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Connect & Share event

Last night we held the second PhD Connect and Share event at University of Technology Sydney.

We were joined by other Sydney-based ARC funded Training Centres and Hubs (ARC FAAB and ARC Hub for Nutrients in a Circular Economy).

The evening was facilitated by Australian Cobotics Centre (ACC) Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Dr Melinda Laundon and included talks from:

  • Professor HK Shon, Director of Nutrients in a Circular Economy from University of Technology Sydney
  • Dr Marc Carmichael, ACC Chief Investigator from UTS Robotics Institute
  • Mohadeseh Montazeri, PhD researcher from ARC FAAB based at Macquarie University
  • Jimit Panchal, Master of Research student from ARC FAAB based at Macquarie University

With over 50 PhD and Postdoctoral researchers in attendance, our speakers shared their experience and gave great advice for our students who are all working with industry as part of the PhD. Key takeaways:

  • Be clear about what you can achieve
  • Get involved in different activities and find common ground to build relationships initially.
  • Be open to feedback and input from all over the business
  • Be open to exploring the many different project ideas that come your way. Some of the more obscure projects can end up leading to helpful future connections and provide momentum in your research career.

Thank you to everyone who came along and to our fantastic speakers! We look forward to hosting more of these events throughout 2024!

TAFE Qld Emerging Technology event

Last week we went along to the TAFE Queensland Engineering and Emerging Technology Industry night at Eagle Farm.

Centre Director, Jonathan Roberts and program co-Lead, Penny Williams were there along with ARM Hub (Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing)‘s Callum Elder.

Lots of demonstrations and opportunities to talk, including with Cornelis Van Niekerk from Weld Australia (one of our industry partners)!

It was a great night that highlighted the importance of collaboration across industry, universities and vocational education and training.

CONGRATULATIONS Victor Hernandez Moreno – Final Seminar

Congratulations to Victor Hernandez Moreno from the UTS Centre for Advanced Manufacturing, and Associate PhD Researcher from the Australian Cobotics Centre, for successfully passing his final Candidature Assessment.

Victor’s work addresses the problem of making robots easier to program through “Learning from Demonstration” in the industrial context. This is an important tool in helping to increase the utilisation of robotics.

Meet our E.P.I.C. Researcher, Anushani Bibile

Anushani Bibile is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow, based at Swinburne University of Technology. Her project is part of the Quality Assurance and Compliance Program at the Australian Cobotics Centre. Her research is proactive in preserving the quality assurance of cobots in automated processes, where organisations can reap the benefits of cobot automation while minimising risks and maximising productivity.

We interviewed Anushani recently to find out more about why she does what she does.

  • Tell us a bit about yourself and your research with the Centre?

I am proud to say that I was born in the town of Galle, nestled along the southwestern coast of beautiful Sri Lanka, having a huge cultural and historical significance. My bachelor’s degree was in Engineering Physics which I successfully completed with a first-class honour from the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka in 2004. I flew to UK to pursue my higher studies and completed my MSc in Mobile, Personal and Satellite Communications. After returning to my motherland, I served as a Lecturer at the Institute of Technology, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka from year 2009-2012. I taught the subjects Electronics and Telecommunications. I migrated to Australia with my family in 2013 and was offered the opportunity of a PhD from Monash University in 2015. I successfully completed my PhD in Engineering from the Department of Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering (ECSE) at Monash University. The research was based on signal processing for moving chipless RFID tag detection. I was privileged to contribute to the Monash, Microwave, Antennas, RF and Sensors (MMARS) team which pioneered this technology. After completing my PhD in 2020, I was working at Cylite optics, Clayton, as a researcher where I contributed towards the development of 3D registration algorithms for sparsely sampled OCT (Optical Coherence Tomography) retinal volume data, designed specifically for the anterior of the eye (cornea, lens, and iris). I joined Swinburne University of Technology as a Postdoctoral research fellow in 2022 and am presently the postdoctoral researcher for the Quality Assurance and Compliance research program at the Australian Cobotics Centre.

  • Why did you decide to be a part of the Australian Cobotics Centre?

I have been engaged in high end industrial projects throughout my doctoral research and have been able to publish journal papers in Q1 journals, conference papers and book articles. My research strengths were based on signal processing and data analysis. I decided to be part of Australian Cobotics Centre since I believed my experience in signal processing can be further utilized in a more real environment and it will be useful in bringing solutions to cobot associated manufacturing processes.

