Robotics Commons^™

Securing Connected And Autonomous Vehicles, Owana Marzia Moushi

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

A vehicular network is susceptible to various security flaws and attacks. Cryptographic techniques are used in vehicular networks but these alone cannot provide proper security to the network. Identifying various types of attacks is necessary to secure vehicular communication networks. In this dissertation, we focused on detecting various insider attacks in vehicular networks to enhance the security of the network.

Our first contribution in this dissertation is the detection of both binary and multi-class data replay and data replay Sybil attacks in vehicular networks. A publicly available dataset, VeReMi-Extension is used to detect these attacks. This dataset has been reformulated …

Real-Time, Co-Regulated Design For Cyber-Physical, Multi-Rotor Uas Swarms, Grant Simon Phillips

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Uncrewed Aerial Systems (UAS) have been integrated into a wide range of research and industrial applications, with growing interest in extending mission duration and spatial coverage through coordinated multi-UAS systems, or swarms. While swarming offers the potential for extended mission endurance and robustness through advanced path-planning, control, and estimation algorithms, significant challenges arise when implementing these methods on decentralized platforms composed of size, weight, and power-constrained (SWaP) vehicles. Limitations in onboard computational capacity and congested communication channels can break critical design-time assumptions, which at best, will degrade application quality of service, and at worst, destabilize the fleet through excessive delays …

Learn To Fly: Enabling Deep Learning Based Perception And Control In Aerial Robotics, Krishna Muvva

School of Computing: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are increasingly deployed in dynamic, GPS degraded, and cluttered environments, yet their autonomy remains fundamentally constrained by limitations in onboard perception and real-time control. This dissertation addresses these challenges by proposing a unified framework that co-designs deep learning-based perception and model-based control, organized around three core thrusts: Learn to Track, Learn to Localize, and Learn to Evade.

Learn to Track develops dynamic and adaptive perception control mechanisms that optimize CNN inference for target tracking. A control-aware CNN framework dynamically adjusts inference frequency based on UAV motion, reducing latency while maintaining visual lock. An adaptive CNN with …

A Uas-Centered Investigation Of Vorticity Characteristics And Cold Pool Structure Across Forward And Left-Flank Boundaries In Supercells, Mark R. De Bruin

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Supercell internal boundaries are the locus of tornadogenesis; thus, understanding the characteristics of these boundaries, particularly in terms of vorticity, is important for identifying the role they play in tornado formation. Insight into the overall characteristics of internal boundaries and their possible role in tornadogenesis have been driven by studies reliant on numerical modeling-based experiments. Observational studies often neglect above-surface conditions or, when these observations are made, lack the spatial resolution to resolve boundary characteristics. During TORUS (Targeted Observation by Radars and UAS of Supercells) 2019 and TORUS-LItE (TORUS Left-flank Intensive Experiment) 2023, uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) and mobile mesonets …

Farmnav-Uav: A Field-Ready Autonomous Uav For Tracking Static And Dynamic Trajectories In Agricultural Applications, Veera Venkata Ram Murali Krishna Rao Muvva

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study presents the design and development of a custom-built uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) tailored for precision agriculture. Unlike commercial UAVs, which are often constrained by proprietary systems and limited hardware customization, the proposed platform emphasizes modularity, upgradeability, and cost-effectiveness. The UAV is equipped with a Cube Blue flight controller for reliable low-level actuation and a Raspberry Pi 4 companion computer that executes a Model Predictive Control (MPC) algorithm for high-level trajectory optimization and stability enhancement.

