CPS: Medium: LEAR-CPS: Low-Energy computing for Autonomous mobile Robotic CPS via Co-Design of Algorithms and Integrated Circuits

这项研究的目标是使一个新时代的低能耗移动的机器人网络物理系统（CPS）。该方法是同时设计的计算硬件与计算机算法，从系统的物理输入。应用包括但不限于用于人工授粉的昆虫大小的机器人蜜蜂，用于环境监测的机器人水漫游者，用于检查的微型水下自主车辆，可以智能导航消化系统的口服医疗机器人车辆，可以在空中或水下操作数月的机器人滑翔机等等。研究结果将使人工智能和自动化的低功耗计算成为可能，以补充已经开发的现有低能耗、微型驱动和传感系统。这将使低能量，微型移动的机器人CPS仍然可以提供完整性，最优性，鲁棒性和安全性的可证明的保证。该项目将专注于为小型、节能的移动的机器人CPS开发新的算法和新的计算硬件。拟议的研究将通过同时设计算法和计算硬件，最大限度地减少设计时和运行时的能耗，实现完全自主的低能耗计算。决策算法将在运行时最小化计算能量，例如，通过考虑可能不需要大量计算的感知和规划的运动。该项目将通过建造有史以来最小的全自动飞行机器人来展示新方法。我们相信，拟议的基础研究和拟议的演示将在移动的机器人文献和计算硬件（电路）文献的交叉点上启动一个新的网络物理系统子领域。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The goal of this research is to enable a new era of low-energy mobile robotic Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS). The approach is the simultaneous design of the computing hardware with the computer algorithms, with input from the physics of the system. Applications include, but are not limited to, insect-size robotic bees for artificial pollination, robotic water striders for environmental monitoring, miniature underwater autonomous vehicles for inspection, orally-administered medical robotic vehicles that can intelligently navigate the digestive system, robotic gliders that can operate in the air or underwater for months at a time, and many more. The results will enable low-power computing for artificial intelligence and autonomy to complement the existing low-energy, miniature actuation and sensing systems that have already been developed. This will enable low-energy, miniature mobile robotic CPSs that can still provide provable guarantees on completeness, optimality, robustness and safety. This project will focus on the development of novel algorithms and novel computing hardware for miniature, energy-efficient mobile robotic CPS. The proposed research will enable low-energy computation for full autonomy by way of minimizing energy consumption during design time and run time, by simultaneously designing the algorithms and the computing hardware. Decision making algorithms will minimize computing energy during run time, for instance, by considering motions that may not require heavy computation for perception and planning. The project will demonstrate the new methods by constructing the smallest fully-autonomous aerial robotic vehicle ever built. We believe the proposed foundational research and the proposed demonstration will kickstart a new cyber-physical systems subfield at the intersection of the mobile robotics literature and the computing hardware (circuits) literature.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.