Field Robotics Laboratory

The NYUAD Field Robotics Laboratory (FRL) was established by Professor Kostas Kyriakopoulos in 2023. FRL aims at developing autonomous (or semi-autonomous) robotic systems incorporating perception, planning, and actuation strategies, properly integrated on field-oriented hardware. We target unstructured environments requiring marine (underwater, surface), ground, and aerial systems along with possible heterogeneous schemes.

The conducted research focuses on, but is not limited to, motion generation for safe navigation in confined underwater spaces and autonomous intervention in underwater structures.

FRL is located in The Arts Center (C3) building on the NYUAD Saadiyat Island campus. The lab hosts a 50 m^3 experimentation tank to facilitate marine robotics research, while current research platforms include:

• an Underwater Vehicle Manipulator System (UVMS) composed of a VideoRay Defender ROV and 2 Reach Robotics Alpha 5 manipulators,
• a Robotnik RB-CAR all-terrain robotic car (a part of the NYUAD Common Technology Platforms program), and 
• a UR3e robot manipulator by Universal Robots.