A set of papers was accepted at the IEEE Aerospace Conference 2019, namely:

• R. Fite, S. Khattak, K. Alexis, "History-Aware Free Space Detection for Efficient Autonomous Exploration Using Aerial Robots", IEEE Aerospace Conference (AeroConf) 2016, Yellowstone Conference, Big Sky, Montana, Mar 2-9, 2019 
• C. Papachristos, S. Khattak, K. Alexis, "Haptic Feedback-based Reactive Navigation for Aerial Robots Subject to Localization Failure", IEEE Aerospace Conference (AeroConf) 2016, Yellowstone Conference, Big Sky, Montana, Mar 2-9, 2019 
• C. Papachristos, S. Khattak, F. Mascarich, K. Alexis, "Autonomous Navigation and Mapping in Underground Mines Using Aerial Robots", IEEE Aerospace Conference (AeroConf) 2016, Yellowstone Conference, Big Sky, Montana, Mar 2-9, 2019 ​
• S. Khattak, C. Papachristos, K. Alexis, "Visual-Thermal Landmarks and Inertial Fusion for Navigation in Degraded Visual Environments", IEEE Aerospace Conference (AeroConf) 2016, Yellowstone Conference, Big Sky, Montana, Mar 2-9, 2019 ​

Relevant videos are shown below. 

The work of Autonomous Robots Lab was presented at NASA JPL and potential for collaboration was investigated. 

Together with our CMU partners we presented our status for our "NRI:Collaborative Research: Multi-Modal Characterization of DOE-EM Facilities" at the NRI PI Meeting 2018. 

​In this work we present a multi--sensor fusion algorithm for reliable odometry estimation in GPS--denied and degraded visual environments. The proposed method utilizes information from both the visible and thermal spectra for landmark selection and prioritizes feature extraction from informative image regions based on a metric over spatial entropy. Furthermore, inertial sensing cues are integrated to improve the robustness of the odometry estimation process.

The University of Nevada, Reno, leading a team of international partners that includes ETH Zurich, University of California, Berkeley, Sierra Nevada Corporation and Flyability, has been awarded the prestigious DARPA Subterranean Challenge grant for the proposal “CERBERUS: CollaborativE walking & flying RoBots for autonomous ExploRation in Underground Settings.”
 
Project CERBERUS will bring groundbreaking robotic solutions into the field of subterranean deployments. CERBERUS envisions a system of walking and flying robots equipped with multi-modal perception systems, navigation and mapping autonomy, and self-organized networked communications that enable robust and reliable navigation, exploration, mapping, and object search in complex, sensing-degraded, stringent, dynamic, and rough underground settings. The robotic embodiment of these capabilities will enable unprecedented levels of operational awareness in such environments, and will thus become a game changer for a large variety of subterranean operations in both civilian and military domains.
 
Team CERBERUS is based on the collaboration between a team of experts that for the last years have been at the forefront of walking and flying robots research. This includes: Professor Kostas Alexis, director of the Autonomous Robots Lab at the University of Nevada, Reno; Professor Marco Hutter of the Robotic Systems Lab at ETH Zurich; Professor Roland Siegwart of the Autonomous Systems Lab at ETH Zurich; Professor Mark Mueller of the HiPeR Lab at U.C. Berkeley; Sierra Nevada Corporation based in Sparks, Nevada and Flyability based in Switzerland. The cumulative expertise of the team enables the successful development and reliable operation of the CERBERUS system in the SubT Challenge.

Inside Unmanned Systems honors us with a detailed article on our work on Nuclearized Flying Robots: http://insideunmannedsystems.com/charting-cleanup-detecting-nuclear-waste/ 

Furthermore, our through-smoke-flying robot is featured at the cover of the journal. Thank you!

Our ISVC 2018 papers:

• S. Khattak, C. Papachristos, K. Alexis, "Marker based Thermal-Inertial Localization for Aerial Robots in Obscurant Filled Environments", International Symposium on Visual Computing, Las Vegas, November 19-21, 2018
• S. Khattak, C. Papachristos, K. Alexis, "Vision-Depth Landmarks and Inertial Fusion for Navigation in Degraded Visual Environments",  International Symposium on Visual Computing, Las Vegas, November 19-21, 2018

were accepted! Below you also find indicative videos from the relevant results.
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