Marie Farrell

About

Marie Farrell is a leading researcher in formal methods, autonomous systems verification, and safety-critical robotics. Her work sits at a critical intersection of software engineering and robotics, tackling one of the field's most pressing challenges: rigorously proving that autonomous systems behave correctly before they are deployed in high-stakes environments. Her most influential paper, "Formal Specification and Verification of Autonomous Robotic Systems" (2019, 264 citations), established her as a prominent voice in this space, demonstrating why testing and simulation alone are insufficient for certifying safety-critical robots. Farrell has made significant contributions to verification and validation for inspection and space robotics, producing widely cited surveys and case studies examining nuclear facility and deep-space applications. Her work on compositional verification for modular robotic systems and runtime verification for active space debris removal showcases her ability to translate theoretical formal methods into practical engineering solutions. More recently, she has turned attention toward requirements engineering for learning-enabled software, reflecting her forward-looking research agenda. Collectively, her publications have accumulated over 400 citations, affirming her substantial influence on how researchers and engineers approach the rigorous assurance of autonomous and AI-driven systems.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   Formal Specification and Verification of Autonomous Robotic Systems

   264 citations · 2019
2. 2
   An Overview of Verification and Validation Challenges for Inspection Robots

   60 citations · 2021
3. 3
   Integrating Formal Verification and Assurance: An Inspection Rover Case Study

   35 citations · 2021
4. 4
   A Review of Verification and Validation for Space Autonomous Systems

   24 citations · 2021
5. 5
   Towards Compositional Verification for Modular Robotic Systems

   16 citations · 2020
6. 6
   Formal Modelling and Runtime Verification of Autonomous Grasping for Active Debris Removal

   14 citations · 2022
7. 7
   Using Threat Analysis Techniques to Guide Formal Verification: A Case Study of Cooperative Awareness Messages

   12 citations · 2019
8. 8
   Bridging the gap between single- and multi-model predictive runtime verification

   8 citations · 2021
9. 9
   Formal Verification of an Autonomous Grasping Algorithm

   6 citations · 2020
10. 10
    Exploring Requirements for Software that Learns: A Research Preview

    6 citations · 2023

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links