Our lab is interested in engineering and understanding collaborative autonomy and assured autonomy. We study many topics on the borders of control theory, artificial intelligence, formal methods, and cognitive science. Currently our research focuses on:

  • Transparent and trustworthy AI/robotics/CPS
  • Cognitive aware human-autonomy integration
  • High-assurance and high-performance control of UAS in challenging environments and missions
  • Guidance and control of UAS and UAS swarms for agricultural, defense, environmental monitoring, and national security applications

Recent News

  • 10/10/19 Our paper "Optimized Dispensing by Multirotor UAVs in Wind: A Distribution Pattern Modelling Approach for Precision Pest Management" is now available at ScienceDirect.
  • 10/07/19 We have been invited to give a talk on "Drone Mounted Stereo-Imaging for Improving Weed Detection in Crop Fields" at the 2019 Site Specific Weed Management Workshop Organized by the European Weed Research Society.
  • 10/03/19 Today UC Davis hosts the NASA HOME institute kickoff meeting. We are very excited in joining the endeavor!
  • 09/29/19 A sneak peek of our work on combining online learning and nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) for tracking of highly-dynamic targets using UAS (pertaining to national security and public safety): side view and overhead view.
  • 09/17/19 Two of our papers, "Optimized Dispensing by Multirotor UAVs in Wind: A Distribution Pattern Modelling Approach for Precision Pest Management" and "Drones: Innovative Technology for Use in Precision Pest Management", have been accepted for publication. The first one will appear on the Biosystems Engineering and the second one on the Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata.
  • 08/07/19 Dr. Kong has been invited to give a talk on "Development of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) for Episodic Air Pollutant Measurements" at Refinery And Chemical Industry Emissions Symposium.
  • 07/23/19 Peng Wei has been selected as the winner of the 2019 N&M Sarigul-Klijn Space Engineering/Flight Research Award. Congrats to Peng!
  • 07/19/19 Our paper "Semantic Inference for Cyber-Physical Systems with Signal Temporal Logic" has been accepted by the IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC), which will be held at Nice, France.
  • 07/05/19 Two of our papers, "Mitigating Ground Effect On Mini Quadcopters with Model Reference Adaptive Control" and "Neurophysiological and Behavioral Correlates of Human-Swarm Performance in Realistic Task Environment", have been accepted for publication. The first one will appear on the International Journal of Intelligent Robotics and Applications and the second one on the IEEE Transactions on Human-Machine Systems.
  • 06/13/19 Nicolas Michel presented his work on "Multiphysical Modeling of Energy Dynamics for Multirotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicles" at the International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (ICUAS) held at Atlanta, GA.
  • 06/06/19 Kaden Jeppesen, Kevin Mclaughlin, Bradley Pluschkell, Vishal Sharma, and Trevor Vidano presented their senior design project at the UC Davis Engineering Design Showcase. Please see a video about their project here.
  • 04/26/19 Gang Chen presented his work on "Co-design of Linear Time-Invariant Systems with Spectral Logic Specifications" at the CITRIS/CPAR Control Theory and Automation Symposium held at UC Berkeley.
  • 04/26/19 Erina Kitamura and Russell Evangelista presented their work on "Small Unmanned Aerial System (sUAS) for Remote Air Quality Monitoring" at the 30th Annual Undergraduate Research, Scholarship & Creative Activities Conference held at UC Davis.
  • 04/08/19 Our team, led by Dr. Steve Robinson, has received a $15 million grant from NASA to develop technologies critical to a sustainable human presence on the Moon and Mars. Our lab will contribute to the development of autonomous systems and human-automation teaming technologies. Looking forward to working with the team on this exciting project! Please see the NASA press release here.
  • 04/01/19 Daniel Andermatten successfully defended his master II report "Raspberry PI Sensor Package Collocation Model and Calibration Used with a Potential Temperature Inversion Layer Detection Algorithm" today. Congrats to Daneil! We wish him a bright future!
  • 03/27/19 Today we hosted a group of UAS researchers from three leading Danish Universities, Aalberg University, SDU, and DTU. Looking forward to potentially collaborating with them in the future!
  • 12/11/18 Naveen Gowrishankar successfully defended his master thesis "Fusion of Marker based SLAM and IMU Sensor for Indoor Localization of a Quadrotor in a Mixed Reality Application" today. He will join Omron Adept Technologies. Congrats to Naveen! We wish him a bright future!
  • 12/01/18 April Lynn Teske successfully defended her master thesis "Model of Granular Agricultural Treatment Dispensed by Multirotor UAV for Precision Targeting in Wind" today. Congrats to April! We wish her a bright future!
  • 10/16/18 Our paper "Formal Interpretation of Cyber-Physical System Performance with Temporal Logic" is now available at the Cyber-Physical Systems.
  • 10/11/18 Our paper "Perceiving Artistic Expression: A Formal Exploration of Performance Art Salsa" is now available at the IEEE Access.

In the News

Location

Contact Us
academic surge, room 2328
one shields ave.
davis, CA 95616
zdkong (at) ucdavis (dot) edu