On the 7th of July, the Minister of Education and Training announced that 252 collaborative research projects have been awarded grants under the Australian Research Council Linkage Project scheme for 2015 to promote industry-university linkages. Of the $86.9m awarded this round, the University of Technology Sydney secured an aggregate of $2.8m across 7 projects. CAS was amongst the successful applicants, giving the Centre an opportunity to investigate the development of an intelligent robotic system deployable for underwater structure maintenance in partnership with Roads and Maritime Services (RMS).
Partner Organisation: Roads and Maritime Service (RMS)
Chief Investigators: Prof. Dikai Liu, Prof. Gamini Dissanayake, A/Prof. Shoudong Huang and Prof. Kenneth Waldron
Awarded: $435,000 over 3 years
Project Overview: This project aims to build a theoretical and experimental foundation for developing robots for underwater structure maintenance in near surface and tidal environments where water current and wave action can be strong. A novel intelligent robotic system with multiple arms is planned to be developed. The project will address research challenges associated with perception, mapping, planning and control, and develop methodologies that enable the realisation of such robotic systems. The intended outcomes will contribute to marine robotics research and its industrial applications, and will improve productivity and occupational health and safety by replacing the humans needed to work in such hazardous environments.