Category: Autonomous Robotics

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ALMA

ALMA (Ageing Without Losing Mobility and Autonomy) is a European project focused on supporting the autonomous mobility, navigation, and orientation of the mobility-impaired person (elderly and/or temporarily or permanently disabled person).

The ALMA system is a modular combination of advanced hardware and software technologies into an integrated and modular cost-effective system. AIRLab contributed to ALMA with its Personal Mobility Kit.

Contact: Matteo Matteucci

For additional details: http://www.alma-aal.org/

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Robot Benchmarking

Benchmarking means objectively measuring the performance of a robot when executing a task. Being able to benchmark robot systems is necessary to compare their performance, and thus to better understand their strenghts and weaknesses. Both research and industry need this to progress.

However, when dealing with autonomous agents benchmarking is tricky. How to devise testing procedures that yield objective results? What metrics capture the key points of the robot performance? How can robots that perform the same complex action differently be compared?

AIRLab has been working on these issues for a long time, accumulating experience in both methodology and real-world benchmark design, setup and execution.

Over the years, we participated -and are participating- to many European projects about robot benchmarking, including RAWSEEDS​ (FP6), RoCKIn​ (FP7), RockEU2 (H2020), RobMoSys (H2020), EUROBENCH (H2020), SciRoc (H2020), METRICS (H2020).

Contact: Matteo Matteucci

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Personal Mobility Kit

The PMK is an add-on for commercial electric wheelchairs that uses robotic technology to provide two new functionalities:

  • autonomous driving, where the user only has to select her goal and the PMK drives the wheelchair safely to destination;
  • assisted driving, where the user is in charge of driving and the PMK only intervenes to ensure safety (e.g., slowing down to avoid a collision with a child jumping in front of the wheelchair) or provide help in difficult maneuvers (e.g., while approaching doorways).

The PMK has been developed with the collaboration of disabled people. Its design and implementation are focused on the principle of shared autonomy: the robotic part of the wheelchair only intervenes when this actually makes the user feel more empowered by this intervention, augmenting the user’s autonomy and independence.

Contact: Matteo Matteucci

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Sprayin’ with Brain

Sprayin’ with Brain is a line of research projects dealing with applications of Artificial Intelligenge and Robotics to agriculture. Collaboration with external experts (such as researchers in agriculture) and interaction with manufacturers of agricultural machinery and farmers keeps Sprayin’ with Brain focused on real-world problems.

Contact: Matteo Matteucci

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European Robotics League

The ERL is the last evolution of a long-standing line of work about benchmarking through competitions: i.e., rethinking robot competitions to transform them into tools for objective evaluation of the performance of autonomous robot systems. All this without taking away the elements of fun and challenge that make competitions interesting.

Contact: Matteo Matteucci

For additional details: https://www.eu-robotics.net/robotics_league/

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GRAPE

GRAPE (Ground Robot for vineyArd Monitoring and ProtEction) explores the use of autonomous robots as means for pesticide-free pest control in vineyards. An robot fitted with an arm and a dispenser of pheromone-coated devices has the task of navigating through the vineyard, find suitable target locations for the devices, and place them in place.

Contact: Matteo Matteucci

For additional details: http://www.echord.eu/grape.html