Most conventional UAV autopilot systems rely on non-optimal control strategies, such as proportional–integral–derivative (PID) controllers, which can be inadequate for dynamic or resource-constrained environments. …

Ecen191/Robo150 Robotics Tools: Evaluating The Impact Of Project-Based Learning On Teaching Effectiveness, Nikhil Satyala

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

The course selected for this study aims to introduce the skills and knowledge needed to utilize software and hardware tools used to design and operate robots. In this introductory course, undergraduate students in the Robotics Engineering major are provided with the opportunity to broaden their skill set with focus on specializing in one of three engineering disciplines (Software, Electrical and Mechanical). The primary goal of this course is to teach how develop the proficiency in basic concepts in robotics and enable the students to build and program a small-scale fully functional robotic arm. In this portfolio study, I investigated the …

Robot-Integrated 4d Building Information Modeling (4d Bim): Framework For Planning Safe Autonomous Construction Operations In Dynamic Environments, Hafiz Oyedimeji Oyediran

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

In the construction industry, the use of autonomous robots is considered a solution to overcome the heavy reliance on human workers to perform repetitive, strenuous, and hazardous tasks. While these robots offer the advantage of autonomous operation, ensuring their safe and efficient integration within construction sites requires precise planning. Such planning must account for the varying project complexities such as scope, site layout, tasks, timelines, existence of human workers, and other spatiotemporal conditions of the construction site. Currently, there are no methods to safely plan autonomous robot operations considering these factors within the overarching construction planning process. Thus, autonomous robots …

Sharing The Stage With The Future: Humans And Robots Together At Last, Donna L. Clevinger

Honors in Practice Online Archive

This essay presents a co-curricular collaboration bringing ancient comedy to a modern audience. Students and faculty at a large, public R1 university combine art and engineering to create a STEAM-based approach to theatrical production. The author describes how integrating classical text, creative expression, and transformational technologies demonstrates that collaboration between disciplines can produce gains for each, fostering advancements and human understanding that would be unattainable independently. Script writing, casting, stage production, and outcomes are presented.

If Androids Dream, Are They More Than Sheep?: Westworld, Robots And Legal Rights, Amanda J. Dipaolo

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

The robot protagonists in HBO’s Westworld open the door to several philosophical and ethical questions, perhaps the most complex being: should androids be granted similar legal protections as people? Westworld offers its own exploration of what it means to be a person and places emphasis on one’s ability to feel and understand pain. With scientists and corporations actively working toward a future that includes robots that can display emotion in a way that can convincingly pass as that of a person’s, what happens when androids pass the Turing test, feel empathy, gain consciousness, are sentient, or develop free will? The …

Development Of A Rule-Based Monitoring System For Autonomous Heavy Equipment Safety, Amirpooya Shirazi

Department of Construction Engineering and Management: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Roadway construction work zones are constantly exposed to interactions among construction equipment, workers, and vehicles. Furthermore, ensuring safety in these areas is considered a challenging task due to the complexity of the environment. As shown in the rising trend of fatal accidents in roadway work zones, current OSHA regulations in construction safety are insufficient in effectively detecting unsafe situations and mitigating the risks. Furthermore, best practices, such as internal traffic control planning (ITCP), exhibit critical limitations requiring continuous monitoring of active work zones as well as adjustments to the site coordination plans due to the dynamic nature of work zone …

Sliding Markov Decision Processes For Dynamic Task Planning On Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles, Trent Wiens

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Mission and flight planning problems for uncrewed aircraft systems (UASs) are typically large and complex in space and computational requirements. With enough time and computing resources, some of these problems may be solvable offline and then executed during flight. In dynamic or uncertain environments, however, the mission may require online adaptation and replanning. In this work, we will discuss methods of creating MDPs for online applications, and a method of using a sliding resolution and receding horizon approach to build and solve Markov Decision Processes (MDPs) in practical planing applications for UASs. In this strategy, called a Sliding Markov Decision …

Society Dilemma Of Computer Technology Management In Today's World, Iwasan D. Kejawa Ed.D

School of Computing: Faculty Publications

Abstract - Is it true that some of the inhabitants of the world’s today are still hesitant in using computers? Research has shown that today many people are still against the use of computers. Computer technology management can be said to be obliterated by security problems. Research shows that some people in society feel reluctant or afraid to use computers because of errors and exposure of their privacy and their sophistication, which sometimes are caused by computer hackers and malfunction of the computers. The dilemma of not utilizing computer technology at all or, to its utmost, by certain people in …

