Intelligent Information Assimilation. Making intelligent and informative choice usually involves assimilating information from multiple sources. The underlying emphasis and priorities of different sources vary. That makes the task of assimilating such information very difficult. Recent research on belief merging provides a formal framework designed to facilitate this task. In this project we will (1) examine existing and novel belief merging strategies, (2) study their impact on allied disciplin ....Intelligent Information Assimilation. Making intelligent and informative choice usually involves assimilating information from multiple sources. The underlying emphasis and priorities of different sources vary. That makes the task of assimilating such information very difficult. Recent research on belief merging provides a formal framework designed to facilitate this task. In this project we will (1) examine existing and novel belief merging strategies, (2) study their impact on allied disciplines, (3) extend the framework for suitable applications and (4) design, implement and test fielded applications of this framework. The outcome of this research will provide the basis for many industrial applications such as agent negotiation.Read moreRead less
Autonomous Agents and Systems with General Intelligence. Autonomous software agents and robotic systems with general intelligence are frontier technologies that have the potential to significantly enhance Australia's leading role in information and communication technology. A new generation of intelligent software is provided by computer programs that can adapt fully automatically to previously unknown situations without the need to be re-programmed. Innovative products will also emerge from a n ....Autonomous Agents and Systems with General Intelligence. Autonomous software agents and robotic systems with general intelligence are frontier technologies that have the potential to significantly enhance Australia's leading role in information and communication technology. A new generation of intelligent software is provided by computer programs that can adapt fully automatically to previously unknown situations without the need to be re-programmed. Innovative products will also emerge from a new generation of autonomous systems that are able to adapt to different environments.Read moreRead less
Vision Based Guidance, Navigation and Control of a Tail-Sitter Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. The development of a high precision visual guidance system for vertical takeoff and landing UAVs will significantly enhance their operational effectiveness by allowing them to land accurately on the back of small vessels or in confined clearings. Together with the extra navigation-system redundancy vis-a-vis GPS system failure and the ability to self-identify reasonable emergency landing sites, the proposed v ....Vision Based Guidance, Navigation and Control of a Tail-Sitter Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. The development of a high precision visual guidance system for vertical takeoff and landing UAVs will significantly enhance their operational effectiveness by allowing them to land accurately on the back of small vessels or in confined clearings. Together with the extra navigation-system redundancy vis-a-vis GPS system failure and the ability to self-identify reasonable emergency landing sites, the proposed vision-based system represents a significant capability improvement over what is currently available. It will thus enhance the ability of defence and civil-defence units to patrol Australian borders effectively and to react to threats. It will also have significant export potential to allied nations.Read moreRead less
Operator Decision Modelling in Autonomous Systems. The incorporation of humans as decision-makers into a complex system comprising of many autonomous agents is becoming increasingly important in areas such as defence, search-and-rescue, special emergency services, bush-fire and ecology management. This project will address how human decisions are made in such systems through the formulation and demonstration of innovative algorithms which model the operator decision making process. Generating so ....Operator Decision Modelling in Autonomous Systems. The incorporation of humans as decision-makers into a complex system comprising of many autonomous agents is becoming increasingly important in areas such as defence, search-and-rescue, special emergency services, bush-fire and ecology management. This project will address how human decisions are made in such systems through the formulation and demonstration of innovative algorithms which model the operator decision making process. Generating solutions to this increasingly important area will provide Australia's industry and community services the necessary knowledge for deploying such systems and thus improving service effectiveness, as well as the implementation of autonomous systems into new areas and thus increasing economic growth.Read moreRead less
Cost-effective autonomous systems for large scale monitoring of marine protected areas. This project seeks to develop autonomous technologies that will enable Australia's expanding system of marine protected areas (MPAs) to more effectively preserve marine biodiversity and long term ecosystem function through scalable, cost-effective monitoring. Monitoring will enable MPA managers to assess whether preservation and sustainability goals are being met and to adapt zoning policies in response. Au ....Cost-effective autonomous systems for large scale monitoring of marine protected areas. This project seeks to develop autonomous technologies that will enable Australia's expanding system of marine protected areas (MPAs) to more effectively preserve marine biodiversity and long term ecosystem function through scalable, cost-effective monitoring. Monitoring will enable MPA managers to assess whether preservation and sustainability goals are being met and to adapt zoning policies in response. Australia will benefit from informed sustainable use policies that preserve the marine environment for future generations without unnecessarily restricting recreational and commercial access today.Read moreRead less
Learning from Uncertain and Missing Labelling in Relational Data. Perceptual models for unstructured environments require complex modelling, usually specified in an ad-hoc manner. This project will substantially increase the range of robotic applications by learning more complex spatial statistical models for perception in challenging environments. Robots will be able to improve their perception capabilities with minimal human supervision.
