Foundations of Vision Based Control of Robotic Vehicles. Automated and partially automated robotic vehicles are an emerging technology in society. The safety and performance of such systems depends crucially on their sensing and control algorithms. Vision sensing is one of the few sensor modalities that has the potential to adequately represent the complexity of a real world environment. By providing simple and effective vision based control algorithms this project develops Frontier Technologi ....Foundations of Vision Based Control of Robotic Vehicles. Automated and partially automated robotic vehicles are an emerging technology in society. The safety and performance of such systems depends crucially on their sensing and control algorithms. Vision sensing is one of the few sensor modalities that has the potential to adequately represent the complexity of a real world environment. By providing simple and effective vision based control algorithms this project develops Frontier Technologies for Building and Transforming Australian Industries by enabling a wide range of robotic vehicle applications, including aerial, submersible, and wheeled vehicles.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
The role of strong duality in computer vision. This project aims to undertake research in the fields of computer vision and optimization that will have a significant impact on the design of numerical algorithms for solving a wide range of problems in Computer Vision, Virtual Reality and Robotic Navigation. This project will advance understanding of a broad class of problems related to how computers interpret images. An expected outcome is the generation of novel mathematical theory and numerical ....The role of strong duality in computer vision. This project aims to undertake research in the fields of computer vision and optimization that will have a significant impact on the design of numerical algorithms for solving a wide range of problems in Computer Vision, Virtual Reality and Robotic Navigation. This project will advance understanding of a broad class of problems related to how computers interpret images. An expected outcome is the generation of novel mathematical theory and numerical algorithms capable of fundamentally changing the way problems relevant to a wide range of vision-related applications are solved. This should offer Australia a strong competitive advantage as a leader in scientific innovation in the areas of Computer Vision, Virtual Reality and Robotics and Autonomous Systems.Read moreRead less
Superhuman place recognition with a unified model of human visual processing and rodent spatial memory. Current robotic and personal navigation systems leave much to be desired; GPS only works in open outdoor areas, lasers are expensive and cameras are highly sensitive to changing environmental conditions. In contrast, nature has evolved superb navigation systems. This project aims to solve the challenging problem of place recognition, a key component of navigation, by modelling the visual recog ....Superhuman place recognition with a unified model of human visual processing and rodent spatial memory. Current robotic and personal navigation systems leave much to be desired; GPS only works in open outdoor areas, lasers are expensive and cameras are highly sensitive to changing environmental conditions. In contrast, nature has evolved superb navigation systems. This project aims to solve the challenging problem of place recognition, a key component of navigation, by modelling the visual recognition skills of humans and the rodent spatial memory system. This project looks to combine the best understood and most capable components of place recognition in nature to create a whole more capable than its parts, produce advances in robotic and personal navigation technology and lead to breakthroughs in understandings of the brain.Read moreRead less
Delivering information suitable for studying spatial and temporal variability in benthic habitats using autonomous underwater vehicles. This project will develop the tools required to transform observations, made from autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV) of benthic habitats, into information that supports a better understanding of variability in benthic environments. This will allow for a coordinated and collaborative approach for data analysis and mapping to be undertaken.
Interactive learning for robots in human environments. This project aims to develop robots that can interact with and learn from humans to quickly and safely learn new skills. Recent advances in robotics and artificial intelligence are poised to transform our economy, workplaces and homes, and even the organisation of society, however these advances are limited by robots’ inability to learn and adapt in uncertain environments. The outcomes of this project are expected to include new validated me ....Interactive learning for robots in human environments. This project aims to develop robots that can interact with and learn from humans to quickly and safely learn new skills. Recent advances in robotics and artificial intelligence are poised to transform our economy, workplaces and homes, and even the organisation of society, however these advances are limited by robots’ inability to learn and adapt in uncertain environments. The outcomes of this project are expected to include new validated methods and frameworks to enable robots to be used by non-experts and to be quickly deployed in a variety of settings. This is anticipated to provide transformative benefits, improving safety and productivity in the workspace, and enabling improved comfort, convenience and quality of life in the home.Read moreRead less
Real-time friction sensing, feedback and control for dexterous prosthetic and robotic manipulation. Prosthetic and robotic hands demonstrate poor dexterity during object manipulation, often dropping objects. Humans rarely allow objects to slip because we can sense when an object is slippery and adjust our grip. Exceptionally little research has been directed at replicating this ability to sense friction. This project aims to enable artificial hands to estimate frictional properties while graspin ....Real-time friction sensing, feedback and control for dexterous prosthetic and robotic manipulation. Prosthetic and robotic hands demonstrate poor dexterity during object manipulation, often dropping objects. Humans rarely allow objects to slip because we can sense when an object is slippery and adjust our grip. Exceptionally little research has been directed at replicating this ability to sense friction. This project aims to enable artificial hands to estimate frictional properties while grasping an object. Non-invasive methods to feed back this frictional information to an amputee will also be investigated. Finally, the friction-sensing system will be used to improve robotic gripper control. The outcomes of this research will significantly advance the fields of prosthetics, telesurgery, and service and manufacturing robotics.Read moreRead less
Home helper robots: Understanding our future lives with human-like AI. This fellowship aims to understand and plan for the social effects of embedding ‘cute’ home helper robots into people’s everyday lives. The project is expected to generate new knowledge and resources to understand and respond to the emerging opportunities and risks associated with home helper robots, including their ability to support household tasks, and to provide child and aged care and companionship. Expected outcomes inc ....Home helper robots: Understanding our future lives with human-like AI. This fellowship aims to understand and plan for the social effects of embedding ‘cute’ home helper robots into people’s everyday lives. The project is expected to generate new knowledge and resources to understand and respond to the emerging opportunities and risks associated with home helper robots, including their ability to support household tasks, and to provide child and aged care and companionship. Expected outcomes include an improved understanding of anthropomorphised robots in everyday life and innovation in home helper robot theory and imaginaries. This should provide benefits such as informing robot design and policy to improve social outcomes, consumer protections and human-robot relationships.Read moreRead less
Control and learning for enhancing capabilities of quantum sensors. This project aims to develop new theories and algorithms to enhance capabilities in engineering quantum sensors from the perspective of systems and control. The project is significant because it is anticipated to advance key knowledge and provide systematic methods to enable achievement of high-precision sensing for wide applications, e.g., early disease detection, medical research, discovery of ore deposits and groundwater moni ....Control and learning for enhancing capabilities of quantum sensors. This project aims to develop new theories and algorithms to enhance capabilities in engineering quantum sensors from the perspective of systems and control. The project is significant because it is anticipated to advance key knowledge and provide systematic methods to enable achievement of high-precision sensing for wide applications, e.g., early disease detection, medical research, discovery of ore deposits and groundwater monitoring. The intended outcomes are fundamental theories, effective control and learning algorithms for achieving highly-sensitive sensors. These outcomes should make important contributions to and deliver new knowledge and skills for Australia's sensing industries, which could benefit Australia's economic growth.Read moreRead less
A general framework for the stability and robustness of dynamical systems. Stability and robustness are crucial properties of well-engineered dynamical systems. This project aims to unify several notions of stability and robustness and to expand these notions to the emerging area of hybrid systems, which includes next generation electricity distribution networks.