer, medical, and industrial sectors. His mechanical engineering skills are complimented by a good understanding of surrounding areas, and he has experience designing complex, multi-disciplinary systems. His previous experience includes technical leadership for the multi-million pound development of an industrial gas valve, and management of projects developing anything from novel drinks coolers to surgical devices. Tom holds a 1st class Master’s degree in Engineering from the University of Cambridge and is a chartered engineer with the IMechE.

Stephen joined our Manufacturing Department as a Build Technician in February 2019 at the start of his Engineering career. Growing up in Zimbabwe, his fascination for robotics manifested in his final year in A Level during an engineering project to build an extendable mechanical arm. From there, he moved back to the UK to complete an undergraduate degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Derby and then a masters in Mechatronics and Robotics at the University of Leeds.

Tom has a first class degree in Mathematics from the University of Cambridge and a PhD in Applied Mathematics from Brown University. After four years as a postdoctoral researcher working in the field of computational statistics he left academia to pursue his dream of taking research out of the laboratory and using it to develop practical technologies of more immediate benefit to society. Since then he has worked on applying cutting edge machine learning techniques in the fields of cyber security and autonomous driving and, in his current role at Dogtooth technologies, to developing the next generation of agricultural robotics.

Anders has an MSc in Electrical Engineering & Complex Adaptive Systems from Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden) and a PhD in Transport Engineering from TU Dresden (Germany).

Following the completion of his PhD, Anders pursued a career in academia and has held positions at ETH Zurich, UCL and the University of Bristol; his research papers have been cited over 7,000 times; he has given around 50 keynote and invited talks; and his work has appeared in the news over a 100 times.

Anders is also a serial entrepreneur with a 15-year track record of delivering transformational AI/ML-powered technology solutions to solve pressing operational and safety challenges in projects such as (i) real-time tracking of three million pilgrims in Mecca to avoid crowd crushes; (ii) real-time optimisation to keep passengers flowing safely and efficiently in the world’s largest airports; and (iii) developing and commercialising predictive crowd modelling software used to plan FIFA World Cups, Olympic games and other major events.

Before joining Dogtooth, Anders was a co-founder and CTO of Crowd Vision Ltd (London, Los Angeles, Austin, Belfast); and he is also a part-time Associate Professor in Engineering Mathematics at the University of Bristol.

Tom is an Electromechanical Engineer with a PhD in miniaturised wearable humanoid robotics. He specialises in system architecture, integration and implementation, delivering large multidisciplinary projects across the medical and synthetic biology areas. Before joining Dogtooth, Tom lead a team that successfully encoded data into DNA; storing Wikipedia in DNA. Tom’s background allows him to deliver in both the mechanical and electronics disciplines. Tom received both his 1st class Engineering Degree and PhD from the University of Southampton. In his spare time, Tom Captains the Cambridge water polo team.

Dan grew up in South Africa and attended the University of Johannesburg, completing a degree in Business Management, Finance and Marketing. Since then he has led sales teams in Europe and more recently run his own business in South Africa. He brings a wealth of commercial experience to Dogtooth and is excited to be a part of the growth of the business as well as playing a part in the robotics revolution in the agricultural sector.

Away from work, Dan enjoys travelling and doing things with his wife, 2 daughters and 2 dogs. He has played competitive hockey for most of his life and has run the occasional Ultra Marathon.

Ruan Kendall is a Research Software Development Engineer with more than 10 years experience developing cutting-edge machine learning and computer vision software for commercial applications. As a consultant at Redimension he worked on behalf of a wide variety of clients, ranging from large multinationals (working on Kinect at Microsoft Research) to high-growth technology start-ups including Antidote and Metail.

After graduating from Birmingham University with a Masters in Mechanical Engineering, Manufacture and Management, Paul joined Price Waterhouse and qualified as a Chartered Accountant. He then moved out into industry, working in a variety of consumer and retail areas, before moving to Belgium in 2000 with Levi Strauss & Co. After five years working in Europe, Paul moved back to the UK, continued to work in retail, and also completed his MBA in 2007, specialising in the role of the accountant in Corporate Social Responsibly and was a member of the ICAEW CSR committee.

In 2013, Paul moved to Oslo, Norway and joined Specsavers, supporting the growth of their business in the Nordic region, most recently as Business Development Director, before relocating back to the UK in 2017. During his time in Oslo, Paul became a keen cross-country skier as well as a winter cyclist – commuting to work with studded tyres on ice alongside the fjord in winter darkness! Since leaving Specsavers, Paul has focussed on hi-tech start-ups, particularly business planning & strategy and the development of Business Intelligence within the Finance function.
Paul is married with two children, two cats and a dog. He enjoys all types of self-powered outdoor activities – cycling, kayaking, snowboarding to name but a few. He volunteers through his local church with the under-3s group, and with Helping Hands, an outreach to those in need of practical support in Bedford.

