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Date: 12/11/08
Venue: MG229
Speaker: Professor Ulrich Nehmzow
Affiliation: University of Ulster, Magee
Modelling mobile robots through system identification by Professor Ulrich Nehmzow
Professor of Cognitive Robotics
University of Ulster
Abstract
The operation of robots in "real world" scenarios, i.e. under the influence of noise, variation and unpredictablity, is highly complex, usually non-linear and therefore hard to model. Modelling approaches such as artificial neural network modelling can represent input-output relationships accurately, but have the disadvantage that the resulting models are opaque and therefore not amenable to mathematical analysis. They are also often computationally expensive, which can make them unsuitable for performance-critical or safety-critical applications (e.g. space exploration, operating in hazardous environments etc). However, transparent, analysable models can be obtained through Narmax system identification. These models are given in closed mathematical form, and they are parsimonious, which makes them suitable for direct robot control. In this talk I will describe the approach taken in the recent RobotMODIC project, and show experimental results in automated robot programming, robot modelling and environment modelling, using Magellan Pro and Scitos G5 mobile robots.
Biography
U. Nehmzow is Professor of Cognitive Robotics at the University of Ulster, Derry. He obtained his Diplom in Electrical Engineering and Information Science from the University of Technology at Munich in 1988, and his Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Edinburgh in 1992. He is a chartered engineer (CEng) and a member of the IEE. After a postdoctoral position at Edinburgh University he became Lecturer in Artificial Intelligence at the University of Manchester in 1994, and Senior Lecturer in Robotics at the University of Essex in 2001. His research interests are scientific methods in robotics, robot learning, robot navigation, simulation and modelling in robotics, and novelty detection for industrial applications of robotics. Ulrich Nehmzow is the co-chair of the British conference on mobile robotics (TAROS) and member of the editorial board of Journal of Connection Science and the AISB journal. He is secretary of the International Society for Adaptive Behavior. |
