Heterogeneous multi-robot cooperation for exploration and science in extreme environments

→ CALL FOR PAPERS [closed]

Notification of acceptance: April 21st, 2023

Despite promising developments in robotics and automation, we are reliant on humans and single-agent systems for some of the most dangerous scientific tasks on Earth and beyond. Environmental monitoring and sampling of rivers, oceans, and glaciers, spatio-temporal mapping of arctic regions, the characterization of off-Earth planetary environments, and the realization  of space-based astronomy, are but some examples. Heterogeneous teams of robots have the potential to adapt to and thrive in these extreme, unstructured, and dynamic environments. Understanding the mechanisms by which teams of robots can be successfully deployed and autonomously cooperate to assist, augment, and eventually alleviate the need for large groups of humans in these regions is at the forefront of today’s robotics research and technology development. This workshop will bring together a community of roboticists, environmental scientists, machine learning experts, and space researchers with the goal of redefining the state of the art in the field of heterogeneous multi-robot cooperation for exploration and science in extreme environments.

WHEN?

2nd June, 2023

Starts @ 8:30 AM (BST)

 

WHERE?

Onsite @ExCel London
Royal Victoria Dock,
1 Western Gateway, London

Online on Zoom and Youtube

REGISTRATION

For onsite attendees, please use the official ICRA website for registration.

Online attendance is possible through ICRA virtual attendance registration.

Invited Speakers

Dr. Alexander Dettmann, Yardstick Robotics GmbH

Alexander Dettman

Lead of the AI Space Team
Yardstick Robotics GmbH

Prof. Kazuya Yoshida

Kazuya Yoshida

Head of the Space Robotics Lab
Tohoku University

Piotr Weclewski

Piotr Weclewski

Space Robotics Tech Lead 
Airbus

Dr. Emanuel Staudinger

Emanuel Staudinger

Institute of Communications and Navigation
German Aerospace Center (DLR)

Leif Christensen

Leif Christensen

Team Leader Maritime Robotics
DFKI GmbH

Ricardo Sanchez

J. Ricardo Sánchez-Ibáñez

GNC Engineer
Airbus

Dr. Armin Wedler

Armin Wedler

Head of the Planetary Exploration Domain
German Aerospace Center (DLR)

Dr. Hendrik Kolvenbach

Hendrik Kolvenbach

Senior Scientist
ETHZ Robotic Systems Lab

Chris_Verhoeven

Chris Verhoeven

Electronics Research Laboratory & Lunar Zebro 
Delft University of Technology 

Prof. Carlos Perez

Carlos Pérez del Pulgar

Head of the Space Robotics Lab
Universidad de Málaga

Prof. Julia Schmale

Julia Schmale

Head of the Extreme Environments Research Lab
EPFL

Josh-Mehling

Joshua Mehling

Principal Technologist for Robotics
NASA

 

Program

*All times are in BST (British Summer Time, UTC+1)

8:00 - Welcome & Registration

8:30 - Kick-off

By Miguel Olivares-Mendez, University of Luxembourg

Session 1: Multi-robot cooperation for extreme terrestrial environments

Chaired by Miguel Olivares-Mendez

8:35 - Exploration of underground environments

By Alexis Kostas, NTNU

8:50 - Lessons learned from ARCHES Deep Sea and Space domains

by Armin Wedler, DLR

9:05 - AI challenges of multi-agent systems in extreme environments

By Raj Thilak Rajan, Delft University of Technology (TUD)

9:20 - AI for long-term subsea missions - from the exploration of oceans on icy moons to subsea resident AUV teams in offshore application scenarios

By Leif Christensen, DFKI

9:35 - Needs for robotic platforms in atmospheric science in extreme and remote environments

By Julia Schmale, EPFL

Time for a 20-min coffee break!

Session 2: Multi-robot cooperation for space applications

Chaired by David Rodríguez-Martínez

10:10 - DLR's Swarm-Navigation System: overview and experimental results

By Emanuel Staudinger, DLR

10:25 - Enhancing AI for advanced autonomous space operations

By Miguel Olivares-Mendez, University of Luxembourg

10:40 - Modular and Heterogeneous Multi-Agent AI Robot System for Lunar Exploration: a JST Moonshot R&D Project

By Kazuya Yoshida, Tohoku University

10:55 - UMA Space Robotics Lab: Increasing autonomy in planetary exploration

By Carlos Pérez del Pulgar, Universidad de Málaga

11:10 - Lunar Zebro field test results

By Chris Verhoeven,  Delft University of Technology (TUD)

11:25 - Planetary exploration with legged robots: potential and challenges

By Hendrik Kolvenbach, ETHZ

Time for a 20-min coffee break!

