Skip to content

Robotics and Autonomous Systems

Overview

Robots and autonomous systems are changing the way we live, work and play.

They’re used in industries like health, transport, manufacturing, mining, agriculture, and even in energy and environmental sensing.

Our work focuses on the development of technology that can be used to improve our understanding and management of the world around us.

Our courses

Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) (Mechatronics)

"I chose to study mechatronics as it focused on the design, control and interactions of both mechanical and electrical systems. By adding robotics as a second study area I gained further insight and depth. I’m now an automation engineer on working on control systems from individual robots to whole manufacturing lines."

Amy Gunnell

Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) (Mechatronics)

Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) (Electrical and Aerospace)

"QUT’s focus on real work connections prepared me to enter the aerospace industry. I worked on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as part of a Vacation Research Experience Scheme project and while undertaking work experience at the Australian Research Centre for Aerospace Automation. As a graduate I have joined Airbus; one of the largest, international aerospace companies."

Benjamin Letheren

Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) (Electrical and Aerospace)
Professor Jonathan Roberts
Discipline Leader, Robotics and Autonomous Systems

Our experts

Our discipline brings together a diverse team of experts who deliver world-class education and achieve breakthroughs in research.

Explore our staff profiles to discover the amazing work our researchers are contributing to.

Meet our experts

Distinguished Professor Peter Corke
Position
Professor of Robotic Vision
Division / Faculty
Robotics and Autonomous Systems,
School of Electrical Engineering, Computer Science
Research fields
Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing
Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Email
Professor Matthew Dunbabin
Position
Professor
Division / Faculty
Robotics and Autonomous Systems,
School of Electrical Engineering, Computer Science
Research fields
Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing
Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Email
Professor Jonathan Roberts
Position
Professor in Robotics
Division / Faculty
Robotics and Autonomous Systems,
School of Electrical Engineering, Computer Science
Research fields
Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
Biomedical Engineering
Email
Professor Michael Milford
Position
Future Fellow
Division / Faculty
Robotics and Autonomous Systems,
School of Electrical Engineering, Computer Science
Research fields
Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing
Neurosciences
Email
Associate Professor Jason Ford
Position
Associate Professor in Electrical Engineering
Division / Faculty
Robotics and Autonomous Systems,
School of Electrical Engineering, Computer Science
Research fields
Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Aerospace Engineering
Email
Associate Professor Felipe Gonzalez
Position
Associate Professor, UAV
Division / Faculty
Robotics and Autonomous Systems,
School of Electrical Engineering, Computer Science
Research fields
Aerospace Engineering
Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Email
Associate Professor Luis Mejias Alvarez
Position
Associate Professor, UAV
Division / Faculty
Robotics and Autonomous Systems,
School of Electrical Engineering, Computer Science
Research fields
Aerospace Engineering
Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing
Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Email
Associate Professor Thierry Peynot
Position
Associate Professor and Mining3 Chair in Mining Robotics
Division / Faculty
Robotics and Autonomous Systems,
School of Electrical Engineering, Computer Science
Research fields
Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing
Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Email
Dr Feras Dayoub
Position
Senior Lecturer
Division / Faculty
Robotics and Autonomous Systems,
School of Electrical Engineering, Computer Science
Research fields
Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing
Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Email
Dr Frederic Maire
Position
Senior Lecturer
Division / Faculty
Robotics and Autonomous Systems,
School of Electrical Engineering, Computer Science
Research fields
Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing
Interdisciplinary Engineering
Email
Dr Ajay Pandey
Position
Senior Lecturer
Division / Faculty
Robotics and Autonomous Systems,
School of Electrical Engineering, Computer Science
Research fields
Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Biomedical Engineering
Quantum Physics
Email
Dr Niko Suenderhauf
Position
Senior Lecturer
Division / Faculty
Robotics and Autonomous Systems,
School of Electrical Engineering, Computer Science
Research fields
Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing
Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Email

Page 1 of 3

Research

Our goal is to create robots that can operate in and interact with the world in the same complex ways as humans.

Our research has already led to the development of prototypes including:

  • autonomous robots for optimised underground mining operations
  • crop-harvesting robots
  • flying robots for large-scale infrastructure monitoring
  • ground-based mobile robots for sustainable agricultural productivity
  • on-water and underwater robots for environmental monitoring
  • robots to help surgeons perform minimally invasive surgery
  • social and health-related applications for humanoid robots.

Find out more about our research

Australian Centre for Robotic Vision

Researchers from our discipline lead the Australian Centre for Robotic Vision, headquartered at QUT, which is creating a new generation of robots.

These robots can understand their environment using the sense of vision, a missing capability preventing robots from performing useful tasks in complex and changing environments.

Find out more

Research Engineering Facility

The Research Engineering Facility (REF) provides specialist, cross-organisational research engineering services and is hosted within the Institute for Future Environments (IFE).

REF has a proud history of providing services for both manned and unmanned aircraft, and supports QUT’s core strengths in robotics and autonomous systems through design, engineering and operations of airborne, terrestrial and marine robots.

Find out more

Facilities

Australian Centre for Robotic Vision
Australian Centre for Robotic Vision

Institute for Future Environments
Institute for Future Environments

Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation
Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation

Medical Engineering Research Facility (MERF)
Medical Engineering Research Facility (MERF)

Research Engineering Facility
Research Engineering Facility

Projects

Navigating under the forest canopy and in the urban jungle

ARC Project
Project leader

Associate Professor Felipe Gonzalez

Dates

2018-2020

Project summary

This project aims to develop a framework for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), which optimally balances localisation, mapping and other objectives in order to solve sequential decision tasks under map and pose uncertainty.

Expected outcomes include enabling UAVs to solve multiple objectives under map and pose uncertainty in GPS-denied environments. This will provide significant benefits, such as more responsive disaster management, bushfire monitoring and biosecurity, and improved environmental monitoring.

Superhuman place recognition with a unified model of human visual processing and rodent spatial memory

ARC Project
Project leader

Professor Michael Milford

Dates

2014-2018

Project summary

Current robotic and personal navigation systems leave much to be desired; GPS only works in open outdoor areas, lasers are expensive and cameras are highly sensitive to changing environmental conditions. In contrast, nature has evolved superb navigation systems.

This project aims to solve the challenging problem of place recognition, a key component of navigation, by modelling the visual recognition skills of humans and the rodent spatial memory system.

This project looks to combine the best understood and most capable components of place recognition in nature to create a whole more capable than its parts, produce advances in robotic and personal navigation technology and lead to breakthroughs in understandings of the brain.

View our student topics

Partnerships

Ask us about becoming a partner

Contact us

3138 2240