Category: News

Congratulations to ARIAM Chief Investigator, Dr. Donald Dansereau on the successful award of a NVIDIA Academic Grant to support his research project on Physics-Based Simulation for Robotic Vision in Extreme Environments. This research explores the use of physics-based simulations to design advanced imaging systems for robotic vision in extreme environments such as space and underwater. By leveraging NVIDIA‘s cutting-edge ray-tracing and deep learning platforms, the project aims to develop new kinds of sensors for challenging tasks like satellite inspection and underwater mapping. This innovative work has the potential to enhance robotic performance in critical applications, including infrastructure monitoring and environmental conservation.

The ELO₂ Consortium—co-led by EPE Oceania and Lunar Outpost Oceania—has been selected by the Australian Space Agency to build Australia’s first lunar rover, nicknamed “Roo-ver.” This $42 million national project will harness the innovation and expertise of universities, SMEs, and industry partners from every corner of Australia to design, manufacture, and operate the rover right here at home.

ARIAM CI’s Ian Manchester, Salah Sukkarieh, Thierry Peynot, Niko Sünderhauf and Dimity Miller are all involved and will be contributing advanced robotics technologies to this mission. This milestone showcases Australian ingenuity on the global stage, sparks new jobs and research opportunities in the growing space industry, and strengthens our contribution to NASA’s Artemis Program, with “Roo-ver” set to be remotely operated on the Moon from Australia. Stay tuned as we embark on this once-in-a-lifetime mission to put an Aussie-made rover on the lunar surface and usher in a new era of national space leadership!

We are delighted to announce a significant new partnership for the ARIAM Research Hub!

In an extensive multi-year collaboration led by Prof. Salah Sukkarieh, ARIAM will join forces with roboticists, AI experts, and plant breeders from Rijk Zwaan to revolutionize crop breeding operations. This partnership will leverage cutting-edge robotics, advanced sensing, and digital twin technologies.

Rijk Zwaan, a global leader in vegetable breeding, is a family-owned company renowned for its innovation and research excellence. With over 4,000 employees, Rijk Zwaan dedicates 30% of its annual revenue to R&D, driving global advancements in agriculture. This collaboration is a fusion of innovative research, technical expertise, and practical application. By bridging the gap between academia and industry, we aim to deliver
impactful agricultural robotic and AI solutions. Our goal is to enhance crop breeding efficiency, improve sustainability, and address future food production challenges.

We believe that Rijk Zwaan will be a fantastic addition to the ARIAM partner cohort and there are strong research synergies with current projects that we look forward to exploring further.

Congratulations to Prof. Stefan Williams, Associate Prof. Thierry Peynot and Dr. Donald Dansereau on the award of their Australian Research Council Discovery Project: Introspection for Resilient Robotic Perception in Challenging Environments.

Their project aims to enhance robotic perception in challenging environments such as murky water and extreme weather where state-of-the-art approaches fail. By developing new representations and processing architectures capable of introspection, it enables robots to recognise and adapt to their own perceptual limitations.

The expected outcomes are robotic systems with unprecedented resilience in challenging application domains like infrastructure monitoring and autonomous driving. This should bring economic benefit to Australia with broad robotic deployments in environmental monitoring and understanding of critical marine and terrestrial ecosystems, parks, and infrastructure, and improved mobility for the elderly and disabled.

To round up the year, we hosted our first Annual Conference and Research Showcase at the University of Sydney’s Business School, on November 25^th. The day was a great success and provided our research team with the opportunity to present their research projects, via lightning talks and poster presentations and discuss their opportunities as well as challenges. We hope that this event will help foster broader collaboration across the Hub.

The conference was opened by Prof. Julie Cairney, Interim DVCR at the University of Sydney and ARIAM Board Member.  A special thanks to Dr. Michael Bewley, VP of AI & Computer Vision – Nearmap, for an inspiring presentation on the evolution of AI at Nearmap. Our Director, Prof. Ian Manchester, shared key achievements and highlights for 2024, Prof. Niko Sünderhauf introduced us to exciting innovations in robotics research, and Prof. Stefan Williams facilitated a strategy session to co-design the next set of projects in our collaborative demonstrator program.

The event was a wonderful way to end an exciting year of research collaboration and to celebrate our collective achievements. We look forward to more opportunities to come together as a team, including our partners and key stakeholders, in 2025.

