Smart Systems & Robotics
The SSR program builds robotic and automated systems, from permanent lab infrastructure to projects that exist because they're an engineering challenge.
- Program lead
- Rahul Mudaliar
- Program advisor
- Sri Shanka
- Hardware
- Seven KUKA arms, a Doosan cobot, OnRobot, Robotiq and Schmalz grippers
What we do
Automation rarely belongs to a single discipline, so the team works across industrial programming, mechanical design and controls engineering, and chooses projects that stretch all three: a fully automated robotic bartender, a real-time digital twin, a networked autonomous print farm, immersive projection mapping, and bringing our adorable penguin mascot Waddl to life with reinforcement learning and bipedal kinematics.
The work runs on genuine industrial hardware, and a seemingly infinite, borderline-concerning supply of stepper motors, ESPs and Raspberry Pis. SSR sits where creative exploration meets industrial rigour, equipping students to build real, deployable solutions.
Projects
WADDl.3
Monash Automation's bipedal robotic penguin, built to bring advanced robotics research to life.
Robot Bartender
An end-to-end autonomous bartender that prepares cocktails, mocktails and beer using a robot arm.
Digital Twin
A live digital twin of the Smart Manufacturing Lab, enabling smarter automation in line with Industry 4.0.
Light Track
Projects the planned paths of mobile robots onto the lab floor so their movement is visible to people nearby.
Continuous Print Matrix
An automated 3D printing farm where a KUKA arm delivers build plates to a removal station for autonomous clearing.