In November 2024, 15 Master's students from the Faculty of Computer Science took on a special challenge: as part of the block week for the "Autonomous Mobile Systems" module, led by Alexander Miller, they developed an autonomous robot system in just five days that could be used in a rescue scenario. The students worked independently to solve the task and organized themselves into teams to successfully implement the project.
A rescue robotics scenario as a realistic challenge
The students take on the role of a "Robotics Task Force", which is responsible for the simulated deployment of an autonomous robot system. The task is based on a CBRNE deployment scenario - i.e. a deployment involving chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or explosive hazards. The starting point is an accident in a chemical plant in which a hazardous substance has been released. As such a hazardous environment is not safe for humans to enter, a robot must carry out autonomous sampling.
For a realistic simulation, the scenario is set up in the robot laboratory at the Institute for the Digital Transformation of Application and Living Domains (IDiAL). The students worked with EduRob, a teaching platform for robotics specially developed at IDiAL. The operational environment is simulated with mobile obstacles and a 3D-printed target object in order to come as close as possible to the challenges of a real rescue operation.
Independent organization and teamwork
The students are divided into four specialized teams in order to efficiently solve the various subtasks of the project. Each team has a central function within the overall system and is responsible for an essential aspect of the autonomous mission.
- "Navigation and Exploration" explores the unknown environment and autonomously creates a map.
- With the help of this map, "Target & Path Planning" plans an efficient route through the operational environment in order to take a sample.
- "Object recognition" identifies the hazardous material container and determines its exact position.
- Based on this information, "Sampling" uses the gripper to reach and remove the hazardous substances in a targeted manner.
Documentation - traceability and sustainability of the project
In addition to the practical work, detailed documentation of the solutions developed is of great importance to the students. The focus here is on both the changes made to the software and the steps required to make the chosen solution approach comprehensible.
Successful completion with practical presentation
At the end of the block week, the students present their results in a practical demonstration. The individual system components were brought together to create a fully autonomous system. After just five days, the robotic system developed by the students was able to successfully explore the area of application, safely identify and remove the sample and reliably transport the container back to the starting point. The block week was therefore a complete success and impressively demonstrated how students can independently put their theoretical knowledge from the lecture into practice.
Theory meets practice in rescue robotics
During this block week, the students were given a unique opportunity to work on a realistic robotics project. In addition to technical implementation, the event also promoted teamwork and independent problem solving - essential skills for future challenges.
With this successful completion, the students have proven that they not only understand complex algorithms, but can also put them into practice. They have thus taken an important step towards practical research and development in the field of autonomous mobile systems.