Nikita has completed his Masters in Human and Biological Robotics at ICL with Distinction, proceeding to work as a Postgraduate Researcher for Imperial College. He was working on a grant from DARPA to develop an autonomous drone, mimicking sensory-motor control utilised by flies. Nikita has also worked in a recruitment startup developing recommender systems and computer vision pipelines. In his current role with Dogtooth, Nikita is looking to combine knowledge from multiple fields to develop high quality software and machine learning solutions, propelling the business forwards. Nikita loves dark comedy, evolutionary biology and going to the gym in order to preserve his sanity.

Chris has joined Dogtooth recently after spending over 35 years in the Aerospace industry working in the UK and USA.

Originally technician apprentice trained at British Aerospace, he has since designed numerous aircraft cabin and interior programmes, from OEM customers like Airbus and Boeing to small and major airlines alike, facilitating their needs in an ever growing hunger for an enhanced cabin experience.

Chris has contributed in anything from the VIP interiors for the original Queen’s Flight aircraft to the stairs complexes on the Airbus A380 double decker aircraft!

With him specialising in floor-to-floor cabin interiors and structures you will have bound to have been seated in or utilised many of the aircraft facilities and furnishings he has been involved with!

He takes great pride in doing things right first time and enjoys the satisfaction of seeing months of team effort and dedication coming into service.

Interests include live music, motorsports, Audi cars and Dachshunds!

It’s a privilege to have been involved with the company since the very beginning, and very exciting watching the company grow and being a part of an innovative team.

Robert joins the Dogtooth team as Head of Electronics Engineering and brings his love of solving hard problems, designing robust systems and making robots. He has previously worked across defence, security, aerospace, healthcare and automotive sectors. When not at work he can be found designing, building and driving on silly electric vehicles and combat robotics.

Ollie has been drawing robots since the age of 6, and occasionally still does. But as a man matures one should move on from drawing killer death machines from outer space, to building elegant agricultural robots. So it goes. Along with drawing robots, over the years he has drawn and painted lots of other things, sometimes in comic books, often on canvas, sometimes just a pretty thing to put on a wall. He’s also spent time as a Publican, notably successful at the helm of the first newly built pub in Cambridge for 32 years. There was a period in Education working with special needs, some time coaching rowing for the Colleges, and installing the exhibits at Kettles Yard for a number of years. There was also enough time for him to read Sociology at Leeds Met University. Bridging the gap between Art and Engineering, he brings an aesthetic sensibility, mechanical sympathy and an appetite for production. In his spare time he can be found making vast amounts of noise in his band, painting, playing cricket, thinking about going rowing again and building castles with his son.

Alvin is originally from St.Lucia and has spent the majority of his career providing solutions to small businesses, community organisations, local authorities and the corporate sector. After spending the last 9 years of his career at LSE, he was recognised for his contributions to the university as the Linux Specialist. Alvin brings to Dogtooth over 29 years technical experience, his mix of public and private sector experience makes a welcome addition to the bunch at Dogtooth.

Samuel is a machine learning researcher and computer vision specialist. After completing his Mechanical Engineering degree at Durham University, Samuel gained experience at Idaho National Laboratory in the US, where became inspired by the limitless potential of artificial intelligence. In pursuit of this new-found passion, he went on to complete a master’s in Robotics with the University of Plymouth—during which time he developed a system for autonomous malaria microscopy—and a PhD in Deep Learning with Cranfield University and MBDA—where he worked on the next generation of intelligent infrared missile seekers. Beyond work, Samuel holds a black belt in judo and enjoys running, cycling, and hiking.

Charlotte joined our team in March 2023, bringing a wealth of Knowledge and experience with the food industry for over 20 years. After graduating from University of Leeds with a fashion degree the pull to work within the food manufacturing industry, was too strong to be ignored, working with all kinds of fruits and vegetables mainly soft fruits and Citrus. Dealing with the everyday struggles of labour shortages that we are facing currently Charlotte believes robotic picking is definitely the future and is super excited by the possibilities Dogtooth are creating. Outside of work Charlotte enjoys spending time with family and friends, eating out and gardening all of course going down with one ( or two ) large glasses of wine.

Julian has an undergraduate degree in Architectural Engineering (Cardiff University) and an MA in Design and Visual Communication with Distinction (University of Leeds). He recently completed an MSc in Advanced Robotics (Queen Mary University of London) achieving a Distinction, winning the Engineering and Materials Science Prize for Outstanding Achievement.