Modernization Of Scienttific Mathematics Formula In Technology, Iwasan D. Kejawa Ed.D, Prof. Iwasan D. Kejawa Ed.D

Department of Mathematics: Faculty Publications

Abstract
Is it true that we solve problem using techniques in form of formula? Mathematical formulas can be derived through thinking of a problem or situation. Research has shown that we can create formulas by applying theoretical, technical, and applied knowledge. The knowledge derives from brainstorming and actual experience can be represented by formulas. It is intended that this research article is geared by an audience of average knowledge level of solving mathematics and scientific intricacies. This work details an introductory level of simple, at times complex problems in a mathematical epidermis and computability and solvability in a Computer Science. …

Comparison Of Object Detection And Patch-Based Classification Deep Learning Models On Mid- To Late-Season Weed Detection In Uav Imagery, Arun Narenthiran Veeranampalayam Sivakumar, Jiating Li, Stephen Scott, Eric T. Psota, Amit J. Jhala, Joe D. Luck, Yeyin Shi

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Mid- to late-season weeds that escape from the routine early-season weed management threaten agricultural production by creating a large number of seeds for several future growing seasons. Rapid and accurate detection of weed patches in field is the first step of site-specific weed management. In this study, object detection-based convolutional neural network models were trained and evaluated over low-altitude unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) imagery for mid- to late-season weed detection in soybean fields. The performance of two object detection models, Faster RCNN and the Single Shot Detector (SSD), were evaluated and compared in terms of weed detection performance using mean …

A Co-Optimal Coverage Path Planning Method For Aerial Scanning Of Complex Structures, Zhexiong Shang, Justin Bradley, Zhigang Shen

Department of Construction Engineering and Management: Faculty Publications

The utilization of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in survey and inspection of civil infrastructure has been growing rapidly. However, computationally efficient solvers that find optimal flight paths while ensuring high-quality data acquisition of the complete 3D structure remains a difficult problem. Existing solvers typically prioritize efficient flight paths, or coverage, or reducing computational complexity of the algorithm – but these objectives are not co-optimized holistically. In this work we introduce a co-optimal coverage path planning (CCPP) method that simultaneously co-optimizes the UAV path, the quality of the captured images, and reducing computational complexity of the solver all while adhering to …

Dimensional Analysis Of Robot Software Without Developer Annotations, John-Paul W. Ore

School of Computing: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Robot software risks the hazard of dimensional inconsistencies. These inconsistencies occur when a program incorrectly manipulates values representing real-world quantities. Incorrect manipulation has real-world consequences that range in severity from benign to catastrophic. Previous approaches detect dimensional inconsistencies in programs but require extra developer effort and technical complications. The extra effort involves developers creating type annotations for every variable representing a real-world quantity that has physical units, and the technical complications include toolchain burdens like specialized compilers or type libraries.

To overcome the limitations of previous approaches, this thesis presents novel methods to detect dimensional inconsistencies without developer annotations. We …

The Rhetoric Of Science Education And Technology, Iwasan D. Kejawa

School of Computing: Faculty Publications

Nearly thousands of science experiments are performed both on humans and animals every year in the United States (Gregory, 1999). Does Science enormously play a role in the well-beings of individual in the society? Research has found that science education is through motivation and satisfying the needs of humans. The scientific world is part of an elongated human development. This can be substantiated with the use and evolution of TECHNOLOGY and SCIENCE (Minton, 2004). Education of the entities that comprise the need to achieve the goal of TECHNOLOGY and SCIENCE which are important issues of today. Research has shown that …

Crop Height Estimation With Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Carrick Detweiler, David Anthony, Sebastian Elbaum

