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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
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
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.
Swarm construction: ant-inspired processes for teams of building robots. Construction and manufacturing can be dangerous, wasteful industries—prime candidates for automation by teams of mobile robot builders. However, our understanding of how to program robots for teamwork is limited. This project aims to understand how colonies of weaver ants build complex nest structures, using novel 3D-imaging and ant tracking techniques. The anticipated outcomes of the project are i) a framework for how indi ....Swarm construction: ant-inspired processes for teams of building robots. Construction and manufacturing can be dangerous, wasteful industries—prime candidates for automation by teams of mobile robot builders. However, our understanding of how to program robots for teamwork is limited. This project aims to understand how colonies of weaver ants build complex nest structures, using novel 3D-imaging and ant tracking techniques. The anticipated outcomes of the project are i) a framework for how individual-level behaviour drives structure-level outcomes, applicable to many complex systems, and ii) novel software and hardware for robot swarms that can 3D-print structures using ant inspired teamwork strategies. Benefits of the project include new construction technologies that are safer, greener, cheaper and faster.Read moreRead less
Integrated Piezoelectric Microsystems for Actuation and Sensing. Piezoelectric transducers provide the highest positioning accuracy of any known actuator and the highest dynamic force resolution of any known sensor. However, these capabilities are limited to macro scale applications since piezoelectric materials are not compatible with integrated circuit (IC) or Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems fabrication processes. This project aims to extend the use of piezoelectric materials to the meso- and ....Integrated Piezoelectric Microsystems for Actuation and Sensing. Piezoelectric transducers provide the highest positioning accuracy of any known actuator and the highest dynamic force resolution of any known sensor. However, these capabilities are limited to macro scale applications since piezoelectric materials are not compatible with integrated circuit (IC) or Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems fabrication processes. This project aims to extend the use of piezoelectric materials to the meso- and micro-scale by fabricating miniature piezoelectric positioning and sensor systems. These devices will include six-axis nano-positioners and ultra-high resolution accelerometers and gyroscopes. This technology will create a new market for devices that are lower cost than macro-scale systems but provide higher performance than silicon based microsystems.Read moreRead less
Decentralisation and robustness for practical control of complex systems. This project aims to develop the theory and tools to address the control of complex interconnected systems. There is currently an enormous disconnect in decentralised control between the celebrated theoretical advances and the concepts that are used for implementation, or even for computation. The project expects to isolate the key reasons for this disconnect and develop ways to address the control of complex interconnecte ....Decentralisation and robustness for practical control of complex systems. This project aims to develop the theory and tools to address the control of complex interconnected systems. There is currently an enormous disconnect in decentralised control between the celebrated theoretical advances and the concepts that are used for implementation, or even for computation. The project expects to isolate the key reasons for this disconnect and develop ways to address the control of complex interconnected systems. The expected outcome is a tool which can observe information from only a small portion of a network but which may ultimately effect a large portion of the network. This includes smart building management, multi-vehicle systems and convoys, irrigation networks, large array telescopes, and the power distribution grid.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.