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[VIRTUAL] GRASP On Robotics: Emmanuel Collins, University of Louisville, “Trajectory Planning Using Dynamic and Power Models: a Heuristics-Based Approach”
February 19, 2021 @ 11:00 am - 12:30 pm
ABSTRACT
Robot planning is needed for robots to perform purposeful missions in their environments. In realistic situations, planning does not simply involve getting to a desired destination without collisions, but often requires achieving a desired goal configuration in an optimal or near-optimal fashion. Common optimality criteria include minimum distance, minimum time, and minimum energy. To plan feasible robot motions, it is necessary to take into account robot dynamics and/or power models along with motion constraints imposed by the actuators and the environment, which are kinodynamic motion planning problems. In addition, due to the dynamic nature of the robot environments and the uncertainties in locomotion, robots must be able to plan and replan trajectories in a computationally efficient manner. This seminar reviews Sampling Based Model Predictive Optimization (SBMPO), a motion planning framework capable of addressing the needs expressed above. The seminar will present the usage of heuristics and also discuss early results on learning models and heuristics.
Presenter
Emmanuel G. Collins holds the Interdisciplinary BS degree from Morehouse College, the Bachelors of Mechanical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and MS in Mechanical Engineering and PhD in Aeronautics & Astronautics Engineering from Purdue University. Since July 2018, he has served as the ninth dean of the J. B. Speed School of Engineering at the University of Louisville, where he is also a member of UofL’s Louisville Automation and Robotics Research Institute (LARRI). Prior to that appointment Dr. Collins was the John H. Seely Professor and Chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, Florida A&M University-Florida State University. He was also Founder and Director of that institution’s Center for Intelligent Systems, Control and Robotics (CISCOR). He is the recipient of several awards, including Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Purdue School of Aeronautics and Astronautics’ Outstanding Aerospace Engineer (OAE) Award, Black Engineer of the Year Award for College-Level Promotion of Education, and NASA’s Honorary Superior Accomplishment Award. Dr. Collins’ research interests include navigation and control of autonomous vehicles in extreme environments and situations; model-based planning of autonomous vehicles; terrain classification for autonomous ground vehicles; multi-robot and human-robot coordination; flow control; energy management control; power system control; adaptive, nonlinear model predictive control.