Dr. Jorge Dias, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, shared KU’s advanced robotics research at the International Symposium on Cross-modal Learning in Humans and Robots, on 28 November at the University of Hamburg in Germany.

His presentation, titled ‘Visual Multi-Spectral Semantic Analysis and Prediction’ provided insight into some of the recent robotics work being carried out at Khalifa University’s Center on Autonomous Robotic Systems, specifically in the area of surveillance of urban environments using low-cost unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) equipped with a diversity of imaging sensors, including standard cameras, infrared cameras, and more.

During his presentation, Dr. Dias also highlighted how KU is exploring the two types of data interpretation paradigms used for programming robot vision and understanding — semantic imaging and semantic reconstruction. He emphasized how the Mohamed Bin Zayed International Robotics Challenge (MBZIRC) provides an important platform for testing UAVs programmed with these semantic analysis paradigms in real-life situations.

Erica Solomon
Senior Editor
8 December 2019

The post Robotics Research Shared at International Conference appeared first on Khalifa University.

Abu Dhabi has won the bid led by Khalifa University to host the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) in 2024. IROS is one of the world’s largest (attracting around 4000 attendees) and most prestigious robotics research conferences, and it will be the first time in the conference’s 30+ year history to be hosted outside North America, Europe and far east Asia.

Winning the bid to host IROS 2024 demonstrates Khalifa University’s internationally-recognized expertise in the field of robotics and intelligent systems. KU’s Center for Autonomous Robotic Systems (KUCARS), directed by Professor Lakmal Seneviratne, is a flagship center of the University’s newly launched Artificial Intelligence and Intelligent Systems Institute. With over 50 faculty and staff working on several diverse projects, KUCARS researchers are conducting groundbreaking research to discover new ways to advance robotics for extreme environments, industrial applications, and infrastructure inspection.

In their bid to host IROS 2024, the KUCARS team led by Professor Jorge Dias, highlighted the importance of hosting the event in the Middle East, which has seen tremendous growth in Robotics and AI research in the last decade. The team highlighted the UAE’s growing focus on Robotics and AI, as evidenced by the UAE’s AI Strategy, which was unveiled in October 2017. The support received from the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority was also crucial in winning the bid. The announcement came during IROS 2019, which was held from 4 – 8 November in Macau, China.

Established in 1988 and held annually, IROS provides a forum for the international robotics research community to explore the frontiers in intelligent robots. In addition to technical sessions and multimedia presentations, IROS conferences also hold panel discussions, forums, workshops, tutorials, exhibits, and technical tours to enrich fruitful discussions among conference attendees.

Erica Solomon
Senior Editor
14 November 2019

The post KU Wins Bid to Host IROS 2024 in Abu Dhabi appeared first on Khalifa University.

 Three Innovative Autonomous Vehicle Research Projects Aimed at Making AVs Safer Were Featured at Dubai World Congress for Self-Driving Transport

Khalifa University faculty and students showcased three cutting-edge projects that are advancing the state-of-the-art in autonomous vehicles and smart transportation during the Dubai World Congress for Self-Driving Transport, which took place from 15-16 October in Dubai.

The congress brought together top experts, policymakers, technology developers, researchers and academia to exchange ideas and proposals about connected autonomous vehicles.

Dr. Majid Khonji, Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and his students presented three projects, including a jointly developed KU-Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) self-driving car prototype, to hundreds of Congress visitors.

All three projects directly address the critical need to improve safety assurance of autonomous vehicles.

The first project is being developed by Dr. Khonji and a team of researchers at KU’s Center for Autonomous Robotic Systems (KUCARS) – one of the flagship research centers under the University’s newly launched Artificial Intelligence and Intelligent Systems Institute. The team is programming self-driving cars with robust algorithms designed to help an autonomous vehicle (AV) do route planning under uncertainty. Uncertain conditions and environments, like extreme weather and unknown roads, pose technical challenges to an AV’s perception algorithms – the algorithms that allow a car to understand what it “sees.”

The algorithms being developed at KUCARS aim to help AVs determine uncertainty from the environment through the three key subsystems of perception, prediction, and planning and control, while simultaneously helping to ensure safety.

The second project is being developed in collaboration with MIT’s Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). It aims to improve vehicle-to-vehicle communication between AVs. Improving an AVs ability to “talk” with other vehicles would significantly improve the safety and reliability of an autonomous vehicle.

The collaborative teams are developing connected AVs capable of planning trajectories while avoiding obstacles and meeting efficiency constraints while keeping collision risk below a given safety threshold that meets government regulations.

The third project on display at the Congress is the KU-KAIST self-driving vehicle prototype, which is being developed under the recently launched KU-KAIST Joint Research Center. The AV is being developed with enhanced vehicle-to-infrastructure communication capability that will allow the AV to receive critical information from a road network. It is also being developed with enhanced cyber-security systems, car-sharing systems, path following, and auto parking using magnetic field localization.

The Dubai World Congress for Self-Driving Transport featured more than 700 technology leaders and innovators and 3,000 visitors. The event aimed to highlight the leading role Dubai is playing in self-driving transport and to accelerate efforts to achieve the targets of Dubai Autonomous Transportation Strategy by attracting experts and technologies of self-driving transport to the UAE.

The event also honored the winners of the Dubai World Challenge for Self-Driving Transport (which carries a prize money of AED19 million). The challenge attracted 65 entities from 20 countries, 15 of whom qualified for the finals. The challenge focused on the first and last-mile challenge of mobility journeys.

Erica Solomon
Senior Editor
16 October 2019

The post KU Algorithms are Making Self-Driving Cars Safer appeared first on Khalifa University.