QUT offers a diverse range of student topics for Honours, Masters and PhD study. Search to find a topic that interests you or propose your own research topic to a prospective QUT supervisor. You may also ask a prospective supervisor to help you identify or refine a research topic.
Found 46 matching student topics
Displaying 13–24 of 46 results
Re-localisation in natural environments
Re-localisation in robotics involves the process of determining a robot's current pose, consisting of its position and orientation. This can either be within a previously mapped and known environment (i.e. prior map) or relative to another robot in a multi-agent setup. Re-localisation is essential for enabling robots to perform tasks such as autonomous monitoring and exploration seamlessly, even when they encounter temporary challenges in precisely tracking their location in GPS-degraded environments. For instance, consider the 'wake-up' problem, where a robot …
- Study level
- PhD
- School
- School of Electrical Engineering and Robotics
Ethical and Legal Implications of RPA and Enterprise Automation
Examine the ethical and legal implications of RPA/Enterprise Automation adoption in organisations. Research can focus on addressing issues such as data privacy, transparency, accountability, and the impact of RPA/Automation on human employment, culture, and structure.
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Information Systems
- Research centre(s)
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Centre for Behavioural Economics, Society and Technology
Investigating the application of sustainable AI practices in construction
The construction industry plays a vital role in the global economy and there is a growing interest in utilising artificial intelligence (AI) to improve its productivity and efficiency. Despite the industry's significant contribution to the economy, it has faced challenges such as large cost overruns, extended schedules, and quality concerns. Nevertheless, AI is making significant strides to remove these issues by revolutionising various aspects of the construction industry. This is evident from enhancing project planning and design to improving construction …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Architecture and Built Environment
A sense of touch for robots
Touch, or awareness of contact, is one of the key challenges in robotics, particularly in the soft and highly deformable environment of the human body. This project will explore the development and use of interferometric filters to quantify contact pressures through spectral changes in reflected light. Thus a quantitative 'image' of force may be created to both characterise and guide robot-tissue interactions.
- Study level
- PhD
- School
- School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Biomedical Technologies
Dual mode ultrasonics
This project develops a new approach to ultrasonic sensing, sending and receiving high frequency acoustic pulses from a low frequency platform to modulate spectral content and microscale spatial offsets. In doing so, it will give surgical robotics platforms access to the rich array of physical information in acoustic pulses, which can be used to characterise tissues encountered during surgery and guide the robot in the intervention itself.
- Study level
- PhD
- School
- School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Biomedical Technologies
Active stroke rehabilitation orthotic
An active stroke rehabilitation orthotic is needed to assist the multitude of people affected by stroke each year. Several prototype hardware systems have been constructed, so we know the concept is feasible. Development for medical approval and manufacture is needed. Plus, artificial intelligence that adapts the rehabilitation strategies to help users
- Study level
- PhD
- School
- School of Electrical Engineering and Robotics
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Robotics
Tracking small bones for robotic surgery
Robotic knee surgery can perform femoral and tibial resection. Currently it is not possible to use robotic technology for patella preparation; to do so will require miniaturisation of tracking, effective clamping of the patella and controlled use of a saw. This project will aim to develop the technology for any small bone resection with a robot, taking the patella as a test case.
- Study level
- PhD
- School
- School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Biomedical Technologies
Achieving a sub-micrometer surgical robot end-effector via hybrid sensing
When operating with a tool within the human body in the context of a medical procedure, it is crucial to be able to keep track of the pose of the tool. This project will develop a hybrid approach to end effector pose estimation by combing optical tracking with other sensor inputs (e.g. force, sound, acoustic emissions) to compliment and improve tracking accuracy with applications towards orthopaedic surgical robots. This project is part of a broader collaboration with industry partner Stryker.
- Study level
- PhD
- School
- School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Biomedical Technologies
Dexterous tools with variable stiffness for minimally invasive surgery
Robotics has a positive impact on surgical procedures. This is particularly the case with minimally invasive surgeries. In these procedures, there is a need for compact tools that can be inserted through a tiny opening but are versatile in function. This project will look at the design of dexterous alternatives to traditional surgical tools within this context. Methods to vary the workspace and stiffness of the tool will be investigated by combining inspiration from the design of miniature biological joints …
- Study level
- PhD
- School
- School of Electrical Engineering and Robotics
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Robotics
Adaptive and efficient robot positioning
I am looking for highly motivated and talented PhD students to work with us on robot localisation and navigation. The students would join my DECRA Fellowship project "Adaptive and Efficient Robot Positioning Through Model and Task Fusion" funded by the Australian Research Council, which provides substantial top-up scholarships in addition to QUT's tax-free base stipend.Robot positioningWhere are you? This is a fundamental question to which most of us usually know the answer. And so do the birds singing in our …
- Study level
- PhD
- School
- School of Electrical Engineering and Robotics
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Robotics
Robot learning for navigation, interaction, and complex tasks
How can robots best learn to navigate in challenging environments and execute complex tasks, such as tidying up an apartment or assist humans in their everyday domestic chores?Often, hand-written architectures are based on complicated state machines that become intractable to design and maintain with growing task complexity. I am interested in developing learning-based approaches that are effective and efficient and scale better to complicated tasks.Especially learning based on semantic information (such as extracted by the research in semantic SLAM above), …
- Study level
- PhD
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Electrical Engineering and Robotics
Cobot contact tasks through multi-sensory deep learning
Contact tasks like grinding, polishing and assembly require a robot to physically interact with both rigid and flexible objects. Current methods relying on force control have difficulty achieving consistent finishing results and lack robustness in dealing with non-linear dynamics inherent in how the material is handled. This project will take a new approach that detects and diagnoses the dynamical process through deep learning fusion of multi-sensory data, including force/tactile, visual, thermal, sound, and acoustic emission; and generate corrective process parameters …
- Study level
- PhD
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Electrical Engineering and Robotics
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