Insect-inspired flapping wing robots: autonomous flight control systems. This project aims to design a novel control scheme for insect-inspired, flapping-wing, micro aerial vehicles. This type of micro aerial vehicle has complex, periodic, time-varying and inherently unstable dynamics, which are practically challenging to model and implement in hardware. This project will design energy-based automatic stabilization and task-dependent control, and develop the insect-inspired platform for testing ....Insect-inspired flapping wing robots: autonomous flight control systems. This project aims to design a novel control scheme for insect-inspired, flapping-wing, micro aerial vehicles. This type of micro aerial vehicle has complex, periodic, time-varying and inherently unstable dynamics, which are practically challenging to model and implement in hardware. This project will design energy-based automatic stabilization and task-dependent control, and develop the insect-inspired platform for testing nonlinear control strategies. The expected outcomes will include new system and control theories, concepts, principles and technologies in controller design that can provide reliable flight control for bio-inspired, flapping-wing systems.Read moreRead less
Human-Robot Co-Evolution: Achieving the full potential of future workplaces. Physical human-robot systems are widely used to amplify the capability of human labourers and improve ergonomics in the workplace. This project aims to develop robot controllers that shape the co-evolution of these systems. Through physical human-robot interaction studies it will generate new knowledge of how humans adapt to working with robots, which will then be incorporated into the robot controller design. Expected ....Human-Robot Co-Evolution: Achieving the full potential of future workplaces. Physical human-robot systems are widely used to amplify the capability of human labourers and improve ergonomics in the workplace. This project aims to develop robot controllers that shape the co-evolution of these systems. Through physical human-robot interaction studies it will generate new knowledge of how humans adapt to working with robots, which will then be incorporated into the robot controller design. Expected outcomes include a better understanding of human adaptation and a systematic approach to shaping human-robot interaction over time. This should provide significant benefits across different skill and labour-intensive industries in Australia, such as improved worker productivity and safer human-robot collaboration.Read moreRead less
Accelerated Finite-time Learning and Control in Cyber-Physical Systems. Efficient learning and control in cyber-physical systems such as smart grids and robotic systems are very important for achieving economic and social benefits. This project aims to establish a breakthrough accelerated finite-time dynamics theory and technology to assist in delivering efficient learning and control. Expected outcomes include new distributed accelerated finite-time dynamics based learning and control algorithm ....Accelerated Finite-time Learning and Control in Cyber-Physical Systems. Efficient learning and control in cyber-physical systems such as smart grids and robotic systems are very important for achieving economic and social benefits. This project aims to establish a breakthrough accelerated finite-time dynamics theory and technology to assist in delivering efficient learning and control. Expected outcomes include new distributed accelerated finite-time dynamics based learning and control algorithms and tools for optimal operations in cyber-physical systems. This should provide significant benefits including a practical technology for industry applications in smart grids and robotic systems, and training of the next generation engineers in this technology for Australia.Read moreRead less
Enabling the Internet of Things (IoT): structured networked control systems. Networked control systems are an emerging technology that combines control, communication and computation to deliver solutions for a range of manufacturing, safety-critical infrastructure, such as transport, defence and other Industrial Interent of Things (IIoT) applications. The current analysis and design approaches often take a ``monolithic" view of the system, which render them inadequate for addressing many importa ....Enabling the Internet of Things (IoT): structured networked control systems. Networked control systems are an emerging technology that combines control, communication and computation to deliver solutions for a range of manufacturing, safety-critical infrastructure, such as transport, defence and other Industrial Interent of Things (IIoT) applications. The current analysis and design approaches often take a ``monolithic" view of the system, which render them inadequate for addressing many important IIoT applications. This proposal will exploit specific features and structure of the plant, the communication network and the distributed computation to provide an analysis and design methodology which will deliver significant advances in control and optimised performance of IIoT with benefits to the economy and society.Read moreRead less
Sensing and Communications for Tactical Radio: Mapping the RF Weather. This project investigates sensing, localisation and communication strategies to improve the performance of modern tactical radio networks. Such networks face all of the well-known design challenges of mobile ad-hoc networks (MANETs) but with added complication of a contested and adversarial operating environment. By exploiting the power of radio nodes to sense the radio spectrum, as well as to communicate over it, a distribut ....Sensing and Communications for Tactical Radio: Mapping the RF Weather. This project investigates sensing, localisation and communication strategies to improve the performance of modern tactical radio networks. Such networks face all of the well-known design challenges of mobile ad-hoc networks (MANETs) but with added complication of a contested and adversarial operating environment. By exploiting the power of radio nodes to sense the radio spectrum, as well as to communicate over it, a distributed network of nodes can create a detailed picture of the surrounding radio-frequency (RF) environment: the nodes can work together to map the “RF weather”. In this project we will design advanced sensing and localisation methods to accurately map the RF spectrum, and then exploit this map in communication system design.Read moreRead less
