Research
Autonomous Vehicles
We work on self-driving cars and vessels that are capable of navigating in dense urban scenarios. We combine optimization and learning methods to model interaction and balance risk. With our collaborators, we have deployed our motion planners on full-scale autonomous vehicles. See for example our demo at the ISTS`20 Conference (Video)
Game-Theoretic Motion Planning for Multi-Agent Interaction
This project brings tools from the field of dynamic game theory to robotic motion planning. This combination enables new motion-planning algorithms that allow a robot to strategically interact with other agents while accounting for their unknown—potentially malicious—intents.
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TRiLOGy: Sustainable Transportation and Logistics Over Water: Electrification, Automation, and Optimization
Together with industry partners, we develop motion planning algorithms to navigate urban canals accounting for the interactions with other vessels.
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Parallelized Probabilistic Motion Planning in Dynamic Environments
This project develops probabilistic motion planners for social robots and automated vehicles. Our main goal is to account for the uncertain future motion of obstacles, such as pedestrians, to plan safe and efficient robot motion.
Continue readingEntertainment and Education Robots
Robots can play an important role in entertainment, art and education. We support those efforts. For example, we have contributed novel robot designs and multi-robot systems, such as a first-of-its-kind interactive display, and helped in developing the Duckietown open robotics education.
Flying Robots
We empower Micro Aerial Vehicles with autonomous capabilities to navigate in complex environments and seamlessly coordinate with other agents. For this, we have proposed novel methods for aerial cinematography, formation control, motion planning, learning of communication policies and exploration.
Autonomous Drones for Emergency Responders
How can autonomous drones support operations of emergency responders such as the police? This project targets scenarios such as search and rescue or reconnaissance in large, unknown and potentially hazardous environments, where it can be difficult or even dangerous for policemen to operate and fulfil the task.
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Distributed high-level scene reasoning with teams of heterogeneous robots
In this project, we explore how a team of diverse robots can collaboratively monitor complex environments, such as bustling seaports or major city events. Equipped with varied sensors like cameras and microphones, each robot gathers data from its unique perspective...
Continue readingMobile Manipulation
From healthcare to retail, passing by the high-tech industry, mobile robots will move in and manipulate their environment. However, how can we create robots, particularly mobile manipulators that can work alongside humans in highly dynamic and unpredictable environments? The problem is that right now, mobile manipulators are simply not ready for such a deployment. It is not possible to program a robot for everything that might happen and it is very hard to perform a variety of complex tasks while still maintaining a high degree of reliability. We develop novel algorithms for improved reliability in human-shared environments, based on optimization fabrics, learning and sampling-based model-predictive control.
INTERACT: Intuitive Interaction for Robots among Humans
In this project, interactions of mobile robots and humans is key. This concept is considered on multiple spatio-temporal granularities ranging from individual interactions to the macro interaction of a robot fleet with humans, and from short term (local) to long term (global) effects of the interaction.
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AI for Retail: Mobile Manipulation in Dynamic Environments
Trajectory generation for mobile manipulation in dynamic environments, in the context of retail.
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HARMONY: Assistive Robots for Healthcare
Within this project we combine robotic mobility and manipulation modalities in complex, human-centred environments.
Continue readingSocial Robots
The vision of ground robots seamlessly operating among humans requires novel approaches which enhance classic robot motion planning by accounting for interaction effects and social preferences. Within our group we address social motion planning using learning from demonstrations, game theory and optimal control.
INTERACT: Intuitive Interaction for Robots among Humans
In this project, interactions of mobile robots and humans is key. This concept is considered on multiple spatio-temporal granularities ranging from individual interactions to the macro interaction of a robot fleet with humans, and from short term (local) to long term (global) effects of the interaction.
Continue reading
Game-Theoretic Motion Planning for Multi-Agent Interaction
This project brings tools from the field of dynamic game theory to robotic motion planning. This combination enables new motion-planning algorithms that allow a robot to strategically interact with other agents while accounting for their unknown—potentially malicious—intents.
Continue reading
HARMONY: Assistive Robots for Healthcare
Within this project we combine robotic mobility and manipulation modalities in complex, human-centred environments.
Continue reading
Parallelized Probabilistic Motion Planning in Dynamic Environments
This project develops probabilistic motion planners for social robots and automated vehicles. Our main goal is to account for the uncertain future motion of obstacles, such as pedestrians, to plan safe and efficient robot motion.
Continue readingOn-Demand Transportation
On-demand transportation will transform our cities and factories by providing timely and convenient transportation anywhere, and anytime. However, to achieve that goal complex optimization problems have to be solved efficiently. Within our group we work on efficient,large-scale task-assignment and routing methods for on-demand ride-sharing for inner city transportation of people, on-demand last-mile logistics, on-demand transportation in human-centric environments such as hospitals and distributed multi-robot task assignment.
AI for Retail: On-Demand Last-Mile Logistics
Routing and Fleet Sizing for Flash Delivery operations of groceries from multiple depots.
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Future transport systems: On-Demand Ridepooling
Routing and analysis of on-demand ridepooling systems, and integration into public transport.
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