INTELLIGENT ROBOTICS LABORATORY

Autonomous robotics is an area of research that has developed fast in recent years. Robots already help man in many different tasks, from small domestic chores to space exploration. As information technology develops, especially hardware, more powerful computers can be used to develop new robotic control techniques, making them more autonomous. The degree of autonomy increases as new intelligent features are added to the robots. These can be materialized through new techniques that enable them to execute complex tasks which could only be done by humans before, like: learning from experience, reacting intelligently to environmental stimuli, and moving around unfamiliar environments, avoiding unexpected obstacles.

LRI was created in 2009 with the support of funding from FAPERJ (grant n° 29/2008) with the objective of: continuing the research program and the training of human resources from the PUC-Rio Electrical Engineering Department in computational intelligence; and consolidating the research into agent theories and intelligent robotics already being conducted by the Applied Computational Intelligence Research Group. In 2011, thanks to funding received from FINEP for the “Automation and Intelligent Robotics Systemsquot; project, the LRI’s research into intelligent multi-agent robotics systems was consolidated with the acquisition of equipment for the robotic soccer paradigm.

The findings of the research and development of computational intelligence models applied to robotics in multi-agent systems, bipedal robot control, control of movement and positioning in unfamiliar environments for onshore platforms, and control of manipulators, assure synergy and feasibility in the execution of projects with a high degree of autonomy and logic in the most varied of areas.