After his MA he spent 15 years in the online marketing industry, co-owning a successful media company as its Chief Operating Officer. He wrote software for cutting-edge behavioural analytics, managed and motivated cross-disciplinary teams, lead data analysis of website traffic, and formulated high level software design. Combining these and applying the ‘scientific method’ to dramatically improve conversion flows on websites.

His passion for engineering has motivated him to pursue an exciting new challenge in the field of robotics. With particular focus on computer vision for robotics, during his MSc he built an active vision agent for object pose estimation, based on the “1000 brains” theory of intelligence.

He is interested in automation within agriculture and how it can be used to improve yields, reduce waste, mitigate labour shortages, and support food security. He is an avid pool player, challenges accepted!

Tom joined Dogtooth as an Annotator in 2021 and moved into the position of Annotations Manager a little over a year later in December 2022. His experience working as a researcher with Biomechanics, looking at 3D motion analysis in a healthcare setting, gave him the transferable skills to be an effective annotator. Having spent many years working on Organic Off-grid agricultural projects he was drawn to Dogtooth as an opportunity to explore other solutions to the challenges facing farming. Outside of work he spent more than decade playing Ultimate frisbee, winning 5 national titles and representing team GB at the European beach championships in 2018.

Candy joined the Dogtooth team as Office Manager, following an (exhausting) 5-year career break to raise her twins.

With over a decade of experience project managing creative campaigns for renowned entertainment brands such as The Dark Knight, Harry Potter, Friends and Game of Thrones, Candy was eager to apply her talents to help the (then) small engineering team at Dogtooth remain focused on their ambitious goal of creating robots capable of picking strawberries – a seemingly impossible task in her mind. Fast forward three years and 22+ new employees later, Candy is now a firm believer in the potential of intelligent robotics.

Candy’s strong work ethic, and commitment make her an exceptional member of the team. She is excited to continue developing her skills as she takes on a new role supporting the senior leadership team.

Originally from South Africa but having fully embraced British culture, Candy enjoys curry, ale and light exercise!

Rob joined the Mechanical engineering team as a Test Engineer. He graduated from Bath with a first class Masters in Mechanical engineering. He became fond of robotics during his final years conducting his dissertation in methods to model continuum robots. He grew up on a farm in mid-Wales and has been fixing farm equipment and machinery for many years. Along the way he has taught himself how to weld which has led to him making items such as bespoke equipment for holding sheep during technical operations. If he hasn’t returned to the farm he can be found in one of the many local pubs around Cambridge.

Patrick is a design engineer with experience in developing Hydrogen fuel plant equipment for the construction and events industries, designing a range of zero emission lighting and power products. Before joining Dogtooth he successfully led a team in designing a Hydrogen fuel cell powered mobile lighting tower, and was involved with its large scale production. Outside of work you will find him driving (or fixing!) classic cars.

Dan became a valuable member of the Dogtooth team in January 2022, taking up the position of Operations Engineer. With an impressive background, he dedicated 16 years to serving as an Electronics Technician in the British Army, where he gained extensive experience working on a global scale with diverse systems, including telecommunications, electro-optics, and remote vehicles. Following his departure from the Armed Forces, Dan transitioned to a role as a mechanical fitter in a plastic compounding factory. In his spare time, Dan enjoys pretending he can still play sports and beating his family at board games.

Will is a seasoned mechanical engineer with a robust background in designing farm machinery, having worked on various equipment ranging from seed drills to cultivators. Later in his career, he successfully led a team in designing a new straw processor and overseeing its high-volume manufacturing. One of his notable designs can even be spotted on the TV show ‘Clarkson’s Farm’. With a degree in mechanical engineering from Oxford-Brookes, Will is passionately dedicated to advancing efficiency within the agricultural sector. Beyond his engineering pursuits, you may catch him rowing on the Cam, provided you’re up early enough!

Nat is Dogtooth’s Lead Data Analyst, blending her background in cutting-edge science with a passion for data. She holds a Master’s degree in Physics and a PhD on the electronic structure of 2-dimensional materials, both from the University of Warwick. Nat spent time working as a technical consultant in the field of mission-critical radio communications. However, Dogtooth has since sparked her passion for Agritech, an exciting industry where technology and the need for progress combine. Initially joining as a Quality Engineer, she now leverages her passion for making data beautiful to build powerful analytics and provide insights across Dogtooth. Outside of the office, Nat enjoys hiking, climbing, and baking – as a means to fuel the first two.

