Control methods for autonomous mobile robots: unmanned missions in hazardous, inaccessible environments

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A longstanding goal of robotics has been to introduce intelligent machines into environments dangerous or generally inaccessible to humans. Autonomous robots equipped with computing, wireless communication, mobility and embedded sensors are becoming economically feasible and therefore available to perform a variety of tasks such including environmental sensing and monitoring; coverage control; surveillance, search and rescue, and exploration; target localization and tracking. This research program is concerned with control methods for Autonomous Robotic Systems suitable for unmanned missions in hazardous environments and/or inaccessible to humans. Given the intrinsic operational limitations in many applications involving autonomous robots, there is a need for distributed coordination algorithms that are both theoretically justified and implementable in real systems. The attribute "autonomous" refers to the capability of making decision without (or with minimum) human intervention, which makes the associated system suitable for operations that minimize harm to humans, or that cannot possibly be done by operators. Within a general robotic framework proposed by the applicant we will (i) develop method for coordination of cooperating groups of robots operating autonomously in hazardous missions such as demining and search and rescue in hostile environments; (ii) develop algorithms for the next generation of the robot Explorer II, a robotic platform maintained by a Canadian company that performs non-destructive inspection and damage detection of gas pipelines; (iii) develop and implement motion control for mobile lenses mounted on a microscope that will be used in biomechanical experiments; (iv) develop tracking and data association tools for infrared camera detecting the body temperature of humans transiting in critical/hazardous areas. Several graduate students will be involved in the program, with the possibility of being engaged in research projects that span analytical, computational, and experimental topics.