Researcher
Robotics & Autonomous Systems,
Royal Military Academy
Address
Avenue De La Renaissance 30, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
Contact Information
Call: –
Email: Emile.LeFlecher@mil.be
Emile is a robotic researcher at the Robotics & Autonomous Systems unit of the Department of Mechanics of the Belgian Royal Military Academy. His research focuses on developing solutions for heterogeneous robot fleet management in tough environments.
He received his Master's Degree in Robotics and Control Theory in 2016 from the Université Toulouse III, Paul Sabatier. Then he received his Doctoral Diploma in Robotics in 2020 from the Université Toulouse III, Paul Sabatier, and the LAAS-CNRS laboratory with a thesis “Motion coordination of a bi-arms mobile robot to perform complex tasks of navigation a manipulation in strong dynamic environments".
During his thesis, Emile worked in close collaboration with the agricultural robotics and sensor department of the University of California, Davis (USA) in which he had conducted one year of his researches; and the mechanical department of the Federal University of Pernambuco (Brazil). Afterwards, Emile had participated as researcher in a project with the LAAS-CNRS and Naio technologies company about the improvement of autonomous navigation in agricultural field.
In 2020, Emile joined the Belgian Royal Military Academy to participate in the iMUGS project that aims to develop and deploy a modular, standardized, and open system architecture for manned-unmanned team of robots to support armed forces on the field.
Publications
2024
- A. M. Casado Fauli, M. Malizia, K. Hasselmann, E. Le Flécher, G. De Cubber, and B. Lauwens, “HADRON: Human-friendly Control and Artificial Intelligence for Military Drone Operations," in In Proceedings 33rd IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication, IEEE RO-MAN 2024, 2024.
[BibTeX] [Download PDF]@inproceedings{fauli2024hadronhumanfriendlycontrolartificial, title={HADRON: Human-friendly Control and Artificial Intelligence for Military Drone Operations}, author={Casado Fauli, Ana Maria and Malizia, Mario and Hasselmann, Ken and Le Flécher, Emile and De Cubber, Geert and Lauwens, Ben}, year={2024}, booktitle={In Proceedings 33rd IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication, IEEE RO-MAN 2024}, publisher = {IEEE}, location = {Pasadena, USA}, unit= {meca-ras}, project= {HADRON}, eprint={2408.07063}, archivePrefix={arXiv}, primaryClass={cs.RO}, url={https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.07063}, } - M. Malizia, A. M. Casado Fauli, K. Hasselmann, E. Le Flécher, G. De Cubber, and R. Haelterman, “Assisted Explosive Ordnance Disposal: Teleoperated Robotic Systems with AI, Virtual Reality, and Semi-Autonomous Manipulation for Safer Demining Operations," in 20th International Symposium Mine Action, 2024, pp. 52-55.
[BibTeX] [Download PDF]@inproceedings{maliziamineact2024, title={Assisted Explosive Ordnance Disposal: Teleoperated Robotic Systems with AI, Virtual Reality, and Semi-Autonomous Manipulation for Safer Demining Operations}, author={Malizia, Mario and Casado Fauli, Ana Maria and Hasselmann, Ken and Le Flécher, Emile and De Cubber, Geert and Haelterman, Rob}, booktitle={20th International Symposium Mine Action}, publisher = {CTRO-HR}, year = {2024}, location = {Cavtat, Croatia}, unit= {meca-ras}, url={https://www.ctro.hr/userfiles/files/MINE%20ACTION_2024_ONLIINE.pdf}, pages={52-55}, project= {BELGIAN} }
2023
- G. De Cubber, E. Le Flécher, A. La Grappe, E. Ghisoni, E. Maroulis, P. Ouendo, D. Hawari, and D. Doroftei, “Dual Use Security Robotics: A Demining, Resupply and Reconnaissance Use Case," in IEEE International Conference on Safety, Security, and Rescue Robotics, 2023.
[BibTeX] [Download PDF]@inproceedings{ssrr2023decubber, title={Dual Use Security Robotics: A Demining, Resupply and Reconnaissance Use Case}, author={De Cubber, Geert and Le Flécher, Emile and La Grappe, Alexandre and Ghisoni, Enzo and Maroulis, Emmanouil and Ouendo, Pierre-Edouard and Hawari, Danial and Doroftei, Daniela}, booktitle={IEEE International Conference on Safety, Security, and Rescue Robotics}, editors ={Kimura, Tetsuya}, publisher = {IEEE}, year = {2023}, vol = {1}, project = {AIDED, iMUGs, CUGS}, location = {Fukushima, Japan}, unit= {meca-ras}, doi = {}, url={https://mecatron.rma.ac.be/pub/2023/SSRR2023-DeCubber.pdf} } - G. De Cubber, E. Le Flécher, A. Dominicus, and D. Doroftei, “Human-agent teaming between soldiers and unmanned ground systems in a resupply scenario," in Human Factors in Robots, Drones and Unmanned Systems. AHFE (2023) International Conference., 2023.