Vicki joined Dogtooth in May 2024 as a Harvest Robotics Applications Engineer after having finished her Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Swansea. Her day to day job includes testing for real life operations to ensure robot usability, taking steps to understand arising issues in the fleet, helping with robot roll-out, and generally acting as a liaison between the engineering and operations world. Having been passionate about all subjects pertaining to robotics, including hardware, ethics, and useability, she strives to help make innovative technology a more centralised part of agriculture by thinking of ways to bridge the gap between robot and man. Having written her Bachelor’s dissertation on improving harvester robot efficiency, coming to work for Dogtooth was a natural next step for her, allowing her to work further in the field that she researched extensively! In her spare time, Vicki is interested in rowing, hiking, cooking, reading, and talking animatedly to anyone who will listen about the potential future of emerging technology!

Dan joined Dogtooth in May 2024 as a Manufacturing Engineer, having gained nearly 12 years experience in medical device manufacturing and testing after completing his degree in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Kent. He brings with him his experience in continuous improvement, reducing cycle times and optimising manufacturing processes for a busy department, while taking any opportunity to fix and tinker with a wide array of machinery along the way.

In his spare time, he can often be found cooking, brewing, and spending time outdoors exploring with his partner and son.

Rosia is a robotics student working with Dogtooth through 2024 and 2025. Her interests lie in low-power computing and using electronics to improve our relationship with nature. Having previously built self-sailing robotic model boats, plant watering systems and a low power, wooden e-ink laptop, a concern for the environment and conservation appears in most of her interests. She feels farming robotics could be a really powerful way to lessen harmful agricultural practices and sees Dogtooth as a chance to take part in driving it into the mainstream.

In her spare time she designs her own electronics, modifies or repairs clothing and plays Dungeons and Dragons. She also tries to draw and create algorithmic live music but never gets very far with the latter two.

Michelle is a recent Robotics Engineering Masters graduate who focused on Dexterous robotics, Biologically inspired AI algorithms and 4D printing of upper limb prosthetic fingers. She also has a bachelors in Electronics and electrical engineering. She has joined Dogtooth with the hope to explore and expand on agricultural robotics, or how she puts it ” to get her hands dirty in this field”. Her interests lie in software for robotics and machine learning algorithms, where these topics tie in with her passion for mathematics. She also enjoys designing and researching niche projects in her spare time to see where AI and robotics can be applied in fun and unique situations, expanding on her portfolio. In her spare time you will find her shopping for clothes as she believes a roboticist must look as good, if not better than their robot.

Alex graduated from the University of East Anglia in 2014 with a BSc focussing on Analytical Chemistry. Since then, he has spent his career as a multi-discipline quality assurance specialist, managing quality systems across forensic science, in-vitro diagnostics, and pharmaceutical excipients. As Quality and Compliance Engineer, Alex is taking on a new challenge in a new sector, helping to build the compliance framework for the future of automated agriculture.

Outside of work, Alex experiments with MIDI-driven video synthesis and doesn’t watch as many films as he would like to. He is a passionate supporter of live music and an advocate for grass-roots music scenes. He plays bass and cassettes in “that shouty band with all the TVs” and insists on talking at length about uncool music.

Jonathan joined Dogtooth in September 2024 as an R&D Test Technician after finishing his Master’s degree in Integrated Engineering from NMITE in Hereford. He was a member of the Pioneer cohort who were the first students to enrol at and graduate from the new university. His Master’s project was a proof-of-concept for an automatic braking system for farm vehicles.He used thermal cameras to detect adults and children when farm vehicles transitioned through building entrances, and used electromechanical brake servo to control the emergency braking. Jonathan previously worked on a mixed enterprise farm, primarily the cider apple enterprise with responsibilities including pruning, spraying, and harvesting. While working, Jonathan also achieved a Level 3 mixed farming apprenticeship degree from Hartpury College in 2021.

With a passion for helping people and supporting agriculture, Jonathan hopes to be a key part of robotic development and consider the end user needs when conducting R&D testing. He is eager to mature his multidisciplinary knowledge through robotics and combine this with his previous experience in fruit production and harvesting.

Outside of work, Jonathan enjoys various outdoor pursuits including hiking and climbing. He has also played team sports such as rugby and football.

Sarah joined us as Office Manager in October 2024. Once upon a time Sarah was a senior business analyst at IBM but is now returning to work after a career break where she kept herself busy raising her children and volunteering – most recently in the locally based fundraising office for the East Anglian Air Ambulance charity. Organised, logical and detail orientated, Sarah is looking forward to supporting the team and is already enjoying being surrounded by robots, technology and strawberries. Outside of work Sarah plays the saxophone and loves a good puzzle.