Robocup Rescue League and Truxar

Robocup Rescue League is a competition to evaluate the use of robots innatural and man-made disaster sites to help rescue people. Teams from around the world compete in an artificially constructed arena, where they try to find as many "victims" (mannequins that move, emit heat and carbon dioxide and sometimes even make sounds, of the pre-recorded tape variety) using a robot. More information can be found on the NIST Rescue League website.

Our initial design was for a radio control monster truck based platform called Truxar

Truxar also carries on board:

• A Videre Design ST-MDCS Stereo Camera with SVS software.
  
• A VersaLogic Cobra EBX form factor embedded computer, running Linux.
  
• Soon to be attached: Indigo Systems Micron infrared camera.
  
• 802.11b communications capabilities

Initially, Truxar would be under remote control, possibly using its processing power to guide the remote user and point out interesting parts in the scene. Eventually, the hope is that Truxar will function autonomously.

Honours Thesis projects available

For students looking for honours projects, there are a number of thesis projects available. These are all in the CSE thesis database, and you can find a list of them here.