Robotic Environment Monitoring and Active Information Gathering

Abstract

Autonomous robots equipped with advanced sensors are transforming the way we monitor the natural environment and respond to environmental incidents. These intelligent robotics systems can effectively explore large areas for routine monitoring and rapidly respond to emergencies like hazardous material releases, while keeping human operators out of harm’s way. In this seminar, Prof. Liu will use source localisation and dispersion reconstruction of airborne pollutants as a case study to introduce an active-inference framework for autonomous robotic information gathering. By establishing a probabilistic understanding of environmental states, the decision-making process guides the sensing agent to strategically visit key locations, gathering information-rich data to improve estimation and inference accuracy.

This seminar will also introduce a series of research projects carried out at Loughborough University Centre for Autonomous Systems (LUCAS), which develop autonomous robots capable of source localisation and dispersion reconstruction in complex environments. Recent advances in algorithm development and system integration will be discussed, setting the stage for effective robotic deployment in challenging, real-world scenarios.

Speaker

Prof. Liu Cunjia received his PhD in autonomous vehicle control from the Department of Aeronautical and Automotive Engineering at Loughborough University, in 2011. He then became a Research Associate in the same department, where he started his lectureship in 2013 and is now a Professor of Robotics and Autonomous Systems. He has extensive research experience in autonomous control, Bayesian learning and inference, with applications across various domains, including aerospace, defence, agriculture, and environmental monitoring. His research has received substantial support from UKRI, government departments, and industry, contributing to a funding profile of £5m. He has published over 150 research papers in international journals and flagship conferences and currently serves as an Associate Editor for the IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine and IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters.