Fulbright Scholar Arbnor Pajaziti welcomed

The School of Engineering and Computer Science welcomes Arbnor Pajaziti, a Fulbright Scholar, to the Department of Electrical and Computer Science.

Pajaziti is a full professor with the School of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Prishtina, Kosovo, teaching courses in Robots and Manipulators and the Application of Artificial Intelligence to Robotics. His field of interest is robotics, including the application of several control schemes, neural network controllers, fuzzy logic controllers, genetic algorithms to industrial robots, mobile robots, legged robots, multiple robotics systems and humanitarian clearance of anti-personnel mines.

At Oakland University, Prof. Pajaziti is carrying out research in the field of navigation techniques of mobile autonomous robots for mine detection.

Mobile autonomous robot solutions, with effective sensing capabilities properly sized with a suitable, modularized, mechanized structure and well adapted to local conditions of minefields, can greatly improve the safety of personnel while working efficiently. Such intelligent and flexible machines can speed the clearance and perform verifying processes when used in combination with handheld mine detection tools.

The control system of a mobile autonomous robot should be able to negotiate harsh environments on the minefield with high precision. A behavior-based approach is based on the architecture of different levels of competence -- the lowest layer is responsible for obstacle avoidance, while higher layers contain various task-oriented behaviors.

The navigation technique for a sonar-equipped autonomous mobile robot, in which the local map is built in real-time for local path planning, will be addressed in the study program. The autonomous mobile robot will be navigated to the goal by the use of several techniques, including a reactive technique to escape being trapped in a deadlock in complicated environments. The obtained local map will be used to build and/or update the global map of the environment.

In addition, the goal of the research work will include evaluation of the technical features and design capabilities of an autonomous mobile platform that are needed to accelerate the de-mining process and achieve safety with cost-effective measures.