Thesis Seminar: Nathan Wallace, 22nd Oct, 1p

When: Thurs 22nd of Oct, 1p AEST

Where: This seminar will be presented online, RSVP here.

Speaker: Nathan Wallace

Title: Energy-aware Planning and Control of Off-road Wheeled Mobile Robots

Abstract: Many modern agricultural properties are vast, often encompassing large areas of undulating off-road terrain with varying traction conditions, making them difficult to traverse for wheeled platforms. Furthermore, the large scale of these properties necessitates careful consideration and management of resources in the planning of missions, to traverse these large distances and successfully achieve objectives without the risk of stranding the platform out in the field. These challenges need to be addressed before autonomous wheeled mobile robots are ready for deployment in agricultural contexts.

To address these challenges, we present an optimisation-based estimation and control strategy for accurate trajectory tracking in the presence of slip. A novel structured parameter blocking extension to this strategy is developed and tested, and shown to improve state estimation and path tracking performance for traversal over rapidly varying terrain conditions.

A data-driven energy cost of motion model for an omnidirectional wheeled mobile robot has also been developed to address the problem of efficiency. This is done through the use of this model as a cost metric within asymptotically optimal sampling-based planners, which, along with consideration of various terrain features and the configuration of the platform itself, enable the generation of energy-efficient motion plans.

Bio: Nathan graduated from the University of Sydney with an undergradutate degree in Mechatronic Engineering, Physics and Computer Science. He recently completed his PhD with the Agriculture research group at ACFR.