ABCC visits CSIRO's QCAT robotics research facilities

Last month ABCC Queensland directors Valeria Noleto and Rodrigo de Luca visited the CSIRO's QCAT site in Pullenvale, Brisbane, hosted by Dr Paulo V K Borges, Principal Research Scientist, Robotics and Autonomous Systems Group, for the organisation.

Dr Borges has kindly provided this overview of the visit: 

"On the 15th of March 2021 we had the pleasure of hosting representatives of the Australia Brazil Chamber of Commerce (ABCC) at CSIRO's QCAT site in Pullenvale, Brisbane. It was great to have Valeria Noleto and Rodrigo de Luca touring our facilities and seeing some of the exciting robotics research we do.

QCAT (Queensland Centre for Advanced Technologies) is home of CSIRO's Robotics and Autonomous Systems Group. Our Group is one of the leading robotics and autonomous systems research groups in the world and we are part of the Cyber-Physical Systems Research Program at CSIRO’s Data61.

With over 80 people, our team is composed of Research Scientists, Post-Doctoral Fellows, Engineers, PhD & Masters Students and Industrial Trainees.

We develop foundational and applied research for a broad range of domains including; agriculture, advanced manufacturing, mining, biodiversity and biosecurity, environmental research and monitoring, cultural heritage and online learning. Our systems provide scientific, social and economic benefits through cutting-edge science, deeper understanding of natural and built environments, increased productivity and human safety, and augmentation of human capabilities.

During their visit, Valeira and Rodrigo saw the robotics platforms related to a number of projects including autonomous navigation for the DARPA SubTerranean Challenge and the Driverless John Deere Gator used in the Agriculture and Oil&Gas industries. They also saw some of the legged robotics platforms, including Weaver, a six-legged "spider" (well, technically spiders have 8 legs!) and Magneto, a magnetic wall climbing robot (https://research.csiro.au/robotics/tag/legged-robots/)

The tour also included the new Robotics Innovation Centre (https://research.csiro.au/robotics/who-we-are/our-facilities/robotics_innovation_centre/) a 600-square-metre purpose-built facility to enable world-leading robotics research across industries of strategic importance to Australia and the world. The Robotics Innovation Centre houses the biggest motion capture system in Australia, a 13x5m pool for testing aquatic robot, high-accuracy robot manipulators, as well as sensors and telemetry systems.

Despite the heavy rain we had that day, we hope that Valeria and Rodrigo enjoyed the tour! We look forward to collaborating with the ABCC in activities of mutual interest to all parties.

​To learn a bit more about our facilities and projects, please check out this short video: https://youtu.be/fivY-ZlO1vI"