ep15 - Davide Scaramuzza: Vision-Based Navigation, Agile Drone Racing, Perception-Aware Control, and Event Cameras

inControl

In this episode, we dive into the world of flying robots with Davide Scaramuzza (University of Zürich), a leading expert in vision-based navigation, agile drone racing, perception-aware control, and the cutting-edge neuromorphic technology of event cameras. We explore the challenges of autonomous navigation in GPS-denied environments, the excitement of drone racing, the future of robotics, and the revolutionary potential of event-based cameras.
Outline
00:58 - Magic
02:58 - Visual SLAM and autonomous driving
05:32 - Flying without a GPS
11:01 - sFly project - Vision-based autonomous flight
18:14 - Next steps
22:30 - Drone racing and agile flying
51:30 - Perception-aware control
58:47 - On robustness
1:02:46 - Risk-aware control and illumination
1:07:52 - Event-based cameras
1:15:37 - Agile flying with event-based cameras
1:19:28 - Event-based control and neuromorphic technology
1:25:42 - Future of robotics
1:30:55 - Advice to future students
Links
- Davide’s website: https://rpg.ifi.uzh.ch/people_scaramuzza.html
- Copperfield at Niagara Falls: https://tinyurl.com/4wydc2s3
- Ambitious card: https://tinyurl.com/5723kf8s
- R. Siegwart: https://tinyurl.com/mr3sn472
- sFly project: https://tinyurl.com/43hrffcx
- DARPA challenge: https://tinyurl.com/5n7dnkmz
- PTAM: https://tinyurl.com/epypbbmz
- ROS: https://www.ros.org/
- Acado: https://acado.github.io/
- Drone racer - Nature paper: https://tinyurl.com/2rws2pjm
- Drone racing - video: https://t.co/g9ckjV3O3N
- Drone racing league: https://www.drl.io/
- Time-optimal MPCC: https://tinyurl.com/3udn5raf
- Event-based vision: https://rpg.ifi.uzh.ch/research_dvs.html
- T. Delbruck: https://tinyurl.com/4acymkxf
- Event-based vision: a survey: https://tinyurl.com/2hwcmk9t
- Event based vision and control paper:

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Acknowledgments and sponsors
This episode was supported by the National Centre of Competence in Research on «Dependable, ubiquitous automation» and the IFAC Activity fund. The podcast benefits from the help of an incredibly talented and passionate team. Special thanks to L. Seward, E. Cahard, F. Banis, F. Dörfler, J. Lygeros, ETH studio and mirrorlake . Music was composed by A New Element.