Master Thesis, 30 hp: UGV traversability planning with large language models
Are you a student eager to apply your theoretical knowledge and fresh perspectives to real-world challenges? At Saab, we believe that innovation thrives on new ideas, and your master thesis project could be the spark that ignites our next technological breakthrough.
We recognize the immense value that students bring to our company. Your academic rigor, combined with your enthusiasm for cutting-edge technology, allows you to approach problems with a unique and insightful lens. At Saab, you'll have the opportunity to collaborate with experienced engineers and specialists, gaining invaluable practical experience while making a tangible contribution to our growth and development.
Background Dynamics is pursuing a UGV initiative in which the Mission Autonomy section serves as both a stakeholder and contributor. Following the initial platform integration that is currently being realized, continued capability growth (both targeted and exploratory), as well as organizational development will be essential.
Master´s thesis project is an excellent mechanism for supporting this progression and we have selected a highly promising proposal, that meets all the criteria we use to evaluate and prioritize thesis opportunities.
Description of the Thesis Project The purpose of this thesis project is to investigate how multimodal large language models can be utilized for planning the movement of unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) through off-road terrain.
Autonomously traversing areas of dense vegetation, wetlands, snow and mud entails a non-trivial, platform- and weather-dependent motion planning problem. UGVs with small wheels may have a much tougher time navigating sand than a UGV with continuous tracks. Traversing a muddy trail might be much easier when its dry than when it has rained heavily. Additionally, the mission that the UGV is supposed to accomplish might put additional constraints on its movement.
Conventional approaches require taking different cases and factors into account when designing the motion planning system. An alternative approach is to utilize a large language models and reason about the situation of the vehicle and choose the path forward depending on its conclusions. The latter is an avenue that we would like to explore with this thesis.
The thesis work shall include a literature study on the subject and implementation of an LLM-based planning system. The system shall be evaluated quantitatively and qualitatively against publicly available datasets for autonomous off-road ground vehicles.
The thesis work will be carried out together with the Mission Autonomy group at Saab Dynamics, which works on agentic intelligence for future unmanned systems.
The project is suitable for 1 student. You are in the final stage of Engineering Physics, Computer Science, AI/ML or equivalent and are about to begin a 30 hp thesis project.
We provide the support and guidance you need to translate your theoretical knowledge into practical solutions. Join us and become a driving force behind Saab's technological advancements!
This position requires that you pass a security vetting based on the current regulations around/of security protection. For positions requiring security clearance additional obligations on citizenship may apply.
Kindly observe that this is an ongoing recruitment process and that the position might be filled before the closing date of the advertisement.
Contact information
Erik Söderberg, Manager
073-418 1786
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Job details are sourced from the employer's original posting.
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Saab Dynamics AB is a Swedish company that develops, manufactures, and markets advanced systems and products for the defense industry.