Kingsley Fregene

Biography

Kingsley Fregene is the Group Leader for Robotics & Intelligent Systems at Lockheed Martin, Advanced Technology Laboratories (LM ATL) in Cherry Hill, NJ, USA. His team develops advanced Robotics, Autonomy and Unmanned Systems technologies in the aerial, ground and maritime domains. Notable among his team’s recent accomplishments are demonstrations of the world’s first multi-domain autonomous, unmanned vehicle chain and the world’s first autonomous wholly-rotating unmanned aircraft system (UAS).

He has held key technical and leadership roles in many advanced technology development projects for the U.S. DoD. Prior to joining Lockheed Martin, he was with Honeywell Labs, where he had important roles on several DARPA and AFRL air vehicle autonomy programs. He has also held research positions at Oak Ridge and Los Alamos National Labs, where his work included the development of cooperative multi-robot localization and mapping technologies and intelligent steering control of down-hole drilling devices for Oil & Gas and GeoEngineering applications. He serves as a reviewer for the National Science Foundation panel for Engineering Research Centers and on the editorial board of the IEEE Robotics & Automation Society, where is an Associate Editor and has also served as Guest Editor for IEEE Control Systems Magazine. He is also the current chair of the IEEE Technical Committee on Aerospace Controls.

Dr. Fregene has received numerous awards in recognition of his leadership and technical excellence, including a 2016 NOVA Award (Lockheed Martin Corporation’s highest honor; awarded to the top 1% of the corporation’s staff) and the 2013 Black Engineer of the Year Award for Outstanding Technical Contribution. He holds 5 patents and has over 52 publications. He received his Ph.D. degree in Electrical & Computer Engineering from the University of Waterloo Canada.