Roads? Where We're Going We Don't Need Roads! A Robot Platform for Offroad Self-Driving Research

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While there is currently world-wide effort focussed on the development of self-driving cars and trucks, there are also many other applications of autonomous mobile robots that are either already in operation or can be brought to market in the near term. In this research, we are interested in offroad self-driving, where (at least some of the time) a robot cannot rely on the presence of road infrastructure for navigation and often has to contend with rough terrain. Examples of these applications are last-mile delivery, campus shuttles, agriculture, mining, mowing, search & rescue, environment monitoring, safety/security, and planetary exploration. The University of Toronto has a long-term research effort focussed on offroad self-driving for such applications, with a proven track record of results in terms of publications and technology transfer to industry/government partners. For example, new algorithms allowing autonomous operations of mobile robots have been provided to MDA Robotics and the Canadian Space Agency (for planetary exploration), Clearpath Robotics (for warehouse and outdoor logistics such as airports), Drone Delivery Canada (for unmanned aerial vehicle delivery), and Electric Sheep Robotics (for large-scale mowing). The proposal requests a new state-of-the-art unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) equipped with sensors (a stereo camera, a laser-rangefinder, and a radar) to continue cutting-edge research into these important offroad robotics applications. There is still much research needed to enable offroad applications including being robust to all kinds of weather and terrain, being safe enough to work alongside humans, and being efficient enough to move quickly in challenging environments. Such a platform serves as a critical stepping stone before shipping software to end users, by allowing frequent local experiments to be conducted. These experiments are not only a necessary part of the scientific process but also provide students, postdocs, and faculty important hands-on learning opportunities to acquire the skills they will need to keep Canada at the forefront of this exciting field.