EUROPA2

The autonomous intelligent systems (AIS) lab of the University of Freiburg is concerned with techniques for autonomous navigation, state estimation, and control in the context of mobile robotics and artificial intelligence. One of the major research areas covered by this lab is mobile robot navigation.

The Mobile Robotics Group at the University of Oxford has an international reputation in the area of robot navigation especially when it comes to operating in outdoor environments with well engineered vehicles and complex real-time software. Complementing the information theoretic research within MRG, the group possesses a strong culture of in-field experimental validation.

The team of KU Leuven that will work on the project is part of the Center for the Processing of Speech and Images (PSI), one of the units within the department of Electrical Engineering (ESAT). This team - VISICS (VISion for Industry, Communications, and Services) - is specialized in computer vision and its applications, and focuses on the sub-domains of 3D acquisition and modeling, as well as on object and object class recognition.

The Autonomous Systems Lab (ASL) at the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zurich ETHZ is an internationally renowned research lab in the field of autonomous robot design and navigation. It has a large experience in the design and autonomous navigation of wheeled and flying autonomous robots for different kinds of environments.

GeoAutomation is a mobile mapping company formed in 2007 and mostly active in the GIS and cartography market. It offers highly accurate solutions for surveying and visualization needs. Its technology is camera-based and employs computer vision algorithms for high accuracy positioning and 3D reconstruction. Their proprietary technology is unique in that it does not rely on GPS or IMU but can incorporate different sources of available georeferencing data.

The department for Photogrammetry at the University of Bonn is part of the Institute for Geodesy and Geoinformation. The Photogrammetry team focusses on the interpretation of image data, especially the geometric reconstruction and the semantic interpretation of the observed scene.