PhD Studentship: Active Sensing and Inference for Robotic Environment Mapping

Both hazardous contaminations and anthropogenic emissions are closely intertwined with public health and long-term climate change. Effective and prompt pollutant dispersion monitoring is of paramount importance in assessing emission sources, understanding contamination dispersions, and predicting the whereabouts of hazardous airborne materials.

This project aims to develop autonomous mobile robots to rapidly respond to such scenarios by providing real-time, high spatiotemporal awareness of pollutants, hazardous materials or greenhouse gases for a targeted event/region. The robotic systems are often required to operate in GPS-denied environments without a prior map or reliable communication for teleoperation. Therefore, the focus of this project is to develop an active sensing and inference framework which would allow the robot to establish a better understanding of the environment by autonomously exploring the area and actively collecting environmental data, while maintaining reliable simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM).

The project will be supported by the state-of-the-art facility in the Loughborough University Centre for Autonomous Systems, including various aerial robotic platforms, Clearpath Jackal and Husky and the Boston Dynamics SPOT.

Funding

Tuition fees cover the cost of your teaching, assessment and operating University facilities such as the library, IT equipment and other support services. University fees and charges can be paid in advance and there are several methods of payment, including online payments and payment by instalment. Fees are reviewed annually and are likely to increase to take into account inflationary pressures.

The studentship is for 3 years and provides a tax-free stipend of £17,668 (2022/23 rate) per annum for the duration of the studentship plus tuition fees at the UK rate. International students (including EU) may apply however the total value of the studentship will cover the international tuition fee only.

Advert information