Sensor Based Planning Lab, Carnegie Mellon University
The Sensor Based Planning Laboratory is part of the School of Computer Science of the Robotics Institute inside one of America’s premier universities, Carnegie Mellon University. This laboratory is engaged in research related to robotics, motion planning, coverage, sensor-based planning, and visibility.
Here, researchers are focused on equipping robots with probabilistic planner technology which, if successful, can significantly extend the capabilities of current sensors found in most applications. This approach will try to equip current robots with the said technology that allows it to identify and visit locations (inside the Sensor Based Planning laboratory, they divided the target region into sub-regions and then called it cells.) found in the region.
At this robotic lab, researchers cited that path planning in a dynamic environment is a bit more difficult compared to navigation in static spaces, mainly because of the increased dimensionality of the issues and the importance of returning good routes under time restraints.
At the Sensor Based Planning Laboratory, researchers have come up with anytime planners, which are great for problems like those mentioned above. They have also developed an anytime planner that builds off of Safe Interval Path Planning (SIPP), which is good for dynamic environments that utilize intervals and not the time steps to represent the time dimension of the issue.
Among the many projects that the lab has jointly or independently undertaken, one project, the Robotic Demining, clearly shows the importance of the lab’s research especially in its sensor-based planning topic.
This six-wheeled robotic vehicle is designed to pinpoint and locate mines, and eventually clear areas infested with land mines, removing people from harm’s way and allaying costs in sending troops to clear mines. The Robotic Demining Project is in collaboration with the Professor of Statistics, Mark Schervish.
