Projects

Although Offroad Robotics is mostly a collection of smaller, individual-student projects, which are often funded by NSERC scholarships and NSERC Discovery grant support, we have also participated in several group projects (see below). All of our work is made possible through collaboration with and support from our industry, agency, and academic partners.

Spatiotemporal Mapping

Mobile robots can readily map static environments for world building and navigation. But what if the environment is constantly changing? For researchers interested in understanding phenomena that change in both space and time, observations are vital. Current measurements techniques may require the deployment of vast arrays of sensors and manual observation campaigns by personnel, which…

Robotic Excavation

There are very few robot tasks that require as complicated an interaction with the environment as the autonomous excavation problem for fragmented rock. Not only does the mobile robot have to regulate its motion so as to effectively penetrate the rock pile, but it must also actuate its boom (manipulator) and bucket (end effector) so…

NSERC Canadian Robotics Network

Offroad Robotics is part of the NSERC Canadian Robotics Network (NCRN) is an NSERC Strategic Network aimed at brining together robotics researchers, companies, and students from across the country towards increased collaboration and with goal of supporting growth in the robotics domain.

uGPS: Underground Positioning System (2008-2016)

Satellite-based global positioning systems (GPS or, more generally, GNSS) revolutionized the surface mining industry in the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s, possibly representing one of the most significant technological changes to the mining industry in recent history. Today, in conjunction with the advent of high-speed digital and mobile communications, material and fleet tracking systems are commonplace at…

NCFRN: NSERC Canadian Field Robotics Network (2012-2018)

Offroad Robotics is part of the NSERC Canadian Field Robotics Network (NCFRN): a Canadian field robotics research network that spans eight universities and 14 partner organizations. The network brings together academic, government, and industrial researchers to develop the science and technologies that will eventually allow teams of heterogeneous robots (on land, in the air, on the surface of…

CREATE Technologies and Techniques for Earth and Space Exploration (2011-2017)

Offroad Robotics was part of the NSERC CREATE project Technologies and Techniques for Earth and Space Exploration, led by the Centre for Planetary and Space Exploration (CPSX) and Western University. Within this program, engineers and scientists train and work side-by-side, and unique opportunities for sharing expertise within and among institutions are provided by means of short…

Axis Mapping: Autonomous Geotechnical (2012-2016)

In the world of geotechnical engineering and geoscience, understanding the characteristics of rock masses is of critical importance. Many engineering projects (e.g., the construction of roads, buildings, bridges, tunnels, as well as both surface and underground mines) require interactions with rock masses, which have highly anisotropic properties due to the existence of discontinuities. These discontinuities usually…