Autonomy

PIs: Prof. S. K. Gupta, Maxim Schwartz

Researchers within CECD have worked in a number projects within the area of autonomy in the past several years. CECD conitues to participate in one such project, currently being sponsored by the Office of Naval Research, building autonomy for Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs). The crux of the project is to use machine learning techniques in conjunction with virtual environments to generate much of the code that controls the autonomous vehicle -- a boat. Such code can then be run on the vehicle's on-board computer and drive it to perform a variety of tasks completely autonomously. Some of the tasks that may be well-suited for automous operation are reconnaisance, patrol, navigation to certain way points, and perimeter protection. In the past, CECD conducted testing on small 14-inch RC boats at University of Maryland's Neutral Buoyancy Research Facility. At present, testing is being performed on large boats in collaboration with Florida Atlantic University.