School of Computing: Faculty Publications

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) can be configured for crop height estimation. In some examples, the UAV includes an aerial propulsion system, a laser scanner configured to face downwards while the UAV is in flight, and a control system. The laser scanner is configured to scan through a two-dimensional scan angle and is characterized by a maxi mum range. The control system causes the UAV to fly over an agricultural field and maintain, using the aerial propulsion system and the laser scanner, a distance between the UAV and a top of crops in the agricultural field to within a programmed …

Internet Of Underground Things In Precision Agriculture: Architecture And Technology Aspects, Mehmet C. Vuran, Abdul Salam, Rigoberto Wong, Suat Irmak

School of Computing: Faculty Publications

The projected increases in World population and need for food have recently motivated adoption of information technology solutions in crop fields within precision agriculture approaches. Internet Of Underground Things (IOUT), which consists of sensors and communication devices, partly or completely buried underground for real-time soil sensing and monitoring, emerge from this need. This new paradigm facilitates seamless integration of underground sensors, machinery, and irrigation systems with the complex social network of growers, agronomists, crop consultants, and advisors. In this paper, state-of-the-art communication architectures are reviewed, and underlying sensing technology and communication mechanisms for IOUT are presented. Moreover, recent advances in …

An Unmanned Aerial System For Prescribed Fires, Evan M. Beachly

School of Computing: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Prescribed fires can lessen wildfire severity and control invasive species, but some terrains may be difficult, dangerous, or costly to burn with existing tools. This thesis presents the design of an unmanned aerial system that can ignite prescribed fires from the air, with less cost and risk than with aerial ignition from a manned aircraft. The prototype was evaluated in-lab and successfully used to ignite interior areas of two prescribed fires. Additionally, we introduce an approach that integrates a lightweight fire simulation to autonomously plan safe flight trajectories and suggest effective fire lines. Both components are unique in that they …

Rate Based Impact Analysis, Nishant Sharma

School of Computing: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Impact Analysis (IA) identifies control and data dependencies to determine the system components that could be affected by a change. Changes to robotic systems as they are updated often alter the flow of control and sensor data. Changes to the rates at which data is published from sensors, controllers, and other parts of the system are particularly subtle and difficult to detect. These rate changes, even if minor (e.g. lowering the frame rate of a camera), can propagate throughout the system and have broad impacts. However, for robotic systems, these changes in flow rate cannot be precisely tracked by just …

Event And Time-Triggered Control Module Layers For Individual Robot Control Architectures Of Unmanned Agricultural Ground Vehicles, Tyler Troyer

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Automation in the agriculture sector has increased to an extent where the accompanying methods for unmanned field management are becoming more economically viable. This manifests in the industry’s recent presentation of conceptual cab-less machines that perform all field operations under the high-level task control of a single remote operator. A dramatic change in the overall workflow for field tasks that historically assumed the presence of a human in the immediate vicinity of the work is predicted. This shift in the entire approach to farm machinery work provides producers increased control and productivity over high-level tasks and less distraction from operating …

Cyber-Physical System Characterization And Co-Regulation Of A Quadrotor Uas, Seth E. Doebbeling

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

An Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) is a Cyber-Physical System (CPS) in which a host of real-time computational tasks contending for shared resources must be cooperatively managed to obtain mission objectives. Traditionally, control of the UAS is designed assuming a fixed, high sampling rate in order to maintain reliable performance and margins of stability. But emerging methods challenge this design by dynamically allocating resources to computational tasks, thereby affecting control and mission performance. To apply these emerging strategies, a characterization and understanding of the effects of timing on control and trajectory following performance is required. Going beyond traditional control evaluation techniques, …

Design Of A Flexible Control Platform And Miniature In Vivo Robots For Laparo-Endoscopic Single-Site Surgeries, Lou P. Cubrich

