Autonomous Ground Vehicles – AGVs

Autonomous Ground Vehicles

Autonomous wheeled vehicles for industrial, natural and mining environments, used for area mapping, scene understanding and manipulation. These vehicles provide autonomous smart sensing, mapping and inspection. Mobile manipulators also provide adaptive sensing and object manipulation. This research area focuses on the combination of localization and mapping methods, motion planning, obstacle detection, obstacle avoidance and situation awareness, translating all these aspects into operational and useful platforms, that can increase productivity safety in smart industries.

Our team at Data61 is extremely capable and respected in this field, with a very strong track history with pull from the mining and manufacturing industries, which was what initially brought worldwide recognition to the Autonomous Systems Lab and the Robotics Group. In recent years the capability has extended its focus to include autonomous navigation for industrial environments and environmental sensing.

A unique achievement of Data61’s include the world’s first automation of a mining dragline, a Load Haul Dump (LHD) vehicle, and a 20 tonne Hot Metal Carrier (HMC). We have also recently adapted and enhanced the Zebedee technology for autonomous vehicle navigation, fully closing the loop and incorporating aspects of control, obstacle avoidance, localization and mapping into a single platform a John Deere Gator.

Awards

  • Endeavour Executive Award 2013
  • CSIRO Complex Systems Society Award 2015 – (Complex Systems Summer School 2015 – Santa Fe, New Mexico)

Projects