Ryan Eustice

Test site 2/People/Ryan Eustice

eusticeAssistant Professor

204 NAME Bldg.
2600 Draper Dr.
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-2145
eustice@umich.edu

Perceptual Robotics Lab
Personal Homepage

  • Research Interests
  • Sponsored Research
  • Selected Publications
  • Scholars & Students
  • Courses Taught

My research focuses on the topics of imaging and underwater robotics. Research areas include: vision-aided navigation, underwater image processing, simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM), multiple vehicle networks, long-term autonomy, and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). My methodology is to address fundamental enabling theoretical and technical issues within the above areas, and to experimentally verify my results within real-world robotic tasks.

The application arena where I have applied my research is in the use of underwater robotics to support ocean science and industry. Platforms I work with include remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), gliders and AUVs. Robotic survey and mapping projects that I have/are involved in include coral-reef assessment, benthic habitat survey and classification, autonomous ship-hull inspection, the study of coastal methane seeps for marine geology, and the use of robotics for marine archeology (ranging from ancient Greek shipwrecks to the RMS Titanic). I collaborate with colleagues at MIT, Johns Hopkins, Olin College, and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and frequently participate in at-sea expeditions.

For a current listing of research projects please visit my lab’s webpage.

Research programs underway

  • 1. Autonomous Ship Hull Inspection
    GSRA: Hunter C. Brown (NAME), Ayoung Kim (ME)
    Funding: ONR Young Investigator Program

    The technical objective of this work is to develop an optical/acoustic real-time visual SLAM capability for explosive ordinance disposal (EOD) autonomous ship-hull inspection. Current robotic inspection methods require human in-the-loop intervention for both sensory interpretation and control (piloting). PeRL is developing a large-area, robust SLAM mapping framework using vision as the main perceptual sensor. Year 3 of the project will investigate transitioning the framework to sonar-based perception, which will yield a larger standoff range sensing capability in turbid water.

  • 2. Cooperative Underwater Navigation
    GSRA: TBD
    Funding: NSF CAREER Award (CISE-Robust Intelligence)

    Multi-vehicle SLAM offers promise of efficient exploration by groups of mobile robots working cooperatively to pool their mapping capability; however, most research in the area of distributed multi-vehicle SLAM has focused primarily on terrestrial (i.e., land and aerial) applications, where high-bandwidth radio communication is possible. PeRL is investigating probabilistic fusion methods that will scale across a distributed network of multiple agents who have limited communication bandwidth in a non-fully-connected network topology. The proposed acoustic-modem augmented navigation framework will exploit inter-vehicle ranging to supplement perceptual SLAM localization while reducing the need for state communication.

  • 3. Active Safety Situational Awareness
    GSRA: Gaurav Pandey (EECS)
    Collaborators: Silvio Savarese (EECS)
    Funding: Ford-UM Alliance

    The primary objective of this research is to develop novel algorithms for the fusion of HD-LIDAR sensing with automotive-grade pose (position, pitch, roll, yaw, etc.) sensor components and map-based databases to enable low-cost localization, navigation, and environmental perception for automotive Active Safety applications. For this purpose we propose casting this problem within a simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) framework using HD-LIDAR for environmental perception. Task 1 of this research is to investigate the fusion of LIDAR-derived odometry with automotive-grade IMUs for GPS denial/dropout navigation scenarios, which is prone in urban city environments with poor line of sight to the horizon, roads with overhead tree canopy, and tunnels. Task 2 will investigate the registration of HD-LIDAR information with preexisting map databases for in-lane localization.

  • 4. Multi-AUV Testbed
    Technician: Edward Mahony
    Collaborators: Guy A. Meadows (NAME), Jing Sun (NAME), Anouck Girard (AERO)
    Funding: CoE Equipment Grant, ONR YIP, Research Incentive

    PeRL has significantly modified two commercial Ocean-Server Iver2 AUV systems for simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) research at UMich. The engineering research focus is multi-vehicle multi-scalar SLAM. The algorithmic advancements developed and tested using the UMich Iver2 AUV platforms will advance the multi-resolution navigation and mapping capabilities of robotic AUVs in benthic environments. PeRL has teamed up with the NOAA Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary to use these experimental vehicles to perform exploratory navigation and mapping of the Sanctuary borders.

