John Billingsley graduated in mathematics and in electrical engineering from Cambridge University in 1960. After four years working in industry on autopilot design, he returned to Cambridge and gained a PhD in control theory. He led research in Cambridge University developing early 'mechatronic' systems including a laser phototypesetting system and the 'acoustic telescope'. He moved to Portsmouth Polytechnic in 1976, founding the Robotics Research Group. The results of the Walking Robot unit led to the foundation of Portech Ltd, which for many years supplied robotic systems to the nuclear industry. In April 1992 he took up a Chair of Engineering at the University of Southern Queensland in Toowoomba. His primary concern is Mechatronics and he supervises Technology Research in the National Centre for Engineering in Agriculture (NCEA). Three prototypes of novel wall-climbing robots were completed at USQ. He is the international chairman of an annual conference series on "Mechatronics and Machine Vision in Practice," now in its twentieth year. He promoted and presented Micromouse robot maze contests around the world from 1980 to the mid nineties. He was awarded an Erskine Fellowship by the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. In December 2006 he received an achievement medal from the Institution of Engineering and Technology, London. His machines have been exhibited in the 'Palais de la Decouverte' in Paris, in the 'Exploratorium' at San Francisco and in the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London. Several of his robots are now on show in the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney.
