When: Thursday, 21th of May, 1:00pm AEDT
Where: This seminar will be partially presented at the ACFR seminar area, J04 lvl 2 (Rose St Building) and partially online via Zoom. RSVP
Title: Coordination Algorithms for Multi-Robot Systems in the Wild
Speaker: Dr. Graeme Best
Abstract:
Multi-robot systems have the potential to operate at larger scales and with greater resilience than individual robots, but this requires coordination algorithms that remain useful beyond idealised laboratory settings. In this seminar, I will present several planning and coordination algorithms for robot teams operating in complex outdoor environments, with a particular focus on active perception: planning robot motion and observation viewpoints to improve high-level understanding of the world while accounting for motion, communication, and task constraints. The talk will connect several threads from my research, including decentralised Monte Carlo tree search (Dec-MCTS), communication-aware coordination, coalition formation, synthesising behaviour trees, communication of maps or intent, and sequential task allocation. I will discuss how these ideas have been applied across real-world field robotics contexts, including subterranean exploration, high-speed ground robot surveillance, and marine environmental monitoring.
Bio:
Dr Graeme Best is a Senior Lecturer in the Robotics Institute at the University of Technology Sydney. His research focuses on developing autonomy for multi-robot systems in challenging outdoor environments, with contributions ranging from new fundamental algorithms to full-scale system demonstrations. He completed postdoctoral studies at Oregon State University, where he participated in the DARPA Subterranean Challenge with Carnegie Mellon University. He earned his PhD from The University of Sydney (2019) and his BEng and BSc from Monash University, and has also worked at DSTG’s Maritime Division and the CSIRO Autonomous Systems Lab. Dr Best is a recipient of a Google Research Scholar Program Award and multiple best paper awards and nominations at international robotics conferences, including RSS, ICRA, and IROS. At UTS, he is the Mechatronics Major Coordinator and teaches Space Robotics and project-based robotics subjects. He is actively involved with the broader robotics research community as an editor and workshop organiser, and is currently a Local Arrangements Chair for the upcoming Robotics: Science and Systems conference to be held in Sydney.