PeAR Seminar Series on Fast Robot Autonomy
Title: Efficient AI for fast flight
Speaker: Christophe de Wagter
Delft University of Technology
On Monday, Dec 11th 2023 from 11:00AM to 12:30PM
Zoom meeting has ended.
Abstract:
Aerial robots have much tighter weight and power constraints than their static or riding counterparts. Therefore the design of navigation and control solutions in fast-flying robots becomes a system-wide optimization. Adding more sensors or using heavier control algorithms might sound great in terms of navigation performance, but can have detrimental effects on endurance, maneuverability, and reaction time. This guest lecture will first fetch inspiration by looking at some of the smallest autonomous aerial robots like DelFly Explorer, and then extrapolate the lessons learned to the topic of autonomous indoor drone racing. We will review how light and fast AI-based navigation was used in the winning entry of the 2019 AIRR autonomous drone race and we will investigate how AI-based control can mimic optimal control at a fraction of the computational load. We will conclude by looking at some of the many challenges ahead.
Bio:
Christophe De Wagter received his M.Sc. in Aerospace Engineering at the Delft University of Technology in 2004 on the topic of vision-based control. In 2005 he created the Micro Air Vehicle Lab where he first worked as a researcher and then obtained a Ph.D. in robotics. His areas of interest range from control theory and sensor fusion to computer vision, electronics, and AI. He proposed novel concepts like the DelFly and worked on the DelftaCopter and hydrogen-powered Nederdrone. He won awards ranging from the 1st prize for "Best Fully Autonomous Indoor MAV'' at the EMAV 2008 in Braunschweig, to the "World Champion in Artificial Intelligence Drone Racing”, at the AIRR-2019 in the United States.