Rocco Van Schalkwyk

Mechanical Engineer

Rocco Van Schalkwyk (B.Eng[Mech], M.Eng[Mech]) is a mechanical engineer with a career spanning over 30 years in the naval/marine, aerospace/defence, nuclear and robotics industries. Currently the Safety Engineering Lead at Ocean Infinity Ltd, his remit includes safety across the company’s robotic ship and autonomous underwater vehicle engineering programmes. Rocco has a personal interest in humanoid robotics and in 1993 started developing a functional brain model from first principles. The Xzistor Concept Mathematical Model of Mind (‘Xzistor brain model’) was provisionally patented in 2002 (South Africa) and supported by a simulation of a single agent in a learning confine, demonstrating the model’s ability to provide a ‘learning agent’ with artificial emotions and cognition. Although a very basic simulation (C++ and OpenGL), it proved the functional model under dynamic conditions and showed that there were no exceptions to the model’s generality.

UK