A Vision Controlled Autonomous Multi-Robot Welding System. This developed system will increase the application of robotic welding in more Australian industries thereby increaseing the productivity and competitiveness of the nation. The system will provide a safer work environment for workers by reducing and potentially eliminating direct exposure of workers to the welding process. This fully automated welding system will give the Lincoln a significant advantage in commercialise this technology b ....A Vision Controlled Autonomous Multi-Robot Welding System. This developed system will increase the application of robotic welding in more Australian industries thereby increaseing the productivity and competitiveness of the nation. The system will provide a safer work environment for workers by reducing and potentially eliminating direct exposure of workers to the welding process. This fully automated welding system will give the Lincoln a significant advantage in commercialise this technology both in Australia and overseas. Therefore, this will reap considerable economic benefit for the company, and the nation. This project will also provide a realistic industrial environment for PhD student training.Read moreRead less
Image Based Visual Servo Control of Dynamic Under-Actuated Systems. The project builds on earlier work on visual servo control of under-actuated rigid body dynamics to develop and implement sophisticated and robust image based visual servo control for a wide class of under-actuated and fully actuated dynamic systems. The scope of the project extends far beyond basic testing of preliminary results to address key technical issues facing visual servo control algorithms at this time. The project i ....Image Based Visual Servo Control of Dynamic Under-Actuated Systems. The project builds on earlier work on visual servo control of under-actuated rigid body dynamics to develop and implement sophisticated and robust image based visual servo control for a wide class of under-actuated and fully actuated dynamic systems. The scope of the project extends far beyond basic testing of preliminary results to address key technical issues facing visual servo control algorithms at this time. The project is strongly motivated by the host of emerging applications for visual servo control of unmanned aerial vehicles. The experimental program within the project is based on control of a four rotor VTOL `hoverbot'.Read moreRead less
Visual intelligence for safe vehicle operation in industrial environment. Visual intelligence for safe vehicle operation in industrial environment. This project aims to develop safety devices for loosely constrained environments with public access, building on visual-based collision avoidance technology in controlled industrial settings. Increasing productivity in industrial workplaces creates a need for faster industrial vehicles. At fruit and vegetable markets and construction sites, forklift ....Visual intelligence for safe vehicle operation in industrial environment. Visual intelligence for safe vehicle operation in industrial environment. This project aims to develop safety devices for loosely constrained environments with public access, building on visual-based collision avoidance technology in controlled industrial settings. Increasing productivity in industrial workplaces creates a need for faster industrial vehicles. At fruit and vegetable markets and construction sites, forklift drivers, crane operators and crews are under pressure to move faster. The need for higher speed and the enormous human and financial cost of unsafe operations create opportunities for the deployment of intelligent safety devices. The expected outcomes of this project are safer public industrial environments, reductions in work related injuries, injury compensation costs and associated societal burdens.Read moreRead less
Intelligent collision avoidance system for mobile industrial platforms. This project will develop a collision prevention system for mobile industrial platforms that enhances existing artificial vision perception systems to mimic human eye capabilities. The outcomes of this project will result in significant reductions in work related injuries, injury compensation costs and associated societal burdens.
ARC Centre of Excellence for Robotic Vision. Robots are vital to Australia's future prosperity in the face of high relative wages, low or decreasing productivity, and impending labour shortages. However the work and workplaces of our most important industries are unstructured and changeable and current robots are challenged by their inability to quickly, safely and reliably "see" and "understand" what is around them. The Centre's research will create the fundamental science and technologies th ....ARC Centre of Excellence for Robotic Vision. Robots are vital to Australia's future prosperity in the face of high relative wages, low or decreasing productivity, and impending labour shortages. However the work and workplaces of our most important industries are unstructured and changeable and current robots are challenged by their inability to quickly, safely and reliably "see" and "understand" what is around them. The Centre's research will create the fundamental science and technologies that will allow robots to see as we do, and overcome the last barrier to the ubiquitous deployment of robots into society for the benefit of all.Read moreRead less
Automated Integrity Assessment of Self-Piercing Rivet Joints: i4.0 Approach. Lightweighting in the car industry by the use of aluminium reduces emissions substantially. It entails joining the car body sections by self-piercing rivets rather than the traditional spot welds. We aim to fill the technology gap for effective quality control of these joints. The project expects to solve the problem by merging industry 4.0 principles, three-dimensional X-ray technology, machine learning computer vision ....Automated Integrity Assessment of Self-Piercing Rivet Joints: i4.0 Approach. Lightweighting in the car industry by the use of aluminium reduces emissions substantially. It entails joining the car body sections by self-piercing rivets rather than the traditional spot welds. We aim to fill the technology gap for effective quality control of these joints. The project expects to solve the problem by merging industry 4.0 principles, three-dimensional X-ray technology, machine learning computer vision and structural mechanics. The expected outcomes are technologies for automation-friendly assessment of these joints. This should benefit industries from medical to electronics to automatically spot a random and delicate abnormality within a solid of complex geometry, such as that in live tissue or an electronic circuit.Read moreRead less
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 Functions for Smart Cars. The aim of this project is to develop autonomous functions for smart cars, such as lane departure warning, driver fatigue warning, and automatic lane following. Every year 70,000 people are killed in road accidents, 95% of which can be attributed to driver error. The potential outcomes of this project therefore significant. Many of the theoretical methods required for this project have been developed by our group. However, further theoretical refinements fo ....Autonomous Functions for Smart Cars. The aim of this project is to develop autonomous functions for smart cars, such as lane departure warning, driver fatigue warning, and automatic lane following. Every year 70,000 people are killed in road accidents, 95% of which can be attributed to driver error. The potential outcomes of this project therefore significant. Many of the theoretical methods required for this project have been developed by our group. However, further theoretical refinements followed by experimental verification is necessary. For smart cars to be accepted, the systems must be demonstrated to be reliable and to operate in a wide range of conditions.Read moreRead less
Exploiting the Symmetry of Spatial Awareness for 21st Century Automation. This project aims to enable autonomous robotic systems to operate more robustly and more reliably in the complex, cluttered and dynamic environments found in real-world applications. Applying the latest understanding of symmetry in non-linear systems and control provides tools that can be used to develop new design methodologies for spatial awareness algorithms. The outcomes of this project should increase Australia's ca ....Exploiting the Symmetry of Spatial Awareness for 21st Century Automation. This project aims to enable autonomous robotic systems to operate more robustly and more reliably in the complex, cluttered and dynamic environments found in real-world applications. Applying the latest understanding of symmetry in non-linear systems and control provides tools that can be used to develop new design methodologies for spatial awareness algorithms. The outcomes of this project should increase Australia's capacity in high-tech systems and deliver world best open source code for spatial awareness problems to enable the next generation of automation in Australia.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