ACS6334   Mobile Robotics and Autonomous Vehicles   (10 credits)

Description

Recent research is finally leading to real advances in applications of mobile robotics and autonomous vehicles. The DARPA Grand Challenges have demonstrated the potential for fully autonomous road vehicles leading to major car companies undertaking trials of driverless cars. Unmanned aerial vehicles are routinely being deployed for a variety of applications including natural disaster search and rescue. The Curiosity rover is exploring the surface of Mars and unmanned underwater vehicles can navigate whole oceans. The technological challenges of developing such autonomous systems are varied and complex. This module introduces the concepts of autonomous vehicles and mobile robotics focussing on the control and systems engineering issues related to autonomous operation. The module covers basic concepts in robot architectures, kinematic and dynamic modelling, control and decision making. Topics such as path planning, navigation, obstacle avoidance, simultaneous localisation and mapping (SLAM), sensors, state estimation and agent methods will be covered. Applications and techniques associated with single, co¿operative and swarming robotics will be covered with case studies demonstrating real world applications of the techniques and algorithms.

Reading List