Seminar on From Ground to Orbit: Innovations in Robotic Navigation & Space Situational Awareness

30 Nov 2026 11.00 AM - 12.00 PM LHN-TR+04 (The Arc, LHN-B2-04) Current Students, Public

Professor Martin Adams

University of Chile, Chile

This seminar will be chaired by Prof Chen I-Ming.

Seminar Abstract

Autonomous navigation, multi-target tracking and data registration are estimation problems with applications ranging from robotic simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) to space situational awareness (SSA). While SLAM integrates detected features into dynamic maps, SSA tracks space debris to mitigate collision risks, including the Kessler syndrome.

Despite their distinct environments, both applications can be addressed using a common random finite set (RFS)-based multi-object state estimation framework. Key challenges include changing object numbers, noisy measurements, false alarms, missed detections and data association. Bayesian RFS methods model multiple objects as a single random variable, enabling joint estimation of object numbers and states while reducing reliance on fragile data association and object initiation and termination procedures.

This presentation introduces new multi-object solutions for SLAM and SSA. For SLAM, a mixed distribution jointly models the trajectory and RFS-valued map, achieving competitive and often superior results without fragile data association. For SSA, finite set statistics (FISST) and Riemannian manifold geometry are used to track multiple space debris in low Earth orbit through telescopic measurements.

Speaker's Biography 
Martin Adams is Professor of Electrical Engineering and former Director of the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Chile, as well as a principal investigator at the Advanced Mining Technology Centre (AMTC). He obtained his Engineering Science degree in 1988 and D.Phil. in 1992 from the University of Oxford, UK, before pursuing research in autonomous robot navigation at ETH Zurich, Switzerland. He subsequently held research and academic positions in Switzerland and served as Associate Professor at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, from 2000 to 2010. His research focuses on autonomous robot navigation, sensing, sensor data interpretation and control. He has published extensively in these fields, led numerous robotics and industry-sponsored projects involving local and international collaborators, served on journal and conference editorial boards, and chaired the Robotics & Automation Chapter in Chile.

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