Reconfiguring robots learn to look after themselves

This is the aim of engineers at Sheffield University’s department of Automatic Control and Systems Engineering (ACSE) who envision robots working together in hostile environments.

To achieve this robotic systems will need in-built architecture that helps them make sense of their surroundings and prevent them from colliding.

To this end, the team has developed software that enables Quadacopters to learn about their surroundings using a forward facing camera, and have also demonstrated mid-air collision avoidance through the use of game theory.     

To make sense of its environment, the robot starts with no information about its environment and the objects within it. According to the University, by overlaying different frames from the camera and selecting key reference points within the scene, it builds up a 3D map of its surroundings.

Other sensors pick up barometric and ultrasonic data, which give the robot additional clues about its environment. This information is then fed into autopilot software to allow the robot to navigate safely, but also to learn about the objects nearby and navigate to specific items.