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Minimally-invasive laparoscopic procedures have proven efficacy for a wide range of surgical procedures as well as benefits such as reducing scarring, infection, recovery time, and post-operative pain. While the procedures have many advantages, there are significant shortcomings such as limited instrument motion and reduced dexterity. In recent years, robotic surgical technology has overcome some of these limitations and has become an effective tool for many types of surgeries. These robotic platforms typically have an increased workspace, greater dexterity, improved ergonomics, and finer control than traditional laparoscopic methods. This thesis presents the designs of both a four degree-of-freedom (DOF) and 5-DOF …

Flying By Fire: Making Controlled Burns Safer For Humans And Uavs, Rebecca Horzewski, Carrick Detweiler

UCARE: Research Products

A temperature sensing circuit board was developed that will allow Nimbus Lab's controlled burn starting UAV to react to the temperatures around it.

Use Of A Small Unmanned Aerial System For The Sr-530 Mudslide Incident Near Oso, Washington, Robin Murphy, Brittany Duncan, Tyler Collins, Justin Kendrick, Patrick Lohman, Tamara Palmer, Frank Sanborn

School of Computing: Faculty Publications

The Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue deployed three commercially available small unmanned aerial systems (SUASs)—an AirRobot AR100B quadrotor, an Insitu Scan Eagle, and a PrecisionHawk Lancaster—to the 2014 SR-530 Washington State mudslides. The purpose of the flights was to allow geologists and hydrologists to assess the eminent risk of loss of life to responders from further slides and flooding, as well as to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the event. The AirRobot AR100B in conjunction with PrecisionHawk postprocessing software created two-dimensional (2D) and 3D reconstructions of the inaccessible “moonscape” region of the slide and provided engineers with a …

A Comparative Study Of Underwater Robot Path Planning Algorithms For Adaptive Sampling In A Network Of Sensors, Sreeja Banerjee

School of Computing: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Monitoring lakes, rivers, and oceans is critical to improving our understanding of complex large-scale ecosystems. We introduce a method of underwater monitoring using semi-mobile underwater sensor networks and mobile underwater robots in this thesis. The underwater robots can move freely in all dimension while the sensor nodes are anchored to the bottom of the water column and can move only up and down along the depth of the water column. We develop three different algorithms to optimize the path of the underwater robot and the positions of the sensors to improve the overall quality of sensing of an area of …

Invariant Inferring And Monitoring In Robotic Systems, Hengle Jiang

School of Computing: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

System monitoring can help to detect abnormalities and avoid failures. Crafting monitors for today’s robotic systems, however, can be very difficult due to the systems’ inherent complexity and its rich operating environment.

In this work we address this challenge through an approach that automatically infers system invariants and synthesizes those invariants into monitors. This approach is inspired by existing software engineering approaches for automated invariant inference, and it is novel in that it derives invariants by observing the messages passed between system nodes and the invariants types are tailored to match the spatial, time, temporal, and architectural attributes of robotic …

Analysis, Optimization, And Implementation Of A Uav-Based Wireless Power Transfer System, Andrew Mittleider

School of Computing: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Wireless power transfer is rapidly advancing in its ability to efficiently transfer power to a variety of devices.

As the efficiency increases, more applications for these systems arise. Since magnetic resonant wireless power transfer can only transfer a small amount of power, most current applications only focus on powering low-powered devices.

Wireless Sensor Networks are composed of many low-powered nodes which currently require human interaction to remain powered. We propose recharging a low-powered Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) with a magnetic resonant wireless power transfer system attached to a quadrotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV).

This thesis addresses three main challenges with …

Autonomous Aerial Water Sampling, John-Paul W. Ore

School of Computing: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Obtaining spatially separated, high frequency water samples from rivers and lakes is critical to enhance our understanding and effective management of fresh water resources. In this thesis we present an aerial water sampler and verify the system in field experiments. The aerial water sampler has the potential to vastly increase the speed and range at which scientists obtain water samples while reducing cost and effort. The water sampling system includes: 1) a mechanism to capture three 20 ml samples per mission; 2) sensors and algorithms for safe navigation and altitude approximation over water; and 3) software components that integrate and …