Professor Salah Sukkarieh
Professor of Robotics and Intelligent Systems, School of Aerospace Mechanical & Mechatronic Engineering
Director of Research and Innovation at the Australian Centre for Field Robotics
J04 - Rose Street Building
The University of Sydney
Biographical details
Salah Sukkarieh is an international expert in the research, development, operationalisation and commercialisation of field robotic systems. He has lead a number of robotics and intelligent systems R&D projects in logistics, commercial aviation, aerospace, education, environment monitoring, agriculture and mining, and has consulted to industry including Rio Tinto, BHP, Patrick Stevedores, Qantas, BAE Systems, QLD Biosecurity, Meat and Livestock Australia, and the NSW DPI amongst others.
Salah is the Professor of Robotics and Intelligent Systems at the University of Sydney, and the Director of Research and Innovation at the Australian Centre for Field Robotics. He has supervised over 10 research fellows, and graduated over 25 PhDs, 5 Masters and 60 honours students. He has received over $30m in government and industry funding, national and international.
Salah is on the editorial board for the Journal of Field Robotics, Journal of Autonomous Robots, and Transactions of Aerospace Systems, and has over 300 academic and industry publications in robotics and intelligent systems.
Research interests
Robotics is a field that has captured the public imagination, with numerous books, films and television programs featuring improbably intelligent machines with seemingly unlikely capabilities. Professor Salah Sukkarieh's research into robotics and intelligent systems is the real thing, and it's not too far from those products of our collective imagination.
"My work involves developing robotic devices and intelligent systems that can operate 24/7 in outdoor environments. These are devices that can perceive and understand their environment, make informed decisions about any actions required and then carry out those actions - all without direct human input.
"For example, my colleagues and I have already developed an automated berth in Brisbane where ships are loaded and unloaded by robotic devices without direct human involvement. We're also working with Rio Tinto on establishing an autonomous mine operation in the Pilbara region of Western Australia; we've developed pilotless robotic aircraft that can detect and spray invasive weeds in remote locations; and we're currently working on autonomous devices that will perform many of the manual tasks involved in large-scale agricultural production.
"I'm also developing intelligent software systems for autonomous decision making. We're already seeing applications for this technology in commercial aviation and environmental management, and its potential for use in other areas is significant.
"All of these projects represent vast improvements in human safety as well as in efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
"I'm passionate about developing this kind of high-end technology and supporting its adoption, because it has a significant and immediate impact on industry and the wider community - it really is transformational.
"I've been working in this field for the past 12 years. Having completed my own degrees at the University of Sydney, I then returned to join the staff. It's a great environment, it's local to the main industry players and we have excellent student cohorts."
Teaching and supervision
AERO2711 - Space Engineering Project 1
AERO3711 - Space Engineering Project 2
AERO4701 - Space Engineering 3
AERO4711 - Space Engineering Project 3
AERO4712 - Space Engineering Project 4
AERO5700 - Space Engineering (Advanced)
Industry Partnerships
2012
- Future Flight Planning System. Sukkarieh S; Qantas Airways Limited.
- Predictive Maintenance for Commercial Aviation. Sukkarieh S; Qantas Airways Limited.
2011
- An Algorithm and Software System for Individual Aircraft Fuel Burn Characterisation. Sukkarieh S; Qantas Airways Limited
- ACFR Rio Tinto Centre for Mine Automation. Scheding S. & Sukkarieh S.; Rio Tinto
2009
- ACFR BAE Systems Centre for Intelligent Mobile Systems. Underwood J., Durrant-Whyte H. & Sukkarieh S
- New optimisation algorithms for dynamic flight planning. Sukkarieh S; Qantas Airways Limited.
Selected grants
2013
- Alligator Weed detection with UAV's; Fitch R, Sukkarieh S; Department of Primary Industries (Vic)/Research Support.
2012
- Education 2020: Enabling learning in science, engineering and mathematics; Sukkarieh S; Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations/Education 2020: Enabling learning in science, engineering and mathematics.
- Autonomous perception systems for horticulture tree crops; Sukkarieh S; Horticulture Australia Limited/Research and Development Industry Call.
- LNK:ARC Linkage LP120100448 "The endangered swift parrot as a model for managing small migratory bir; Sukkarieh S.
- LNK: Robotics for zero-tillage agriculture; Corke P, Upcroft B, Sukkarieh S, Wyeth G, Bate A; Australian Research Council/Linkage Projects (LP).
- MUAC-IREN - Multi-UAV Cooperation International Research Exchange Network; Ollero A, Viguria A, Maza I, Merino L, Santos S, Hirzinger G, Kondak K, Schwarzbach M, Sukkarieh S, Bryson M, Goktogan A; European Commission (Belgium)/Marie Curie Action: International Research Staff Exchange (IRSES).
- Multi-sensor Fusion and Classificaiton of Aerial Imagery for Automated RIFA Detection; Sukkarieh S; Queensland Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation/Research Contract.
- The endangered swift parrot as a model for managing small migratory birds; Sukkarieh S, Heinsohn R; Australian Research Council (ARC)/Linkage Projects (LP).
2011
- New detection and classification algorithms for mapping woody weeds from UAV data; Sukkarieh S; Meat and Livestock Australia Ltd/Livestock Production Research and Development Program: Strategic and Applied Research Funding.
2009
- Using UAVs and innovative classification algorithms in the detection of cacti; Sukkarieh S; Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (Federal)/Research Support.
- Autonomous tracking and predictive modelling of Australian plague locust migratory band movement; Sword G, Sukkarieh S, Brooker G, Simpson S, Spurgin P, Spurgin P; Australian Research Council/Linkage Projects (LP).
- Pathways to space: Empowering the internet generation; Oliver C, Sukkarieh S; Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research (Federal)/Australian Space Research Program.
2008
- UAV Surveillance Systems for the Management of Woody Weed Infestations; Sukkarieh S; Meat and Livestock Australia Ltd/MLA Livestock Production Research and Development Program.
2007
- Cost-Effective Surveillance of Emerging Aquatic Weeds Using Robotic Aircraft; Sukkarieh S; Land and Water Resources Research and Development Corporation/Defeating the Weed Menace.
2006
- Data Fusion for Self-Localisation and Team Situational Awareness in Unknown Structured Environments; Sukkarieh S; Australian Research Council (ARC)/Discovery Project.
- Operator Decision Modelling In Autonomous Systems; Durrant-Whyte H, Sukkarieh S, Campbell M; Australian Research Council (ARC)/Linkage International Fellowship.
2005
- Cooperative Airborne Inertial-SLAM for improved platform and Feature/Target Localisation.; Sukkarieh S, Kano F, Park T; US Air Force - Asian Office of Aerospace Research and Development(AOARD)/BLO Project.
2004
- Information Theoretic Control of Multiple Sensor Platforms; Durrant-Whyte H, Sukkarieh S, Kano F, Park T; Asian Office of Aerospace Research And Development/BLO Project.
- Research Forward Reconnaissance for Marine Operations in Structured Environments using an Autonomous Airborne Heterogeneous Sensor Network; Sukkarieh S; US Office of Naval Research (USA)/BLO Project.
2003
- UAVs for Future Target Detection; Durrant-Whyte H, Sukkarieh S, Bowden K; BAE Systems (Operations) Limited/Research Support.
Selected publications
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