Non-contact Integrity Assessment of Façade Panels of High-rise Buildings. Disintegration of the external façade (with tiles, plates, etc.) of high-rise buildings presents a great challenge and a threat to community. This project develops fundamental knowledge and algorithms that underpin the deployment of a new technique for fast and automated quantitative integrity assessment of façade units of high-rise buildings, integrating mechanisms of directional acoustic waves, vibro-acoustics of façade ....Non-contact Integrity Assessment of Façade Panels of High-rise Buildings. Disintegration of the external façade (with tiles, plates, etc.) of high-rise buildings presents a great challenge and a threat to community. This project develops fundamental knowledge and algorithms that underpin the deployment of a new technique for fast and automated quantitative integrity assessment of façade units of high-rise buildings, integrating mechanisms of directional acoustic waves, vibro-acoustics of façade tiles or panels, laser sensing technology, deep learning algorithms and drone technology. Outcomes of this project are critical for implementing the new technology for enhanced safety to community and the development of new procedures for driving down maintenance costs of the external façade of high-rise buildings.Read moreRead less
An autonomously controlled ankle exoskeleton for gait rehabilitation. This project addresses a critical problem in gait rehabilitation; predicting unstable locomotion and designing interventions to augment limb-joint function. The project will develop an autonomous ankle-foot assistive device to actively increase ground clearance when high-risk foot trajectory is detected. Using wearable sensor data, machine learning algorithms will predict high-risk gait and compute an actuator-induced ankle to ....An autonomously controlled ankle exoskeleton for gait rehabilitation. This project addresses a critical problem in gait rehabilitation; predicting unstable locomotion and designing interventions to augment limb-joint function. The project will develop an autonomous ankle-foot assistive device to actively increase ground clearance when high-risk foot trajectory is detected. Using wearable sensor data, machine learning algorithms will predict high-risk gait and compute an actuator-induced ankle torque to maintain safe foot-ground clearance. A wearable autonomous joint-actuation system will contribute significantly to rehabilitation across a range of gait-impaired populations. The project's scientific and technological innovations will provide the opportunity for future developments in assistive technologies. Read moreRead less
When stabilization and optimization meet: a codesign approach. The next generation of engineered systems need to perform complex tasks with precision, and be robust, resilient and adaptive to their environment enabled by the confluence of control, optimization, learning and computation Understanding the interplay between robust stability and optimization is key to this endeavor. Many techniques, such as model predictive control and reinforcement learning, rely on an intricate interplay between ....When stabilization and optimization meet: a codesign approach. The next generation of engineered systems need to perform complex tasks with precision, and be robust, resilient and adaptive to their environment enabled by the confluence of control, optimization, learning and computation Understanding the interplay between robust stability and optimization is key to this endeavor. Many techniques, such as model predictive control and reinforcement learning, rely on an intricate interplay between an optimization-based control algorithm and an optimization routine used to calculate the control law. This project aims to develop a general design framework for stability, suboptimality and robustness of such algorithms, that can be used in range of novel applications, such as driverless cars and drones. Read moreRead less
Context-aware verification and validation framework for autonomous driving. This project aims to enhance the reliability and safety of emerging self-driving vehicles, through a framework that supports the validation and verification of autonomous driving systems. This project expects to generate new knowledge in areas of software engineering, intelligent transport, and machine learning, using a multi-disciplinary research combining expertise from various fields. Expected outcomes of this project ....Context-aware verification and validation framework for autonomous driving. This project aims to enhance the reliability and safety of emerging self-driving vehicles, through a framework that supports the validation and verification of autonomous driving systems. This project expects to generate new knowledge in areas of software engineering, intelligent transport, and machine learning, using a multi-disciplinary research combining expertise from various fields. Expected outcomes of this project are a family of new context-aware techniques to verify and validate complex behaviours in autonomous driving. This should provide significant benefits, such as safe autonomous driving systems and the improved journey experience and security for road users.Read moreRead less
Potential of gene drives to eliminate incursions of Drosophila suzukii. This project aims to test the efficacy and evolutionary stability of different types of gene drives, and model whether gene drives can be used to eliminate incursions of Drosophila suzukii into Australia. It is now possible to use genome editing technology to alter populations of organisms using ‘gene drives’. Multiple strategies have been conceived with a major distinction between those that aim to eliminate populations ver ....Potential of gene drives to eliminate incursions of Drosophila suzukii. This project aims to test the efficacy and evolutionary stability of different types of gene drives, and model whether gene drives can be used to eliminate incursions of Drosophila suzukii into Australia. It is now possible to use genome editing technology to alter populations of organisms using ‘gene drives’. Multiple strategies have been conceived with a major distinction between those that aim to eliminate populations versus those that aim to modify populations. This project will examine these strategies in two fly species, the model, Drosophila melanogaster and the devastating pest of horticulture, Drosophila suzukii. The project expects to assess a gene drive strategy to control the invasive pest that threatens the Australian soft-skinned fruit industries.Read moreRead less