  • What project are you most proud of throughout your career and why?

One of the longest and interesting projects that I was involved in was the implementation of a UHF RFID based smart shopping trolley which can track products and provide item level information to consumers in real time. I was involved in each part of this project, while my biggest contribution was to implement the novel detection algorithm that I developed for moving chipless RFID tag detection into the RFID reader. I am proud to have been a part of this project as it was a low cost chipless RFID sensor which was presented to eliminate the current limitation of conventional RFID sensors and the optical barcode for item-level tagging which is a future 6G intelligent IOT application.

  • What do you hope the long-term impact of your work will be?

The integration of cobots enables the delegation of many human-based skill activities, with cobots able to undertake a range of repetitious tasks, whilst offering high flexibility and increased productivity. It is important to regularly review and update quality assurance protocols to keep pace with evolving technologies and changing workplace conditions. By remaining vigilant and proactive in preserving the quality assurance of cobots in automated processes, organisations can reap the benefits of cobot automation while minimising risks and maximising productivity. With my contribution to the quality assurance and compliance program of the Australian Cobotics Centre, I hope we will be able to make significant impact in achieving these standards in cobot automated processes.

  • Aside from your research, what topic could you give an hour-long presentation on with little to no preparation?

Research has been a fascinating part of my life, but aside from research there is life which we truly live and which brings joy to our lives. So, as a woman, a mother of 3 kids, a wife, a daughter, a sister, a friend, a teacher, and a child of God I can keep on talking about my life experiences ….no preparation needed!

Giving cobots the human touch through biomimicry

This is article written by Robyn Barden from UTS and originally published via the UTS website Giving cobots the human touch through biomimicry | University of Technology Sydney (uts.edu.au)

An Australian Cobotics Centre roboticist is raising awareness of collaborative robots and biomimic research in a mechatronic musical installation where the lead percussionist is a collaborative robot.

Dr Fred Sukkar stands outside the shopfront next to the mechatronic music ensemble
Dr Fred Sukkar (right) is developing algorithms to enable natural and safe human-robot collaborative environments in the manufacturing industry at the Australian Cobotics Centre (ACC). Pictured at the centre of the musical ensemble is a collaborative robot (cobot) holding a caxixi, flanked by six mechanised drums.

 

UTS robotics researcher, Dr Fred Sukkar, has taken his research out of the lab and onto the streets with a robotic percussion ensemble display in Sydney’s CBD, a collaborative installation with the University of Technology Sydney, Australian Cobotics Centre, Macquarie University and Aesop Sydney.

Based in Aesop Sydney store, the installation with an industrial edge responds autonomously to music played in the store.

Six mechanical drums play along to music while the leader of the ensemble, a collaborative robot (cobot), shakes a basket-woven caxixi or ‘dances’ to the beat.

“When the store plays music the system listens and extracts information, such as the rhythm and tempo, then the ensemble plays along in an interactive way to compliment the music,” said Dr Sukkar, an Australian Cobotics Centre postdoctoral research fellow based at the UTS Robotics Institute.

For the cobot to learn how to play the caxixi, Dr Sukkar used motion capture cameras and reflective markers to record a human percussionist, then the robot replicates this movement.

“My biomimic cobots research aims to transfer skills to robots through human demonstration,” he said.

“The idea of translating human motion to a cobot is useful in our industry projects for intuitively teaching new skills and ultimately integrating cobots more naturally into workplaces.” Dr Sukkar said, the mechanised ensemble was conceptualised and constructed by Dr Richard Savery, a developer of artificial intelligence and robotics and research fellow  at Macquarie University.

“Richard combines music with robotics in a creative way to evoke human emotion.”

The cobotic musical installation was at the Aesop Sydney store, located in Pitt St Mall and was on display for 3 weeks until 19 November 2023.

Robotic Guide Dog project

Super exciting that the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) has featured the Robotic Guide Dog project by QUT (Queensland University of Technology) undergraduate students, Santiago Velasquez and Jarrod Fisher!

Santiago and Jarrod are both co-supervised by our Centre Director Jonathan Roberts, and QUT Professor Matthew Dunbabin.

In the interview, Santiago, vision impaired himself and a guide dog user, talks about how important it has been to include others with vision impairment as part of the research to give feedback and help co-design future robot guide dogs.

Read more HERE!

Congratulations Dr Stine Johansen on her ECR Grant

Congratulations to our postdoc, Dr Stine Johansen on her ECR Grant from the QUT Centre for Robotics!

