UCL
Field Robotics and Learning Group

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Meriem Ben Miled and Drone Robotics and Innovation Logo UCL

Our group is dedicated to advancing autonomous systems across field research in three core areas: Reliable Sensing and Perception, Intelligent Planning and Decision Making, and Advanced Robust Control. Our mission is to develop resilient technologies that enhance system reliability by integrating sophisticated sensing, perception, and adaptive control frameworks. By leveraging the latest advances in machine learning, optimization, and control theory, we address real-world challenges, enabling autonomous platforms to navigate and operate effectively in complex, dynamic environments.

news

Aug 14, 2025 🎉 Congratulations to Nana Kutin for his successful transfer
Aug 01, 2025 🎉 UCL Marine Research Group Wins £1M for Green Port Tech Projects
Aug 01, 2025 FRL Advances All-Weather Autonomous Navigation
Jun 18, 2025 🌍 Representing at MarRI-UK & OCEANS 2025
Jun 17, 2025 🎉 Papers Accepted at Top Robotics Conferences - IROS and RO-MAN 2025
Jun 12, 2025 🏆 Congratulations to Sara Aldhaheri – Runner-up Winner for Best Presentation!
Jun 12, 2025 🏆 Congratulations to Yonchang Xie – 2nd Place Winner at Future Seawork 2025!
Jun 05, 2025 🚀🌊 Kicking Off Our MarRI-UK / Lloyd’s Register Funded PhD Project!
May 20, 2025 🚤 Field Testing UCL Marine Robots at Richmond Lock – Research in Action
Mar 18, 2025 🌊 Data Acquisition in River Thames
Feb 28, 2025 📃 New Applied Ocean Research published by UCL and Loughborough University
Dec 04, 2024 Dr. Yuanchang Liu delivers a talk at RiTA 2024 Conference
Nov 28, 2024 📰🎉 Our ALADDIN demonstrator project was featured in the Lloyd's Register Foundation newsletter!
Nov 25, 2024 Dr. Yuanchang Liu is appointed to the Editorial Board of Applied Ocean Research
Nov 05, 2024 Delivered the first workshop for our Clean Maritime Project funded by MarRI-UK
Nov 01, 2024 Kicked off an Innovate UK Smart Shipping Acceleration Fund funded project
Oct 14, 2024 FRLG @ IROS 2024!
Oct 01, 2024 The group welcomed two new members, Yang Hu and Junfeng Xue, to join!
Sep 23, 2024 Paper published to Ocean Engineering by Yongchang Xie
Aug 21, 2024 PhD defense by Meriem Ben Miled
Jul 18, 2024 🛠📋 UCL Festival of Engineering 2024

selected publications

  1. T-ASE
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    An End-to-End Deep Reinforcement Learning Based Modular Task Allocation Framework for Autonomous Mobile Systems
    Song Ma, Jingqing Ruan, Yali Du , and 2 more authors
    IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering, 2024
  2. AAAS
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    Adaptive Unsupervised Learning-Based 3D Spatiotemporal Filter for Event-Driven Cameras
    Meriem Ben Miled, Wenwen Liu, and Yuanchang Liu
    Research, 2024
  3. IROS
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    ShorelineNet: An Efficient Deep Learning Approach for Shoreline Semantic Segmentation for Unmanned Surface Vehicles
    Linghong Yao, Dimitrios Kanoulas, Ze Ji , and 1 more author
    2021 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2021
  4. T-ASE
    meng2022anisotropic.png
    Anisotropic GPMP2: A Fast Continuous-Time Gaussian Processes Based Motion Planner for Unmanned Surface Vehicles in Environments With Ocean Currents
    Jiawei Meng, Yuanchang Liu, Richard Bucknall , and 2 more authors
    IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering, 2022
  5. Applied Ocean
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    Image segmentation in marine environments using convolutional LSTM for temporal context
    Kasper Foss Hansen, Linghong Yao, Kang Ren , and 3 more authors
    Applied Ocean Research, 2023
  6. Oceans Engineering
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    Reliable LiDAR-based ship detection and tracking for Autonomous Surface Vehicles in busy maritime environments
    Yongchang Xie, Cassandra Nanlal, and Yuanchang Liu
    Ocean Engineering, 2024