Our group releases new results on autonomous subterranean exploration using aerial robots. 

Our group completed a multi-day field testing event in underground mines and demonstrated full exploration autonomy of underground drifts and headings using aerial robots. Indicative images are shown below.

Our lab got multiple papers accepted at IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation. Specifically, the following:

• S. Khattak, C. Papachristos, K. Alexis, "Keyframe-based Direct Thermal–Inertial Odometry", IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2019, May 20-24, 2019 Montreal, Canada
• F. Mascarich, C. Papachristos, T. Wilson, K. Alexis, "Distributed Radiation Field Estimation and Informative Path Planning for Nuclear Environment Characterization", IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2019, May 20-24, 2019 Montreal, Canada
• N. V. Khedekar, F. Mascarich, C. Papachristos, T. Dang, K. Alexis, "Contact-based Navigation Path Planning for Aerial Robots", IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2019, May 20-24, 2019 Montreal, Canada

In addition, our group co-organizes a workshop 

• A. Ollero, G. Antonelli, G. Loianno, K. Alexis, M. Chli, "The Future of Aerial Robotics: Challenges and Opportunities", Workshop, IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2019, May 20-24, 2019 Montreal, Canada

Video results from our accepted papers follow
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The autonomous robots lab presented recent results on a) underground mine exploration and mapping, as well as b) degraded environments navigation at CES2019 - GENIVI event. Two indicative videos from the results presented are shown below. 

Our group co-organizes the recently accepted the ICRA 2019 Workshop "The Future of Aerial Robotics: Challenges and Opportunities". Check the webpage at: ​https://www.aerial-robotics-workshop.com 

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.