Grants and Contracts

  • Ford Motor Company #N008265: Low-Cost Automotive Mapping, Localization, and Perception for Active Safety Applications, Derived from Autonomous Vehicle Studies Employing High- Definition LIDAR, (PI) Ryan M. Eustice.
    For 2 years (Sep. 2008 Aug. 2010). GSRAs: 1 Status: Current
  • NOAA OE Grant #WC133C08SE4089: Mystery Beneath theWaves: Searching for Historic Shipwrecks Within and Beyond the Boundaries of the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, (PI) Russ Green (Co-PI) Roderick Mather and Ryan M. Eustice.
    For 1 year (Sep. 2008 Sep. 2009). Status: Completed
  • NSF #BCS-0829324: Ancient Hunters and the Lake Stanley Causeway: A Pilot Study, (PI) John M. OShea (Co-PI) Guy A. Meadows and Ryan M. Eustice. For 1 year (May 2008 Jul. 2009). Status: Current
  • UMich OVPR #U022987: Early Holocene Hunters Beneath the Great Lakes: Procurement of the R/V Blue Traveler University Research Vessel, (PI) Guy A. Meadows (Co-PI) John M. OShea and Ryan M. Eustice.
    For 1 month (May 2008). Status: Completed
  • NSF CAREER #IIS-0746455: CAREER: Toward Robust Multi-Vehicle Multi-Scalar Underwater Robotic Navigation A Career Development Plan, (PI) Ryan M. Eustice.
    For 5 years (May 2008 May 2013). GSRAs: 1 Status: Current
  • DARPA #080427Z1: HURRT – Heterogeneous Unmanned Riverine Reconnaissance Teams, (PI) Guy A. Meadows (Co-PI) Ryan M. Eustice, David R. Lyzenga, and Christopher N. Roman
    For 1 year (Mar. 2008 Mar. 2009). Status: Completed
  • ONR YIP #N00014-07-1-0791: Real-Time Visually Augmented Navigation for Autonomous Search and Inspection of Ship Hulls and Port Facilities, (PI) Ryan M. Eustice.
    For 3 years (Jun. 2007 Jun. 2010). GSRAs: 2 Status: Current
  • Ford Motor Company #N008265: High-definition LIDAR Mapping for Active Safety Vehicle Situational Awareness, (PI) Ryan M. Eustice.
    For 1.5 years (Nov. 2007 Aug. 2008). GSRAs: 1 Status: Completed

For a current listing of my publications with full PDF downloads click here.