In collaboration with the Australian Centre for Robotics (ACFR) and MySpaceMedia, we hosted our annual industry-networking sundowner event in
October at the ACFR Labs, University of Sydney. We were delighted to welcome Lt. Gen Larry James as our keynote speaker, and listen to guest panellists Aude Vignelles, Michal Weiss & Navinda Kottege. They were joined by our Director, Prof. Ian Manchester and Prof. Salah Sukkarieh, to discuss Cross Sector Operations and Robotics and its applications in the space, agriculture and defence sectors.

ACFR PhD students Jack Naylor and Tara Bartlett presented their respective research projects in Building New Representations, Algorithms and Sensors to Help Platforms Operate Safely and Robustly in Space (Jack) and Footstep Planning For Agile Bipedal Robots (Tara).

It was great to be joined by so many current and emerging members of the Australian robotics community.

Last week ARIAM Research Hub members immersed themselves in the history of the MV Cape Don for two days of data collection and vessel analysis.

Using the Emesent Hovermap and Leica fixed scanner, our researchers surveyed the interior and exterior of the vessel; enabling us to develop a model for use by our researchers & partners in simulations and future robotics operations.

Data will also be shared with The Sea Heritage Foundation to report on the condition of the upper and lower decks; assisting them with the monitoring and maintenance of the MV Cape Don.

ARIAM Hub Researchers joined by the Reach Robotics team, kicked off our Robotic Capability Demonstrator Program  on August 28-29th on the MV Cape Don at the Old Coal Loader Centre, Waverton. Despite high winds, our researchers and collaborators were able to deploy ROVs to conduct trials and collect the first datasets of the MV Cape Don vessel. The Reach team collected sonar data and stereo imagery, conducting a brief survey of the prop and hull. The data collected during this trip plus other models including those collected by Trendspek will lay the foundation to create a digital twin of the vessel. It provided the Cape Don crew with their first opportunity to get a glimpse of the current condition of the ship’s hull.

We will be returning in October 2024 to perform new forms of surveying the above water areas of the vessel using the Emesent Hovermap LiDAR scanner.

Congratulations to our Deputy Director, Prof. Stefan Williams and team, notably Dr. Lachlan Toohey on being awarded an Australia’s Economic Accelerator (AEA) Seed Grant to fund the testing stage of their Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV). The AUV can hover above the seafloor to collect better data in difficult conditions. It is designed for use in environmental surveys of offshore infrastructure assessments (such as windfarms), scientific data collection and various defence applications. AEA supports Australian researchers to get their ideas off the whiteboard and into a commercial future.

The ARIAM Team was thrilled to host the inaugural Australian School for Robotic Systems (AuSRoS 2024). From July 2nd to 5th, participants were treated to 4 packed days filled with lectorials, workshops and deep dives from leading academics in robotic systems and related areas. The school, held at the University of Sydney, brought participants from Australia’s top universities and industry professionals from ARIAM’s partner cohort, together for an immersive learning experience.

The program was designed to provide participants with an opportunity to learn about the foundations of robotic systems, hear from high-profile speakers and engage with peers in both industry and academia. Foundational lectures were presented by leading academic researchers and covered the basic elements of robotic systems including:

Complimenting the foundational track sessions were daily ‘deep dive’, intensive sessions covering the state-of-the-art in the science and systems of robotics, led by top Australian and international experts. Science sessions included drones in cluttered, open-ended environments by Prof. Stefan Leutenegger, human-robot interaction by Prof. Dana Kulić, and uncertainty in robotics by Prof. Tom Drummond. Systems Deep Dive sessions on agricultural robotics by Prof. Salah Sukkarieh, intelligent transportation systems by Dr. Stewart Worrall, and marine robotics by Dr. Gideon Billings and Dr. Lachlan Toohey.

A standout moment of AuSRoS was the hands-on activity with the Robot Operating System (ROS) led by Dr. John Vial. This session provided practical experience with ROS, to enhance our participants’ skills and confidence in this important subject. An in-depth course can be found via Start Creating Robots site, contact John for more details.

Overall, the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive from both participants and speakers. Thank you to all the presenters, participants, and organisers for making this event a resounding success. We look forward to building on this success in future editions of the program.