Summer 2020 Research and Scholarship

Hi everyone! My name is Alicia Lu, a rising sophomore working in the LAIR (Lab for Autonomous and Intelligent Robotics). This summer I have been working with my fellow classmates and Prof. Clark on developing a multi-AUV system to track sharks while simultaneously collecting marine habitat data.  My job on the path-planning team is to modify the classic A* search algorithm (often seen as an extension of the famous Dijkstra Algorithm) to include our expected functionalities: track sharks of fixed positions and cover as many new habitats as possible. I have developed two versions of path planning algorithms that can complete the listed tasks.  This post shows the simulation results from the algorithm that aims to explore as many new habitats as possible while trying to maximize time spent in each habitat. The longer time spent in a habitat implies longer trajectory length within a habitat. Figure 1 below illustrates a trajectory that starts at (-215.63, -5.89) and has a length o...

Introduction Greetings! We are the Intention Perception team working directly with Professor George Montañez. Our team consists of Amani Maina-Kilaas, Cynthia Hom, Kevin Ginta, and Cindy Lay. Our research aims to show that there exist scenarios in which the ability of an agent to perceive intention provides a measurable survival advantage. We show this by developing and running simulations to explore scenarios where this knowledge may be especially beneficial. Experiment 1: Predators and Prey In our first experiment, we create a predator and prey scenario, in which the predators try to eat the prey, and the prey try to avoid predators and eat food. In this scenario, we give the prey three different tiers of awareness. The lowest tier is no predator awareness—the prey can only see food. The next tier is proximity awareness—they are aware of the location of nearby predators and can try to avoid them accordingly. The highest tier—the intention awareness tier—grants prey the ability to kno...