Title: “Assured robotic super-autonomy”

Abstract: In recent years, we have observed the rise of robotic super-autonomy, where computational control and machine learning methods enable agile robots to far exceed the performance of conventional autonomous systems.  However, as powerful as these methods are, they often fail to provide the robustness and performance guarantees required for real-world deployment. In this talk, I will present some of the research I am leading at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL) to develop dramatically more capable robots that can operate at the very edge of physical and computational limits.  In particular, I will present on our efforts to achieve agile autonomous flight with fixed-wing aerial vehicles for precision perching, landing, and high-speed navigation in constrained urban environments. I will also present our approaches for computing performance guarantees for these complex systems and control paradigms in the presence of environmental uncertainty and model mismatch. Finally, I will discuss future potential research directions for safe learning-based control, risk-aware multi-robot coordination, and assured control for nonlinear hybrid dynamical systems.

Bio: Dr. Joseph Moore is the Chief Scientist for Robotics in the Research and Exploratory Development Department at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL) and an Assistant Research Professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the JHU Whiting School of Engineering. Dr. Moore received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he focused on control algorithms for robust post-stall perching with autonomous fixed-wing aerial vehicles. During his time at JHU/APL, Dr. Moore has developed control and planning strategies for hybrid unmanned aerial-aquatic vehicles, heterogeneous multi-robot teams, and aerobatic fixed-wing vehicles. He has served as the Principal Investigator for both Office of Naval Research (ONR) and Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) programs that have developed flight controllers for aggressive post-stall maneuvering with fixed-wing aerial vehicles to enable precision landing and high-speed navigation in constrained environments. He is also a Principal Investigator for the Army Research Lab (ARL) Tactical Behaviors for Autonomous Maneuver program which seeks to enable tactical coordination of multi-robot teams in complex environments and terrains.

Website: https://www.jhuapl.edu/work/our-organization/research-and-exploratory-development/red-staff-directory/joseph-moore

Host: Anton Dahbura

Zoom: Meeting ID 955 8366 7779; Passcode 530803
https://wse.zoom.us/j/95583667779