[BibTeX] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [DOI]
Thanks to advances in embedded computing and robotics, intelligent Unmanned Ground Systems (UGS) are used more and more in our daily lives. Also in the military domain, the use of UGS is highly investigated for applications like force protection of military installations, surveillance, target acquisition, reconnaissance, handling of chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear (CBRN) threats, explosive ordnance disposal, etc. A pivotal research aspect for the integration of these military UGS in the standard operating procedures is the question of how to achieve a seamless collaboration between human and robotic agents in such high-stress and non-structured environments. Indeed, in these kind of operations, it is critical that the human-agent mutual understanding is flawless; hence, the focus on human factors and ergonomic design of the control interfaces.The objective of this paper is to focus on one key military application of UGS, more specifically logistics, and elaborate how efficient human-machine teaming can be achieved in such a scenario. While getting much less attention than other application areas, the domain of logistics is in fact one of the most important for any military operation, as it is an application area that is very well suited for robotic systems. Indeed, military troops are very often burdened by having to haul heavy gear across large distances, which is a problem UGS can solve.The significance of this paper is that it is based on more than two years of field research work on human + multi-agent UGS collaboration in realistic military operating conditions, performed within the scope of the European project iMUGS. In the framework of this project, not less than six large-scale field trial campaigns were organized across Europe. In each field trial campaign, soldiers and UGS had to work together to achieve a set of high-level mission goals that were distributed among them via a planning & scheduling mechanism. This paper will focus on the outcomes of the Belgian field trial, which concentrated on a resupply logistics mission.Within this paper, a description of the iMUGS test setup and operational scenarios is provided. The ergonomic design of the tactical planning system is elaborated, together with the high-level swarming and task scheduling methods that divide the work between robotic and human agents in the fieldThe resupply mission, as described in this paper, was executed in summer 2022 in Belgium by a mixed team of soldiers and UGS for an audience of around 200 people from defence actors from European member states. The results of this field trial were evaluated as highly positive, as all high-level requirements were obtained by the robotic fleet.
@inproceedings{ahfe20203decubber, title={Human-agent teaming between soldiers and unmanned ground systems in a resupply scenario}, author={De Cubber, G. and Le Flécher, E. and Dominicus, A. and Doroftei, D.}, booktitle={Human Factors in Robots, Drones and Unmanned Systems. AHFE (2023) International Conference.}, editors ={Tareq Ahram and Waldemar Karwowski}, publisher = {AHFE Open Access, AHFE International, USA}, year = {2023}, vol = {93}, project = {iMUGs}, location = {San Francisco, USA}, unit= {meca-ras}, doi = {http://doi.org/10.54941/ahfe1003746}, url={https://openaccess.cms-conferences.org/publications/book/978-1-958651-69-8/article/978-1-958651-69-8_5}, abstract = {Thanks to advances in embedded computing and robotics, intelligent Unmanned Ground Systems (UGS) are used more and more in our daily lives. Also in the military domain, the use of UGS is highly investigated for applications like force protection of military installations, surveillance, target acquisition, reconnaissance, handling of chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear (CBRN) threats, explosive ordnance disposal, etc. A pivotal research aspect for the integration of these military UGS in the standard operating procedures is the question of how to achieve a seamless collaboration between human and robotic agents in such high-stress and non-structured environments. Indeed, in these kind of operations, it is critical that the human-agent mutual understanding is flawless; hence, the focus on human factors and ergonomic design of the control interfaces.The objective of this paper is to focus on one key military application of UGS, more specifically logistics, and elaborate how efficient human-machine teaming can be achieved in such a scenario. While getting much less attention than other application areas, the domain of logistics is in fact one of the most important for any military operation, as it is an application area that is very well suited for robotic systems. Indeed, military troops are very often burdened by having to haul heavy gear across large distances, which is a problem UGS can solve.The significance of this paper is that it is based on more than two years of field research work on human + multi-agent UGS collaboration in realistic military operating conditions, performed within the scope of the European project iMUGS. In the framework of this project, not less than six large-scale field trial campaigns were organized across Europe. In each field trial campaign, soldiers and UGS had to work together to achieve a set of high-level mission goals that were distributed among them via a planning & scheduling mechanism. This paper will focus on the outcomes of the Belgian field trial, which concentrated on a resupply logistics mission.Within this paper, a description of the iMUGS test setup and operational scenarios is provided. The ergonomic design of the tactical planning system is elaborated, together with the high-level swarming and task scheduling methods that divide the work between robotic and human agents in the fieldThe resupply mission, as described in this paper, was executed in summer 2022 in Belgium by a mixed team of soldiers and UGS for an audience of around 200 people from defence actors from European member states. The results of this field trial were evaluated as highly positive, as all high-level requirements were obtained by the robotic fleet.} }
2022
- E. Le Flécher, A. La Grappe, and G. De Cubber, “iMUGS – A ground multi-robot architecture for military Manned-Unmanned Teaming," in 2022 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), IEEE, 2022.
