Robotics Research Facility
Launched in 2022, our purpose-built facilities offer premier working, collaboration and experimental spaces and equipment for robotics researchers, students and industry partners.
Our facilities enable realistic experimental validation of multi-robot and multi-human teams, simulated indoor/outdoor scenarios, detailed environment measurement, detailed human pose estimation and more. The spaces can be reconfigured to simulate home, industrial and clinical settings. A ‘living lab’ of human-robot interaction, our facility can accommodate the complex, long-term experiments required to advance robotic applications in the home, community and industry.
G10 large experimental arena
Our state-of-the-art 3-storey experimental arena is a versatile facility that can accommodate a wide variety of testing needs, including:
- Drone studies
- Transitioning robots from the lab to the field
- Human motion studies
Kitchen and lounge
Our kitchen and lounge spaces can be used to simulate home and social settings for robot testing.
Shared open workspace
Our shared open workspace offers a collaborative space to work, study and conduct research activities. The space is equipped with desk areas, meeting rooms, a prototyping workshop, robotic arm equipment and ample room for robots to move around people and objects.
Our facility contains state of the art equipment including:
Fetch Robots
Fetch is a mobile manipulator platform supporting research on navigation and manipulation in both industrial and social settings. With built-in RGB-D and lidar sensors, Fetch can sense and traverse the environment while manipulating and grasping objects. Projects that currently use Fetch include Robot barista and exploring a new robot control scheme.
Franka Emika Panda arms
Panda is a fixed-base arm robot with seven degrees of freedom and integrated force-torque sensing. The arm provides a safe platform for manipulation and human-robot collaboration research. Currently, Panda is being used to study the hand-over motion between humans and robots.
Pepper robot
Pepper is a semi-humanoid robot used for research in social robotics. Pepper can interact with people through speech, gestures and integrated tablet. Pepper is being used in projects such as robot in public space
Universal Robot
Universal Robot is a fixed-base robot with six degrees of freedom. It is a lightweight, flexible platform for manipulation and human-robot collaboration research. It is currently used to study how to improve the work efficiency and safety of construction workers.
ABB Yumi
Yumi is a dual-arm manipulator system suitable for human-robot applications that require precision. Currently, Yumi is being used to develop a control system for minimally invasive surgery.
Baxter
Baxter is an older robotics platform with two manipulators and an integrated tablet.
Microsoft HoloLens2
The HoloLens2 is a pair of mixed reality smartglasses. The portable device is equipped with speakers and depth cameras. The device also supports gesture recognition, making it suitable for augmenting human-robot interaction.
Oculus Quest 2
The Oculus Quest 2 is a lightweight virtual reality headset. Together with the Oculus Touch controllers and the developer platform, Quest can be used for tele-operating tasks with the robots.
Clearpath jackal mobile bases
Jackal is a mobile robot research platform. The Jackal can drive over indoor and outdoor terrains, making it suitable for navigation or human-robot interaction research in the outdoor environment. Currently, Jackal is being used to study HRI on pedestrian footpaths.
Networks
Additional facilities supporting technology, experimentation, education and entrepreneurship include our Drone Discovery Platform and the Monash Data Futures Institute. Our facility is also part of the Monash Smart Manufacturing Hub initiative, which brings together researchers, students and industry partners to transform the future of manufacturing.