A group of UCR electrical and computer scientists have received a $1.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation to develop better software architecture for robotics and other autonomous systems.

The project is expected have broad real-world impacts for automated systems used in precision agriculture, manufacturing, surveillance, and robotic delivery technologies. 

Despite significant progress, effective processing and making sense of vast amounts of data from sensors in real time remains a challenge. The grant will allow team led by associate professor Hyoseung Kim to develop attention-driven software architecture that can identify and prioritize critical information from sensors to enable timely decision-making. This architecture also will be developed to consider resource constraints and uncertainties in the environment.

“Not all robotic systems can have supercomputer-level power,” Kim said. “This project aims to tackle challenges arising in resource-constrained autonomous systems, such as small rovers and drones. The potential benefits of this initiative are substantial, especially given the increasing prevalence of robots in our daily lives.” 

Kim will be joined by professors Amit Roy-Chowdhury, Jay Farrell, and Konstantinos Karydis in the research and development effort. All four are faculty with UCR’s Bourns College of Engineering’s Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering.