Field and Multi-Robot Systems

What you'll learn

• Characterize field environments by structure, dynamics, harshness and remoteness, specify environmental protection and derated energy budgets, and apply availability and k-out-of-n reliability to field robots and fleets.
• Estimate ground pressure, Bekker sinkage and compaction resistance, Mohr-Coulomb traction and static tip-over limits, and choose between wheels, tracks, legs and hybrids for rough terrain.
• Analyse outdoor localization with GNSS modes, dilution of precision, dead-reckoning drift and sensor degradation in rain, dust and fog, and design degradation-aware fusion with innovation gating.
• Evaluate agricultural robots for autonomous field operations, weeding, spraying, harvesting and livestock, plan boustrophedon coverage, and assess farm economics, connectivity, data and Canadian policy context.
• Explain autonomous haulage, underground automation, energy inspection, nuclear and construction robots, including their safety concepts, regulators, radiation dose budgets and workforce effects.
• Size buoyancy and thrust for underwater vehicles, select underwater navigation methods, analyse acoustic communication delay and throughput, and describe marine applications and autonomous vessel rules.
• Estimate drone hover power and endurance, plan survey, inspection and search missions with overlap and wind, and identify weather, approval and teaming considerations for aerial field robots.
• Describe orbital manipulators and planetary rovers, compute light-time delays and solar power budgets, and explain how radiation, thermal and dust hazards and programme decisions shape space robots.
• Classify multi-robot task allocation problems, solve assignment problems optimally, apply auctions and routing heuristics with chosen objectives, and coordinate paths and shared information.
• Analyse consensus on communication graphs using the Laplacian and algebraic connectivity, and apply flocking, formation, coverage control, stigmergy and response thresholds to robot swarms.
• Design field communication with link budgets, Fresnel clearance, relays and delay-tolerant networking, define adjustable autonomy and link-loss behaviour, and estimate supervisor fan-out.
• Design a multi-robot field mission from requirements through team selection, energy, communication, allocation, risk, approvals, community engagement, data governance and verification.