Mining is one of the major components of the Australian ....Learning from Uncertain and Missing Labelling in Relational Data. Perceptual models for unstructured environments require complex modelling, usually specified in an ad-hoc manner. This project will substantially increase the range of robotic applications by learning more complex spatial statistical models for perception in challenging environments. Robots will be able to improve their perception capabilities with minimal human supervision.
Mining is one of the major components of the Australian economy. This project will improve mining automation and contribute to a more efficient industry, capable to compete internationally in the new globalisation context. Efficient extraction will also reduce the human impact and will be a significant factor for an environmentally sustainable development. Read moreRead less
Decision making and mission planning for Unmanned Underwater Vehicles. The work specifically addresses the National Research Priorities
in sustainable use of Australia's biodiversity, techniques for
transforming Australian industry and Safeguarding Australia.
Without a thorough understanding of processes that affect the
state of health of our oceans they will continue to be affected by
natural phenomena and stresses caused by human activity. A more
comprehensive understanding of these natu ....Decision making and mission planning for Unmanned Underwater Vehicles. The work specifically addresses the National Research Priorities
in sustainable use of Australia's biodiversity, techniques for
transforming Australian industry and Safeguarding Australia.
Without a thorough understanding of processes that affect the
state of health of our oceans they will continue to be affected by
natural phenomena and stresses caused by human activity. A more
comprehensive understanding of these natural systems and the
interplay with human activities is therefore essential.Read moreRead less
Autonomous Exploration and Characterization of Benthic Habitats Linked to Oceanographic Processes. The work specifically addresses the National Research Priorities in sustainable use of Australia's biodiversity and climate change. Without a thorough understanding of processes that affect the state of health of our oceans they will continue to be affected by natural phenomena and stresses caused by human activity. A more comprehensive understanding of these natural systems and the interplay with ....Autonomous Exploration and Characterization of Benthic Habitats Linked to Oceanographic Processes. The work specifically addresses the National Research Priorities in sustainable use of Australia's biodiversity and climate change. Without a thorough understanding of processes that affect the state of health of our oceans they will continue to be affected by natural phenomena and stresses caused by human activity. A more comprehensive understanding of these natural systems and the interplay with human activities is therefore essential.Read moreRead less
Optimizing autonomous system control with brain-like hierarchical control systems. Autonomous robotic systems, those requiring minimal ongoing supervision, have enormous commercial, medical and industry potential. A robotic hand, permitting manipulation of material objects is an integral part of robot function. Many aspects of human hand control, such as learning, fine motor control, context-specific adaptation and recovery from system damage would be greatly beneficial to a robotic hand. Likewi ....Optimizing autonomous system control with brain-like hierarchical control systems. Autonomous robotic systems, those requiring minimal ongoing supervision, have enormous commercial, medical and industry potential. A robotic hand, permitting manipulation of material objects is an integral part of robot function. Many aspects of human hand control, such as learning, fine motor control, context-specific adaptation and recovery from system damage would be greatly beneficial to a robotic hand. Likewise, theories of human hand control could be subject to empirical testing by implementing them in a robotic hand. These advances will greatly benefit our understanding of the human brain, with potentially wide-ranging medical benefits such as novel prosthetic limb design and rehabilitation strategies for stroke patients.Read moreRead less
Real-time high-level cognitive robotics controllers. Technological advances have seen the recent release of commercially affordable mobile robots. In the wake of Sony's immensely successful AIBO entertainment robot, it is anticipated that the market will be flooded with similar devices in short time. However, while traditional robotics focuses on problems like navigation and sensory perception, scant attention has been paid to the development of high-level cognitive robotics languages for coordi ....Real-time high-level cognitive robotics controllers. Technological advances have seen the recent release of commercially affordable mobile robots. In the wake of Sony's immensely successful AIBO entertainment robot, it is anticipated that the market will be flooded with similar devices in short time. However, while traditional robotics focuses on problems like navigation and sensory perception, scant attention has been paid to the development of high-level cognitive robotics languages for coordinating these lower-level "skills". Such languages allow development of sophisticated robot controllers. We aim to develop a cognitive robotics language capable of controlling robots in real-time and in a multi-agent setting requiring coordination among agents.Read moreRead less