Early 2023 will see the first deployment of the autonomous robots. Researchers will study the behavior of the robots over a five-year period to determine how to operate safe and useful networks of robots that are meant to adjust their behavior to integrate with human populations.
"Robotic systems are becoming more ubiquitous," said Luis Sentis, project leader and a professor in UT's Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics. "In addition to programming robots to perform a realistic task such as delivering supplies, we will be able to gather observations to help develop standards for safety, communication, and behavior to allow these future systems to be useful and safe in our community."
After the first phase of research, the robots will stroll campus in teams of two. The robots, though autonomous, will be monitored by researchers on the ground and remotely to study their behavior and to stop them, should they deem it necessary. Researchers are interested in the efficacy of the delivery network and, as the robots interact with humans, ways to improve these interactions.
The project is aided by a $3.6 million grant from the National Science Foundation to the Living and Working With Robots program at UT Austin, under the umbrella of Good Systems, a broad research initiative at the university focused on leveraging the human benefits of AI.
MySA has reached out to UT Austin's Cockrell School of Engineering for more information on the autonomous robots program.
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