Related papers: Exploring the Potential of Multi-modal Sensing Fra…
Using thermal infrared detectors mounted on drones, and applying techniques from astrophysics, we hope to support the field of conservation ecology by creating an automated pipeline for the detection and identification of certain endangered…
Robot deployment in realistic dynamic environments is a challenging problem despite the fact that robots can be quite skilled at a large number of isolated tasks. One reason for this is that robots are rarely equipped with powerful…
Unmanned aerial systems capable of beyond visual line of sight operation can be organized into a top-down hierarchy of layers including flight supervision, command and control, simulation of systems, operating systems, and physical…
In this paper, we study the feasibility of sending drones to deliver goods from a depot to a customer by solving what we call the Mission-Feasibility Problem (MFP). Due to payload constraints, the drone can serve only one customer at a…
Humans are well-adept at navigating public spaces shared with others, where current autonomous mobile robots still struggle: while safely and efficiently reaching their goals, humans communicate their intentions and conform to unwritten…
It was recently demonstrated that two machine-learning architectures, reservoir computing and time-delayed feed-forward neural networks, can be exploited for detecting the Earth's anomaly magnetic field immersed in overwhelming complex…
Drones are a versatile platform for both amateur and professional photographers, enabling them to capture photos that are impossible to shoot with ground-based cameras. However, when guided by inexperienced pilots, they have a high…
Drones are a promising technology for autonomous data collection and indoor sensing. In situations when human-controlled UAVs may not be practical or dependable, such as in uncharted or dangerous locations, the usage of autonomous UAVs…
We explore multi-log grasping using reinforcement learning and virtual visual servoing for automated forwarding in a simulated environment. Automation of forest processes is a major challenge, and many techniques regarding robot control…
Fast, autonomous flight in unstructured, cluttered environments such as forests is challenging because it requires the robot to compute new plans in realtime on a computationally-constrained platform. In this paper, we enable this…
Mobile multi-robot teams deployed for monitoring or search-and-rescue missions in urban disaster areas can greatly improve the quality of vital data collected on-site. Analysis of such data can identify hazards and save lives.…
In South Africa, it is a common practice for people to leave their vehicles beside the road when traveling long distances for a short comfort break. This practice might increase human encounters with wildlife, threatening their security and…
Forests are an essential part of our biosphere, regulating climate, acting as a sink for greenhouse gases, and providing numerous other ecosystem services. However, they are negatively impacted by climatic stressors such as drought or heat…
Over the past decades, improvements in data collection hardware coupled with novel artificial intelligence algorithms have made it possible for researchers to understand urban environments at an unprecedented scale. From local interactions…
Aerial robots show significant potential for forest canopy research and environmental monitoring by providing data collection capabilities at high spatial and temporal resolutions. However, limited flight endurance hinders their…
Swarms of drones are being more and more used in many practical scenarios, such as surveillance, environmental monitoring, search and rescue in hardly-accessible areas, etc.. While a single drone can be guided by a human operator, the…
Legged robots are increasingly being adopted in industries such as oil, gas, mining, nuclear, and agriculture. However, new challenges exist when moving into natural, less-structured environments, such as forestry applications. This paper…
1. Animal movement patterns contribute to our understanding of variation in breeding success and survival of individuals, and the implications for population dynamics. 2. Over time, sensor technology for measuring movement patterns has…
The use of drones in a wide range of applications is steadily increasing. However, this has also raised critical security concerns such as unauthorized drone intrusions into restricted zones. Therefore, robust and accurate drone detection…
Mobile robots, especially unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), are of increasing interest for surveillance and disaster response scenarios. We consider the problem of multi-robot persistent surveillance with connectivity constraints where…