Shaping a Path to Offroad Autonomy Using MATLAB

Overview

Recent technological progress is making it easier for heavy equipment makers to embrace autonomy. However, creating autonomous offroad vehicles remains complex. They need to operate reliably in rugged environments and perform challenging tasks. Collaboration among many teams with diverse skills, such as perception and motion planning, is essential. Testing hardware in harsh conditions is costly and risky, making simulations crucial for reducing risks, refining algorithms, and enhancing performance.

This webinar offers an in-depth exploration into the realm of autonomous off-road systems, from construction sites to open-pit mines, showcasing how MathWorks' MATLAB and Simulink facilitate the journey toward autonomy. Through detailed explorations of physical modeling, 3D simulations, offroad navigation, and excavator motion planning, attendees will learn how an integrated simulation workflow can enhance cross-disciplinary collaboration and streamline the design, simulation, testing, and deployment of off-road autonomy applications. We will highlight MathWorks' latest tools and features, empowering attendees with the knowledge to efficiently tackle the challenges of offroad vehicle autonomy. Join us to discover how these advancements can transform your projects and lead to more efficient and innovative solutions in the field of autonomous off-road vehicles.

Highlights

Through two key workflows – earth moving and transport, we will cover:

• Physical modeling and dynamic simulation of offroad vehicles.
• Creating 3D photorealistic scenario simulation for virtual testing of autonomous offroad vehicles.
• Advanced manipulation of offroad heavy equipment with collision avoidance.
• Using CAD models as single source of truth for the above tasks.
• Path planning on uneven terrain.

We will also highlight various reference examples from construction sites to open-pit mines.

About the Presenters 

YJ Lim is the principal manager of robotics and autonomous systems products at MathWorks. With over 25 years of experience in robotics and autonomous systems, YJ's responsibility in MathWorks includes long-term strategy development and product management of robotics and autonomous systems. YJ previously held roles as a senior project manager at Vecna Robotics, Chief Innovation & Operating Officer at Hstar Technologies, and contributed to key software technologies at Energid, SimQuest, and GM R&D Center. YJ earned his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and his Master's from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology.

Christoph Kammer is a senior application engineer at MathWorks in Switzerland. He supports customers in the robotics and autonomous systems domain in the areas of control and optimization, virtual scenario simulation and digital twinning. Christoph has a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from ETH Zürich and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from EPFL, where he specialized in control design and the control and modelling of electromechanical systems and power systems.

Cameron Stabile is a senior developer for the Navigation Toolbox working out of the US Lakeside office. He has supported and authored features such as the 2D and 3D map objects, collision-checking, highway planning tools, and search/sample/control-based planners. More recently he has been focused on offroad navigation applications, resulting in the open-pit mine reference application. Cameron has a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon where he focused on navigation and motion planning for tracked AGVs & robotic manipulators for the purpose of autonomous shipbuilding.