Professor D'Eleuterio
The primary interest of our group is multiagent systems. We have worked on a swarm of robots working cooperatively to accomplish a common goal such as autonomous excavation, developing robotic control strategies based on neural networks that mimic the brain, developing flying robots that could one day explore Mars, and striving to understand better the dynamics of evolution. In this way, not only do we hope these techniques to have a greater impact on the artificial world of robotics but perhaps we can also give back to the field of biology. It is our Group's mission to foster robotic life.
Researchers
Dr. Paul Grouchy
I am working on using evolutionary algorithms (EAs) to evolve systems of ODEs for robotic control. It is hoped that controllers demonstrating development, learning and strong generalization capabilities can be produced in this manner.
Current Students
Zain Syed Ahmed
PhD Candidate (MASc Candidate)
My goal is to develop a set of analytical equations describing the aerodynamic force and torque on a robotic dragonfly in its nominal flight maneuvers. The purpose of these equations is to formulate a plant model for the controller design of the group's Dragonfly Microaerial Vehicle. The equations should be simple enough for the resulting control law to be implemented using a small microcontroller aboard the micro aerial vehicle, but they should be precise enough to capture the important unsteady effects inherent to flapping flight at the insect scale.
Adam Sniderman
PhD Candidate (with Mireille E. Broucke)
I am working on using evolutionary algorithms (EAs) to evolve systems of ODEs for robotic control. It is hoped that controllers demonstrating development, learning and strong generalization capabilities can be produced in this manner.
Peter Szabo
PhD Candidate
My current research looks into the recreation of the flight mechanisms of dragonflies. The idea is to have as much progress towards creating a dragonfly sized microaerial vehicle (MAV) that mimics the way real dragonflies take flight - which is the main goal. This is being done by using observations, measurements, and simulations of the kinematics and dynamics of dragonfly flight combined with the properties of advanced materials and new fabrication techniques.
David Beach
PhD Candidate
I am interested in the application of information-theoretic approaches to the characterization of interacting systems in general and evolutionary systems in particular. My current research involves investigating mutual information in simple evolutionary models with the objective of providing bulk metrics for the description of evolutionary dynamics. I'm also interested in the creation of novel development-based evolutionary algorithms.
Allen Chee
MASc Candidate
Vidya Menon
MASc Candidate (with Manfredi Maggiore)
My current research involves developing a plant model and a controller for Space Robotics Dragonfly MAV. Dragonflies are among nature's best fliers as they have hovering capabilities and are extremely manoeuvrable, characteristics which are highly desirable in insect sized MAVs. The first step into developing these characteristics for an MAV is to design a controller that regulates attitude in the hovering configuration. To design this controller, I intend to take cues from control mechanisms observed in dragonflies in nature as well nonlinear control techniques.
Alumni
| Prof. Timothy D. Barfoot | PhD Graduate (Associate Professor, UTIAS: Autonomous Space Robotics Lab) |
|---|---|
| Prof. Christopher J. Damaren | PhD Graduate (Professor, UTIAS: Spacecraft Dynamics and Control Group) |
| Dr. Ernest J. P. Earon | PhD Graduate |
| Dr. Paul Grouchy | PhD Graduate |
| Dr. Alan Morris | PhD Graduate |
| Dr. Christian Sallaberger | PhD Graduate |
| Prof. Inna Sharf | PhD Graduate |
| Prof. Jekanthan Thangavelautham | PhD Graduate |
| Dr. Adam P. Trischler | PhD Graduate |
| Nader Abu El Samid | MASc Graduate |
| Cathy Cheung | MASc Graduate |
| Terence Fu | MASc Graduate |
| Christopher Langley | MASc Graduate |
| Mustafa Mirza | MASc Graduate |
| Anton Rubisov | MASc Graduate |
| Kris Skonieczny | MASc Graduate |
| Michel-Alexandre Cardin | MASc Graduate |
| Jonathan Gammell | MASc Graduate |
| Francis Frenzel | MASc Graduate |
| Kenneth Law | MASc Graduate |
| Nagina Nagrani | MASc Graduate |
| Carolyn Schurek | MASc Graduate |
| Emmanuel Bassy | Exchange Student (Studienarbeit, Weingarten, Germany) |
| Sylvain Beigneux | Exchange Student (Institut Français de Mécanique Avancée, France) |
| Toshihiko Inoue | Exchange Student (Osaka University, Narashino, Japan) |
| Nikolas Trawny | Exchange Student (Studienarbeit, Stuttgart, Germany) |
| Li Zhou | Exchange Student (Chiba Institute of Technology, Suita, Japan) |
Recent Undergraduate & Summer Students
Zain Syed Ahmed
Jai Bansal
Kristen Facciol
Tommy Liu
Vidya Menon
Difu Shi
Heather Armstrong
Susanna Choi
Terence Fu
Allison McPhail
Ali Punjani
Behrad Vatankhahghadim