  1. Journal Publications
    Pending J. Sarrazin, M.K. Tivey, H. Singh, R. Eustice, D. Yoerger. Using Video Imagery to Estimate Fluid Flow Rate Within Distinct Hydrothermal Faunal Assemblages. Journal of Deep Sea Research, Submitted, Under Review.
    H. Singh, R. Roman, O. Pizarro, R. Eustice, and A. Can, “Towards high resolution imaging from underwatervehicles,” Intl. J. Robotics Research, 2006, Accepted, To Appear.
    R. Eustice, H. Singh, and J. Leonard, “Visually mapping the RMS Titanic: conservative covarianceestimates for SLAM information filters,” Intl. J. Robotics Research, 2006, Accepted, To Appear.
    R. Eustice, O. Pizarro, and H. Singh, “Visually augmented navigation for autonomous underwater vehicles,”IEEE J. Oceanic Eng., 2006, Accepted, To Appear.
    R. Eustice, H. Singh, and J. Leonard, “Exactly sparse delayed-state filters for view-based SLAM,” IEEETrans. Robot., 2006, Accepted, To Appear.
    R. Armstrong, H. Singh, J. Torres, R. Nemeth, A. Can, C. Roman, R. Eustice, L. Riggs, and G. Garcia-Moliner, “Characterizing the deep insular shelf coral reef habitat of the Hind Bank marine conservation district (US Virgin Islands) using the Seabed autonomous underwater vehicle,” Continental Shelf Research, vol. 26, no. 2, pp. 194–205, Feb. 2006.
    H. Singh, R. Armstrong, F. Gilbes, R. Eustice, C. Roman, O. Pizarro, and J. Torres, “Imaging coral I: imaging coral habitats with the SeaBED AUV,” J. Subsurface Sensing Tech. Apps., vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 25–42, Jan. 2004.
    H. Singh, A. Can, R. Eustice, S. Lerner, N. McPhee, O. Pizarro, and C. Roman, “SeaBED AUV offers new platform for high-resolution imaging,” EOS, Trans. Amer. Geophysical Union, vol. 85, no. 31, pp. 289,294–295, Aug. 2004.
  2. Refereed Conference Publications
    J. Kinsey, R. Eustice, and L. Whitcomb, “Underwater vehicle navigation: recent advances and new challenges,” in IFAC Conf. on Manoeuvring and Control of Marine Craft, Lisbon, Portugal, Sept. 2006, In Press.
    R. Eustice, L. Whitcomb, H. Singh, and M. Grund, “Recent advances in synchronous-clock one-way travel-time acoustic navigation,” in Proc. IEEE/MTS OCEANS Conf. Exhib., 2006, In Press.
    M. Ludvigsen, R. Eustice, and H. Singh, “Photogrammetric models for marine archaeology,” in Proc. IEEE/MTS OCEANS Conf. Exhib., Boston, MA, Sept. 2006, In Press.
  3. Publications (continued)
    M. Walter, R. Eustice, and J. Leonard, “A provably consistent method for imposing sparsity in featurebased SLAM information filters,” in Proc. Intl. Symp. Robotics Research, San Francisco, CA, Oct. 2005, In Press.
    H. Singh, C. Roman, O. Pizarro, and R. Eustice, “Advances in high-resolution imaging from underwater vehicles,” in Proc. Intl. Symp. Robotics Research, Oct. 2005, In Press.
    R. Eustice, R. Camilli, and H. Singh, “Towards bathymetry-optimized Doppler re-navigation for AUVs,” in Proc. IEEE/MTS OCEANS Conf. Exhib., Washington D.C., Sept. 2005, In Press.
    R. Eustice, M. Walter, and J. Leonard, “Sparse extended information filters: insights into sparsification,” in Proc. IEEE/RSJ Intl. Conf. Intell. Robots Systems, 2005, pp. 641–648.
    R. Eustice, H. Singh, J. Leonard, M. Walter, and R. Ballard, “Visually navigating the RMS Titanic with SLAM information filters,” in Proc. Robotics: Science & Systems. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, June 2005, pp. 57–64.
    R. Eustice, H. Singh, and J. Leonard, “Exactly sparse delayed-state filters,” in Proc. IEEE Intl. Conf. Robot. Auto., Barcelona, Spain, 2005, pp. 2428–2435.
    O. Pizarro, R. Eustice, and H. Singh, “Large area 3D reconstructions from underwater surveys,” in Proc. IEEE/MTS OCEANS Conf. Exhib., vol. 2, Kobe, Japan, Nov. 2004, pp. 678–687.
    R. Eustice, O. Pizarro, and H. Singh, “Visually augmented navigation in an unstructured environment using a delayed state history,” in Proc. IEEE Intl. Conf. Robot. Auto., vol. 1, New Orleans, USA, Apr. 2004, pp. 25–32.
    O. Pizarro, R. Eustice, and H. Singh, “Relative pose estimation for instrumented, calibrated imaging platforms,” in Proc. Digital Image Computing Apps., Sydney, Australia, Dec. 2003, pp. 601–612.
    H. Singh, G. Salgian, R. Eustice, and R. Mandelbaum, “Sensor fusion of structure-from-motion, bathymetric 3D, and beacon-based navigation modalities,” in Proc. IEEE Intl. Conf. Robot. Auto., vol. 4, Washington, D.C., May 2002, pp. 4024–4031.
    R. Eustice, O. Pizarro, H. Singh, and J. Howland, “UWIT: underwater image toolbox for optical image processing and mosaicking in Matlab,” in Proc. Intl. Symp. Underwater Tech., Tokyo, Japan, Apr. 2002, pp. 141–145.
    C. Roman, O. Pizarro, R. Eustice, and H. Singh, “A new autonomous underwater vehicle for imaging research,” in Proc. IEEE/MTS OCEANS Conf. Exhib., vol. 1, Sept. 2000, pp. 153–156.
    R. Eustice, H. Singh, and J. Howland, “Image registration underwater for fluid flow measurements and mosaicking,” in Proc. IEEE/MTS OCEANS Conf. Exhib., vol. 3, Sept. 2000, pp. 1529–1534.
  4. Other Conference Publications
    J. Hill, N. Driscoll, J. Weissel, M. Kastner, H. Singh, M. Cormier, R. Camilli, R. Eustice, R. Lipscomb, N. McPhee, K. Newman, G. Robertson, E. Solomon, and K. Tomanka, “A detailed near-bottom survey of large gas blowout structures along the US Atlantic shelf break using the autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) SeaBED,” in EOS: Trans. Amer. Geophysical Union Fall Meeting Supplement, 2004, Abstract.
  5. Publications (continued)
    K. Newman, N. Driscoll, J. Weissel, M. Kastner, H. Singh, M. Cormier, R. Camilli, R. Eustice, R. Lipscomb, N. McPhee, J. Hill, G. Robertson, E. Solomon, and K. Tomanka, “A potential link between fluid expulsion and slope stability: geochemical anomalies measured in the gas blowouts along the U.S. Atlantic margin provide new constraints on their formation,” in EOS: Trans. Amer. Geophysical Union Fall Meeting Supplement, 2004, Abstract.
    H. Singh, R. Eustice, C. Roman, and O. Pizarro, “The SeaBED AUV – a platform for high resolution imaging,” in Unmanned Underwater Vehicle Showcase, Southampton Oceanography Centre, UK, Sept. 2002.

For a current listing of scholars and students click here.


  • NA320 Marine Hydrodynamics I
  • NA340 Marine Dynamics I
  • NA590-454 Introduction to Probabilistic Mobile Robotics