Research in the Department ranges from the design of control algorithms for robot manipulators to discrete event systems to practical issues in controller implementation to advanced nonlinear control theory. Robotics Robot manipulators are a widely used item of manufacturing equipment. For example, manipulators find application in rapid repetitive tasks such as welding and spray painting on production lines. One project deals with the modelling and robotic control of flexible materials . Because of the flexibility, there are a number of difficult problems to be resolved, such as the use of force and vision sensing.
Humans are adept at learning and adapting when carrying out tasks.
Work is underway which aims to study such learning and adaptive behaviour and to apply the findings to the intelligent control of robots. A basic problem in robotics is to control the robot so that it follows a specified path as fast as possible. Robust fast path tracking controllers are being designed to achive accurate high-speed tracking of geometric paths in the presence of uncertainty and modelling errors. Research into legged vehicles is motivated by the need for vehicles that can traverse terrain that is too rough for existing wheeled vehicles. A biped walking machine has been designed and fabricated and control algorithms for it are being developed.