Grant Success: New EPSRC Robotics Project at the University of York
A new EPSRC grant will look into new ways of developing robotic control systems.
Researchers at the University of York have been awarded a £1.7million grant to investigate the next generation of software tools that will lead to a new way of developing robotic control systems, which are increasingly becoming part of our everyday life.
Professor Ana Cavalcanti of the Department of Computer Science is heading up a team that will push the boundaries of the state of the art in the development of controller software for mobile and autonomous robots. The team includes Professor Jim Woodcock, also of the Department of Computer Science, and Professor Jon Timmis, of the University of York's Department of Electronics.
Whilst a lot is known about the principles that guide the engineering of software, cost-effective and programming of robot controllers is a challenge facing developers worldwide. The researchers at York aim to develop software engineering notations, techniques and tools for mobile and autonomous robots.
Professor Cavalcanti said "This funding creates an opportunity for us to pursue the ideals of strong and modern software engineering in a very exciting area of application.
"We will also need to understand the languages and design techniques used in the programming of robot controllers, so that we can design procedures and tools to support the automated application of software. The potential for the scientific and industrial impact of this research is enormous."
The research aims to create a toolbox that will give developers the tools they need to be able to specify robotics models for their specific environment, the robotic platform and the controller. For commonly used environments and robotic platforms, the toolbox will include a range of ready-made models. It will also contain techniques that will allow the developer to ensure desirable properties of these models.
"The toolbox will allow the developer to focus on optimising the robot and the code needed to make it run, rather than getting bogged down in routine and error-prone tasks. It will also be very adaptable because it will not be dependent on any one tool, and so can be used with a variety of robotic platforms," Professor Cavalcanti explains.
The work will be funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).