QUT Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Dr Stine Johansen has been awarded a $20,000 ECR grant from the QUT Centre for Robotics for her Robotics blended sonification project. This project intends to design and evaluate a robotic blended sonification system. The system will enable operators to collaborate with a collaborative robot arm without relying on visual feedback but instead using sound as a feedback modality.

Project 2: Robotic Blended Sonification
Chief Investigator: Dr. Stine Johansen
Abstract: This project introduces a revolutionary approach to human-robot collaboration through sound. Instead of relying on visual feedback, the project focuses on capturing and modifying the sounds robots naturally produce. By processing these sounds based on contextual information, the system aims to reduce the cognitive load of operators and enhance their ability to oversee multiple robots effectively. This innovative approach taps into tacit knowledge and aims to create a prototype for further research and development.

Read more HERE

Meet our E.P.I.C. Researcher, Nadimul Haque

Nadimul Haque is a PhD researcher based at the University of Technology Sydney and his project is part of the Biomimic Cobots Program at the Australian Cobotics Centre.
His research interests lie in the applications of deep reinforcement learning in robotics.

We interviewed Nadimul recently to find out more about why he does what he does.

  • Tell us a bit about yourself and your research with the Centre?

I graduated from the University of Dhaka from the Department of Robotics and Mechatronics Engineering in 2020, just before the pandemic hit. While doing my bachelor’s, I was parallelly working as a research assistant on a funded project on agricultural automation, which I continued till June 2022.

The research I am undertaking under ACC is on the effective manipulation of collaborative robots with learning frameworks. I want to create a generalised cobotic control system for complex manipulation tasks. I envision making a learning framework that will allow the cobot to adapt quickly to any scenario and, hopefully, any task. Current systems are generally optimised to work on a particular task under very specific conditions. My research will look to unlock the potential of generalised learning frameworks that will facilitate fast adaptation to the changing environment. This will eventually be tested and applied to industrial scenarios where a cobot can be counted on to perform effectively with humans in a dynamic environment.

  • Why did you decide to be a part of the Australian Cobotics Centre?

I have always wanted to conduct research in robotics that will have a real-world impact. ACC provides the perfect opportunity for me to do that. There is a persistent fear amongst the general masses that robots will replace the human workforce. The center’s ideal of using collaborative robots in industrial spaces could alleviate this issue. I believe that the only sustainable move forward towards an automated industry would be cobots and humans working together. The center will play a pivotal role in this aspect.

The match in ideals is supplemented by the center’s collaborations with established industry partners. The fact that the robotic systems developed will actively be adapted to the industry makes it the ideal playground for a robotics enthusiast.

  • What project are you most proud of throughout your career and why?

It was a simple project where I, with another group member, created a line-following robot equipped with reinforcement learning. The idea was that rather than hard coding the robot to follow a line, the robot would learn how to traverse any path, with the signals from simple IR sensors. Of course, it was not anywhere near as efficient as an optimised LFR, it was exhilarating to watch it learn and slowly but surely, get better. Although most of the projects I have taken on so far have yielded more tangible results, I am most proud of this one as it got me hooked on robotics and reinforcement learning.

  • What do you hope the long-term impact of your work will be?

I hope that my research with the center will pave the way towards generalised robotic controls that can be redeployed into any situation, preferably for multiple different tasks.

  • Aside from your research, what topic could you give an hour-long presentation on with little to no preparation?

Football (The one you play with your feet)

New PhD Researcher, Justin Botha

Let’s introduce Justin Botha, our newest team member. Justin is a PhD researcher at QUT (Queensland University of Technology), actively involved in the Human-Robot-Interaction program and the Interactive (and Collaborative) Robot Programming using Language project.

Programming robots to carry out desired tasks is difficult and time-consuming. This PhD project focuses on collaborative and instructional dialogue agents to help human operators program robot tasks. We are pleased to welcome Justin to the team and anticipate his valuable contributions. Join us in welcoming Justin aboard!

Welcome Justin!

PhD Project Introductions

Collaboration and sharing of information are vital for the success of our Centre. To support this, we ask our PhD Researchers to give a brief introduction to their projects within the initial 6 months.

During our latest seminar, QUT (Queensland University of Technology)‘s Phuong Anh TranJasper Vermeulen and Yuan Liu provided an outline of their projects’ objectives, methodology, and anticipated outcomes.

As they continue their research, we’ll keep you posted on their progress. Meanwhile, you can learn more about their research updates HERE.