1. I am applying to the the [EPSRC Fellowship](https://www.ukri.org/apply-for-funding/before-you-apply/check-if-you-are-eligible-for-research-and-innovation-funding/eligibility-as-an-individual/), which has four focus areas: - A: Discovery science - B: Innovation - C: Instrument and technique development - D: Software engineering My work will straddle D and C. 2. The proposal is capped at 7 pages, including 1-page for a Gantt chart. 3. A blurb of my proposal for [[EPSRC 2023 Fellowship project partners]]: - Aerospace robotic systems, like rockets, exploit similar locomotion principles to aquatic organisms, like octopi. They combine self-propulsion via rapid mass variation with multi-body limbs that interact with the environment for locomotion and other tasks. - Fast long-range maneuvers are enabled using propulsive forces generated by rapid mass ejection e.g., jet propulsion. - Shorter-range but more precise motions are enabled using limbs- octopi use tentacles to swim and to generate contact forces for locomotion on the sea-bed; grid-fins on rockets permit stable flight whereas deployable legs enable safe landing on planetary surfaces. - In future, robotic arms attached to satellites are envisioned to physically interact with other agents to achieve sustainability goals by the assembly and maintenance of large space-based solar power systems in geostationary Earth orbit. - This proposal aims to develop new software-based simulation techniques to investigate the dynamics of the two multibody aerospace systems (rockets and space robots) as they make or break contact with the environment and/or multiple other agents. This lends to the project's acronym: MAMBAS (Multi-Agent Multi-Body Aerospace Systems). The techniques engineered in this proposal to simulate contact will be verified for accuracy against a relevant hardware test-bed for in-space assembly with manipulator systems. - %%Birds, crabs, and octopi are examples of natural systems exploiting both methodologies whereas airplanes, rockets and submarines are human-engineered exemplars of multibody propulsive robotic vehicles.%% - #todo From Dojo Section 2, you can add details on integrators used in learning-based robotics simulators. - #todo Due to difficulties in modelling contact, ground experiments are required to validate numerical models ref 11 in [Rybus paper](https://robotics.estec.esa.int/ASTRA/Astra2017/1.%20Wednesday%2021%20June/5B%20Orbital%20Robotics/S.B5_14.25_Oles.pdf). -