Autonomous Systems

Mushuang Liu, DARPA Young Faculty Award recipient

Sep. 3, 2024

Mizzou Engineering professor receives DARPA Young Faculty Award for autonomous systems research

Assistant Professor Mushuang Liu received Mizzou’s first Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Young Faculty Award (YFA) for her research into multi-agent reinforcement learning. 

March 27, 2024

Revolutionizing drone navigation: AI algorithms take flight

Thanks to smart algorithms powered by artificial intelligence (AI), drones could one day pilot themselves — no humans needed — using visual landmarks to help them navigate from one point to another. That’s the aim of a two-year project led by University of Missouri researchers and supported by a $3.3 million grant from the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), the premier research and development center for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Oct. 11, 2023

Engineers to use autonomous tractor to study self-driving mechanisms

Two Mizzou Engineers are using Missouri’s first autonomous tractor to better understand self-driving mechanisms and how those systems can work with other technologies. Professors Prasad Calyam and Ming Xin are co-Principal Investigators on a Department of Agriculture grant that brought the tractor to Mizzou last month. Calyam is Greg L. Gilliom Professor of Cyber Security in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and Xin is Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.

Sep. 6, 2023

Mizzou Engineering teams up with CAFNR to secure state’s first autonomous tractor

After more than a year of waiting, researchers at the University of Missouri welcome the arrival of one of the nation’s first-of-its-kind electric, autonomous tractors.

Aug. 9, 2023

Mizzou Engineer improving algorithms that power self-driving vehicles

Artificial intelligence (AI) makes all sorts of decisions for us. Netflix recommends our next movie. Amazon suggests products based on what’s in our shopping cart. Facebook determines the content that shows up in our feeds. While we have a basic idea of how these algorithms work, most of us don’t need machines to further explain why they are making those conclusions.

Feb. 8, 2023

Engineers assess self-driving vehicles to reduce mobile work zone injuries

Using a self-driving truck to follow a manned vehicle has the potential to reduce worker injuries in mobile work zones, a Mizzou Engineering team has concluded. Henry Brown, a research engineer in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, is presenting the findings to the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT).

Driving simulator

Oct. 25, 2022

Engineering team earns research award for study of autonomous truck platoons

Civil engineering Professor Carlos Sun and his team have received a prestigious award from the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) for their studies of autonomous truck platoons. Sun will receive the AASHTO High Value Research Award in the Safety, Security and Emergencies Supplemental Category at the Transportation Research Board’s (TRB) annual meeting in January.