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The task of maneuvering ships in confined environments is a difficult task for a human operator. One major reason is due to the complex and slow dynamics of the ship which need to be accounted for in order to successfully steer the vehicle.…
We propose a novel receding horizon planner for an autonomous surface vehicle (ASV) performing path planning in urban waterways. Feasible paths are found by repeatedly generating and searching a graph reflecting the obstacles observed in…
The problem of autonomous parking of vehicle fleets is addressed in this paper. We present a system-level modeling and control framework which allows investigating different vehicle parking strategies while taking into account path planning…
An enabling technology for future sea transports is safe and energy-efficient autonomous maritime navigation in narrow environments with other marine vessels present. This requires that the algorithm controlling the ship is able to account…
Safe autonomous driving in urban areas requires robust algorithms to avoid collisions with other traffic participants with limited perception ability. Current deployed approaches relying on Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) systems are…
A significant challenge of adopting battery electric buses into fleets lies in scheduling the charging, which in turn is complicated by considerations such as timing constraints imposed by routes, long charging times, limited numbers of…
Shared autonomy is a promising paradigm in robotic systems, particularly within the maritime domain, where complex, high-risk, and uncertain environments necessitate effective human-robot collaboration. This paper investigates the…
Navigating narrow roads with oncoming vehicles is a significant challenge that has garnered considerable public interest. These scenarios often involve sections that cannot accommodate two moving vehicles simultaneously due to the presence…
Robots will increasingly operate near humans that introduce uncertainties in the motion planning problem due to their complex nature. Typically, chance constraints are introduced in the planner to optimize performance while guaranteeing…
Path Following and Collision Avoidance, be it for unmanned surface vessels or other autonomous vehicles, are two fundamental guidance problems in robotics. For many decades, they have been subject to academic study, leading to a vast number…
Machine Learning (ML) techniques have gained significant traction as a means of improving the autonomy of marine vehicles over the last few years. This article surveys the recent ML approaches utilised for ship collision avoidance (COLAV)…
This paper presents a three-layered hybrid collision avoidance (COLAV) system for autonomous surface vehicles, compliant with rules 8 and 13-17 of the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGs). The COLAV system…
Autonomous sailboats are well suited for long-duration ocean observation due to their wind-driven endurance. However, their performance is highly anisotropic and strongly influenced by inhomogeneous and time-varying wind and current fields,…
This study introduces a shared-control approach for collision avoidance in a self-balancing riding ballbot, called PURE, marked by its dynamic stability, omnidirectional movement, and hands-free interface. Integrated with a sensor array and…
The paper proposes novel sampling strategies to compute the optimal path alteration of a surface vessel sailing in close quarters. Such strategy directly encodes the rules for safe navigation at sea, by exploiting the concept of minimal…
Fast and reliable obstacle avoidance is an important task for mobile robots. In this work, we propose an efficient reactive system that provides high-quality obstacle avoidance while running at hundreds of hertz with minimal resource usage.…
We propose a risk-aware crash mitigation system (RCMS), to augment any existing motion planner (MP), that enables an autonomous vehicle to perform evasive maneuvers in high-risk situations and minimize the severity of collision if a crash…
This paper focuses on the problem of collaborative collision avoidance for autonomous inland ships. Two solutions are provided to solve the problem in a distributed manner. We first present a distributed model predictive control (MPC)…
Driving safety and responsibility determination are indispensable pieces of the puzzle for autonomous driving. They are also deeply related to the allocation of right-of-way and the determination of accident liability. Therefore,…
Collision avoidance requires tradeoffs in planning time horizons. Depending on the planner, safety cannot always be guaranteed in uncertain environments given map updates. To mitigate situations where the planner leads the vehicle into a…