Engineering & Computing Building

World’s top minds come together to shape the future of autonomous vehicle design

In July 2014 the world’s foremost academics from around the globe will come together at Coventry University with up-and-coming researchers and industry professionals to discuss the future of Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs) in severe environments.

The Advanced Study Institute in “Advanced Autonomous Vehicle Design for Severe Environments” is jointly organized by the University of Alabama at Birmingham (U.S.A.), Coventry University (UK) and KTH Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden), and supported by the NATO Science for Peace and Security Programme. It is being held 13th-18th July at Coventry University’s £55m Engineering and Computing building.

Severe environments in this instance focuses on situations where an UGV must safely fulfil high-risk tasks such as reconnaissance missions, surveillance and neutralization of improvised explosive devices.

As the performance of UGVs is enhanced and environments become more complex, the agility of the vehicle – the vehicle dynamics – is becoming an increasingly critical requirement. An UGV must exhibit an adaptive perception of its dynamics and have a pre-emptive capability to optimize, hold, and return back to the required motion after the impact of an external force. It must also accomplish its mission with minimal energy consumption.

The event will see an elite group of world class professionals disseminating and discussing leading-edge research and engineering accomplishments alongside future trends. Topics will range from suspension design for durability to the cyber-security issues of agile vehicle dynamics.

Coventry University’s Professor Mike Blundell, Associate Dean for Enterprise and Professor in Vehicle Dynamics, said: “With speakers from the UK, U.S.A., Sweden and Israel, this event promises to provide a truly international perspective on the crucial challenges and cutting edge solutions for autonomous vehicle design. I thoroughly look forward to welcoming both researchers and industry professionals and to sharing knowledge as we shape the next generation of UGVs.”

Professor Vladimir Vantsevich, co-Director of the NATO ASI Award and Professor and Director of the Vehicle and Robotics Engineering Laboratory at the University of Alabama at Birmingham said: “The ASI is a great opportunity for young generations of professionals – faculty members, postdocs, PhD candidates and practicing engineers – to be inspired by renowned researchers and engineers who work in novel directions of vehicle dynamics and design for both manned and unmanned vehicle applications, including agility and hyper-dynamics, energy efficiency, mechatronics and cyber design, and other directions”.

For more information and to register for a place at this prestigious event please visit www.coventry.ac.uk/asi. Applicants who fit the eligibility criteria may receive financial support from the NATO Award.

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