Our Robotics Innovation Centre has been officially launched

March 13th, 2019

On 12 March 2019, we officially opened the CSIRO’s Data61 Robotics Innovation Centre to further expand our world-leading research into robotics and autonomous systems in Brisbane, in a move to position Australia to take a lead in a fast-growing industry that will be worth $23 billion globally by 2025.

The 600-square-metre facility will be used to continue research that is already underway to develop autonomous robotics systems to interact safely and seamlessly with humans in various situations.

The Centre houses the biggest motion-capture system in the southern hemisphere, which would be used to assess and analyse data collected by its various robotics systems. It also contains a 13×5 metre pool for testing aquatic robots, numerous unmanned aerial and ground vehicles, legged robots, high-accuracy robot manipulators, as well as sensors and telemetry systems.

We aim for the Robotics Innovation Centre to be recognised as a valuable national asset, allowing national and internationally recognised robotics and machine-learning researchers to combine their expertise with ours and expand the much-needed collaboration between industry, government and academia.

Brisbane has become even more prominent in robotics when it hosted the International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA2018) for the first time in the southern hemisphere last year.

Our group is one of the global leaders in field robotics, with capabilities ranging from legged robots and 3D mapping through to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs).

Work already underway, to be run from the facility, includes efforts to develop new approaches to rapidly map, navigate and search underground environments using legged robots and autonomous drone technology, which is part of a three-year DARPA funded SubT Challenge.

Once developed it is expected this technology will help human first responders in understanding and exploring hazardous underground environments during emergency rescue efforts, and also have various commercial applications across a range of industries including mining, transport, construction and agriculture.

Fred Pauling, Robotics and Autonomous Systems group leader said “the new facility will enhance the group’s world-class research capabilities as it expands our research infrastructure to develop highly autonomous robotics systems that can interact safely and seamlessly with humans and other dynamic agents, in challenging indoor and outdoor environments”.

This new robotics infrastructure is open for industry use and collaborative projects. This includes dedicated mechanical and electronics engineering laboratories, several high-end rapid prototyping machines, large sheds for indoors systems testing, an open-air UAV flying area and outdoor testing areas including a forest and creek.

For more information, contact us.