Ranked among the top 5 research institutes on AI in Europe, CERTH is considered a key technology contributor in MERLIN project.
Its main role is linked to the developments of the autonomous operational locomotion and navigation capabilities available both from the underwater torpedo-shaped UAV (e.g., thrusters, gliding wings, etc.) and the following USV, as well as their sampling and grasping end-effectors (e.g., integrated robotic arms for underwater sampling/loading on the UAV and the USV). On this matter, CERTH is going to capitalize on AI-planning and deep reinforcement learning approaches to train robust agents for UAV path-planning and manoeuvring respectively.
Moreover, CERTH is leading the development of a comprehensive AI toolbox for on board data filtering, compression and underwater targets detection to effectively reduce information transition requirements from/to the remote control center during mission execution. This toolbox will leverage deep learning methods, including transformers, variational autoencoders and convolutional LSTMs, to ensure high data quality and anomaly tolerance, supporting critical decision-making.
Team members
Dr. Iakovos Michailidis
Iakovos Michailidis graduated from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in November 2010. He earned his Ph.D. from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Democritus University of Thrace in April 2016, focusing on Optimal & Adaptive Control in Large-Scale Sensor Networks. In November 2019, he completed a post-graduate program in Business Administration at the University of Macedonia, researching data-driven Internal Corporate Quality Control systems. He received his MSc in Artificial Intelligence from the Computer Science Department at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in October 2022, focusing on Planning systems for applied rationale BDI agents. Currently, his research interests relate to AI and Deep Learning for Optimized Centralised and Distributed Control in Large Scale Cyber-Physical Systems. He is a post-doctoral research associate in CERTH/ITI, having a 13-year experience in R&D projects, serving as deputy project coordinator or technical manager in over 6 H2020 and Horizon EU funded ones.
Prof. Elias Kosmatopoulos
Elias Kosmatopoulos received the Diploma, M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from the Technical University of Crete, Greece, in 1990, 1992, and 1995, respectively. He is currently a Professor with the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Democritus University of Thrace, Greece and a Collaborative Professor with CERTH/ITI. He has recently been involved in 7 FP7 ICT and 6 H2020 projects, being the project coordinator in 6 of them. His research interests lay in the areas of smart adaptive/learning control