12:00 - 13:00 Contributed papers presentation session

  • Radio Localization for Robotic Planetary Exploration: Lessons Learned from Space-Analogue Mission by Robert Pöhlmann et al. 
  • Marker-less rigid body landmark supported SLAM in proximity of a lunar lander through 6DoF pose estimation by Philippe Ludivig et al.
  • A Heterogeneous Team of Autonomous Robots Explores the Moon - Team FZI-RET at the ESA ESRIC Space Resource Challenge by Tristan Schnell et al. 
  • Multi-FEAT: Multi-Feature Edge AlignmentT for Targetless Camera-LiDAR Calibration by Bichi Zhang et al. 
  • Optimizing Planetary Exploration by Refinement Localization and Mapping using Multiple Rovers by Ayumi Umemura.
  • Radiation Surveys in Active Nuclear Facilities with Heterogeneous Collaborative Mobile Robots by Mitchell Pryor et al.

Time for lunch! (13:00 - 14:30)

Session 3: From Earth to Space - novel robotic concepts and architectures for terrestrial and space use

Chaired by Raj Thilak Rajan

14:30 - Overview of NASA's efforts and interests in multi-robot systems

By Joshua S. Mehling, NASA

14:45 - Efficient exploration: exploring farther and faster

By David Rodríguez-Martínez, EPFL

15:00 - SFR Integrated BreadBoard Field Trials - A TRL5 Autonomous 300m Traverse

By Piotr Weclewski & J. Ricardo Sánchez-Ibáñez, Airbus [Silver Sponsor]

15:15 - COROB-X: Analogue Field Tests Evaluation of a Cooperative Robotic Team to Autonomously Explore Lunar Skylights and Subsurface Lava Tubes

By Alexander Dettmann, Yardstick Robotics GmbH

15:30 - HiveR: Roving Beyond the Boundaries + Demo

By Robert Mahoney, Neurospace GmbH [Bronze Sponsor]

16:00 - Closure

By Miguel Olivares-Mendez, University of Luxembourg

Networking, food & drinks

We would like to thank Airbus Defense & Space (Silver Sponsor) and Neurospace (Bronze Sponsor) for their support in sponsoring this workshop

We're proud to be endorsed by the following IEEE - RAS Technical Committees

Organization Committee

Miguel-Olivares

Miguel Olivares-Mendez

Head of the Space Robotics Research Group (SpaceR)
University of Luxembourg

Raj-Rajan

Raj Thilak Rajan

Co-Director of the SensorAI Lab
Delft University of Technology (TUD)

Alexis-Kostas

Alexis Kostas

Head of the Autonomous Robot Lab
Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)

David-Rodriguez

David Rodríguez

Research Scientist
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)

 

Scientific Committee

  • Kazuya Yoshida, Space Robotics Lab, Tohoku University
  • Carlos Pérez del Pulgar, Space Robotics Lab, Universidad de Málaga
  • Genya Ishigami, Space Robotics Group, Keio University
  • Shreya Santra, Space Robotics Lab, Tohoku University
  • Hendrik Kolvenbach, Robotic Systems Lab, ETHZ
  • Kentaro Uno, Space Robotics Lab, Tohoku University
  • Chris Verhoeven, Lunar Zebro, Delft University of Technology (TUD)
  • Arne Rönnau, FZI Forschungszentrum Informatik

→ CALL FOR PAPERS [closed]

Notification of acceptance: April 21st, 2023

Registration

Online

Based on Conference Fees

Access to the live stream

Online access to all the recorded presentations

Virtual registration opens on April 2nd!

Onsite

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Access to the conference

Check ICRA 2023 fees

Make sure to register for access to workshops & tutorials

Welcome to ICRA 2023

We're looking forward to seeing you all at our workshop.

The Venue

ExCel London
Royal Victoria Dock
1 Western Gateway, London E16 1XL, UK

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