Robotic Inspection and Safe Removals of Suspicious/Abandoned Luggage. Abandoned luggage 'discovered' at airports and other sites by iOmniscient's video surveillance system maycontain explosive, dangerous chemicals or lethal biological agents. This project is about using sensor equipped robots to inspect this luggage by x-ray and other means (e.g.: ultrasound or electromagnetic sensors) and then, if appropriate, to remove it to a safe disposal area so as to minimise the risk to others sharing th ....Robotic Inspection and Safe Removals of Suspicious/Abandoned Luggage. Abandoned luggage 'discovered' at airports and other sites by iOmniscient's video surveillance system maycontain explosive, dangerous chemicals or lethal biological agents. This project is about using sensor equipped robots to inspect this luggage by x-ray and other means (e.g.: ultrasound or electromagnetic sensors) and then, if appropriate, to remove it to a safe disposal area so as to minimise the risk to others sharing this public space and those personnel responsible for security operations. iOmniscient Pty.Ltd., as the industrial partner, clearly has a commercial interest in the success of this project and thus is strongly motivated to support it.Read moreRead less
Robotic Vehicles for Fire Fighting and Emergency Services Support. The use of robots to support humans in bushfire fighting, search and rescue missions, civil disaster operations and terrorist apprehension (including hostage rescue) can save lives, minimise injury and improve security. This project aims at providing such capabilities and to deploy them in modes from direct teleoperation to fully autonomous operation as the situation dictates, in full partnership with the Victorian Country Fire A ....Robotic Vehicles for Fire Fighting and Emergency Services Support. The use of robots to support humans in bushfire fighting, search and rescue missions, civil disaster operations and terrorist apprehension (including hostage rescue) can save lives, minimise injury and improve security. This project aims at providing such capabilities and to deploy them in modes from direct teleoperation to fully autonomous operation as the situation dictates, in full partnership with the Victorian Country Fire Authority.Read moreRead less
Advanced Sonar Sensing for Robotics. Robotics research is heavily dependent on fast, accurate, reliable and cheap sensors. Sonar sensing can fulfil these requirements in air and underwater environments. This project will advance this sensor technology by providing sonar with high-speed accurate measurement and classification capabilities that function on moving platforms. The sonar will adapt and monitor differing environmental conditions allowing the sensor data to be integrated better with ....Advanced Sonar Sensing for Robotics. Robotics research is heavily dependent on fast, accurate, reliable and cheap sensors. Sonar sensing can fulfil these requirements in air and underwater environments. This project will advance this sensor technology by providing sonar with high-speed accurate measurement and classification capabilities that function on moving platforms. The sonar will adapt and monitor differing environmental conditions allowing the sensor data to be integrated better with other sensors, such as laser and stereo vision. Interference rejection will be incorporated that will allow the sensor to operate in conjunction with other sonar. Applications of the technology will be robotic mapping, localisation, navigation and exploration.Read moreRead less
ARC Centre for Perceptive & Intelligent Machines in Complex Environments. The Centre for Perceptive and Intelligent Machines in Complex Environments will perform fundamental research into and construct reliable large-scale systems of networked sensors, computational intelligence, mobile robots, and knowledge sources to support a large variety of critical human tasks, including surveillance/ security (eg. borders/airports/homes), health care support (eg. smart houses/ health condition monitoring, ....ARC Centre for Perceptive & Intelligent Machines in Complex Environments. The Centre for Perceptive and Intelligent Machines in Complex Environments will perform fundamental research into and construct reliable large-scale systems of networked sensors, computational intelligence, mobile robots, and knowledge sources to support a large variety of critical human tasks, including surveillance/ security (eg. borders/airports/homes), health care support (eg. smart houses/ health condition monitoring, semi autonomous wheelchairs), and civil disaster support (eg. fighting bushfires, looking for people in rubble) always keeping people in the loop so that strong human/ machine cooperative ventures can achieve what neither human or machines could accomplish independently.Read moreRead less
Integration of GPS/Pseudolites/INS to Geo-Reference Airborne Surveying and Mapping Sensors. This project aims to develop and test an innovative geo-referencing system for airborne surveying and mapping sensors. The proposed new system will be based on the deep integration of measurements from Global Positioning System (GPS), Inertial Navigation Systems (INS), and Pseudo-satellites (Pseudolites). This new system design can significantly improve the accuracy and reliability of the existing syste ....Integration of GPS/Pseudolites/INS to Geo-Reference Airborne Surveying and Mapping Sensors. This project aims to develop and test an innovative geo-referencing system for airborne surveying and mapping sensors. The proposed new system will be based on the deep integration of measurements from Global Positioning System (GPS), Inertial Navigation Systems (INS), and Pseudo-satellites (Pseudolites). This new system design can significantly improve the accuracy and reliability of the existing systems. This research will include theoretical analysis, algorithm development, system implementation, and performance evaluation, towards an operational geo-referencing system addressing ever-increasing demand for rapid acquisition of high quality spatial data from airborne sensors.Read moreRead less
New drives and control techniques for high performance piezoelectric actuation. Piezoelectric actuators are made from a ceramic material that expands in response to an applied voltage. Although these actuators develop the greatest forces and most precise motion of any actuator, a number of performance limitations exist. This proposal aims to overcome these limitations and greatly increase the performance of piezoelectric actuators.
Improved piezoelectric actuators will result in a parallel i ....New drives and control techniques for high performance piezoelectric actuation. Piezoelectric actuators are made from a ceramic material that expands in response to an applied voltage. Although these actuators develop the greatest forces and most precise motion of any actuator, a number of performance limitations exist. This proposal aims to overcome these limitations and greatly increase the performance of piezoelectric actuators.
Improved piezoelectric actuators will result in a parallel improvement of analytic and process machines throughout the scientific and industrial community. Examples include: improved atomic scale microscopes, finer tolerance steel rolling mills, more accurate micro-surgical tools, and automated manipulation of sperm and egg cells in IVF therapy.Read moreRead less
An Augmented-GPS Software Receiver for Indoor/Outdoor Positioning. This research student project will focus on the technical design of a personal positioning device, based on the measurement of a combination of GPS satellite and ground-transmitted signals. The design will incorporate Australian innovations in high-sensitivity GPS receivers, and 'pseudo-satellite' technologies. The integration of the GPS and 'pseudo-satellite' technologies will be carried out within a 'software receiver', which ....An Augmented-GPS Software Receiver for Indoor/Outdoor Positioning. This research student project will focus on the technical design of a personal positioning device, based on the measurement of a combination of GPS satellite and ground-transmitted signals. The design will incorporate Australian innovations in high-sensitivity GPS receivers, and 'pseudo-satellite' technologies. The integration of the GPS and 'pseudo-satellite' technologies will be carried out within a 'software receiver', which offers the opportunity of flexibility in the design of signal processing and navigation algorithms. The receiver design is intended to address the critical challenges for a low-cost, ubiquitous, high accuracy positioning device for a variety of indoor and outdoor consumer applications.Read moreRead less