The KIOS research team has won the Second Prize in the competition on Multi-Robot Perception and Navigation Challenges in Logistics and Inspection Tasks, that took place during the prestigious 2024 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), on 14 – 18 October 2024, in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
IROS is one of the largest and most important robotics research conferences in the world, attracting researchers, academics, and industry professionals from around the globe.
Aerial robots are widely used for inspections, as they can offer greater efficiency, quality, and versatility than single-UAV or homogeneous systems. However, new cooperative strategies are needed to optimally coordinate multiple robots. This competition, focused on advancing the development of efficient multi-UAV systems for complex inspection tasks, required teams to utilize open-source tools to inspect infrastructure across diverse scenarios.
The KIOS CoE team, comprising Antonis Nikolaidis (Research Engineer I), Andreas Anastasiou (PhD Candidate), Dr. Savvas Papaioannou (Senior Research Scientist), Dr. Christos Laoudias (Research Lecturer), Assistant Professor Panayiotis Kolios, and Professor Christos Panayiotou, developed an intelligent decentralized control framework for coordinating a heterogeneous fleet of aerial robots in the inspection of complex structures in real-world-like environments.
The proposed approach integrates cooperative multi-tasking algorithms and co-optimizes the sensing and actuation capabilities of the UAVs, achieving state-of-the-art inspection accuracy in unknown, complex environments, ultimately securing the second place in a highly competitive international competition.
More information about the Competition: https://www.iros2024-cartin.com/