[BibTeX]@inbook{imugs_le_flecher_la_grappe_de_cubber, place={Kyoto}, title={iMUGS - A ground multi-robot architecture for military Manned-Unmanned Teaming}, booktitle={2022 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)}, publisher={IEEE}, year={2022}, author={Le Flécher, Emile and La Grappe, Alexandre and De Cubber, Geert}, project = {iMUGs}, unit= {meca-ras} }
2020
- E. Le Flécher, “Coordination des mouvements d’un système mobile bi-bras pour la réalisation de tâches complexes de navigation et de manipulation dans un environnement fortement dynamique," PhD Thesis, 2020.
[BibTeX]@phdthesis{These_2020, place={Toulouse, FR}, title={Coordination des mouvements d’un système mobile bi-bras pour la réalisation de tâches complexes de navigation et de manipulation dans un environnement fortement dynamique}, school={Université Toulouse 3 Paul Sabatier}, author={Le Flécher, Emile}, year={2020}, month={Feb} } - E. Le Flécher, A. Durand-Petiteville, V. Cadenat, and T. Sentenac, “Simultaneous Control of Two Robotics Arms Sharing Workspace via Visual Predictive Control," in INFORMATICS IN CONTROL, AUTOMATION AND ROBOTICS 16th international., SPRINGER, 2020, p. 79–98.
[BibTeX]@inbook{Book_2020, place={S.l.}, title={Simultaneous Control of Two Robotics Arms Sharing Workspace via Visual Predictive Control}, ISBN={978-3-030-63193-2}, booktitle={INFORMATICS IN CONTROL, AUTOMATION AND ROBOTICS 16th international.}, publisher={SPRINGER}, author={Le Flécher, Emile and Durand-Petiteville, Adrien and Cadenat, Viviane and Sentenac, Thierry}, year={2020}, pages={79--98} }
2019
- D. Leca, V. Cadenat, T. Sentenac, A. Durand-Petiteville, F. Gouaisbaut, and L. E. Flécher, “Sensor-based Obstacles Avoidance Using Spiral Controllers For an Aircraft Maintenance Inspection Robot," in Proceeding of European Control Conference, 2019, p. 7.
[BibTeX]@inproceedings{ECC_2019, place={Naples, Italy}, title={Sensor-based Obstacles Avoidance Using Spiral Controllers For an Aircraft Maintenance Inspection Robot}, booktitle={Proceeding of European Control Conference}, author={D Leca and V Cadenat and T Sentenac and A Durand-Petiteville and F Gouaisbaut and E Le Flécher}, year={2019}, pages={7} } - E. Flécher, A. Durand-Petiteville, G. F., V. Cadenat, S. Vougioukas, and S. T., “Nonlinear Output Feedback for Autonomous U-turn Maneuvers of a Robot in Orchard Headlands:," in Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Informatics in Control, Automation and Robotics, 2019, p. 355–362.
[BibTeX] [DOI]@inproceedings{ICINCO_2019_1, place={Prague, Czech Republic}, title={Nonlinear Output Feedback for Autonomous U-turn Maneuvers of a Robot in Orchard Headlands:}, ISBN={978-989-758-380-3}, DOI={10.5220/0007918803550362}, booktitle={Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Informatics in Control, Automation and Robotics}, publisher={SCITEPRESS - Science and Technology Publications}, author={E. Flécher and A. Durand-Petiteville and Gouaisbaut F. and V. Cadenat and S. Vougioukas and Sentenac T.}, year={2019}, pages={355--362} } - E. Flécher, A. Durand-Petiteville, V. Cadenat, and T. Sentenac, “Visual Predictive Control of Robotic Arms with Overlapping Workspace," in Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Informatics in Control, Automation and Robotics, 2019, p. 130–137.
[BibTeX] [DOI]@inproceedings{ICINCO_2019_2, place={Prague, Czech Republic}, title={Visual Predictive Control of Robotic Arms with Overlapping Workspace}, ISBN={978-989-758-380-3}, DOI={10.5220/0008119001300137}, booktitle={Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Informatics in Control, Automation and Robotics}, publisher={SCITEPRESS - Science and Technology Publications}, author={E. Flécher and A. Durand-Petiteville and V. Cadenat and T. Sentenac}, year={2019}, pages={130--137} }
2018
- A. Durand-Petiteville, L. E. Flécher, V. Cadenat, T. Sentenac, and S. Vougioukas, “Tree detection with low-cost 3D sensors for autonomous navigation in orchards," Robotics and Autonomous Letters, p. 8, 2018.
[BibTeX]@article{RAL_2018, title={Tree detection with low-cost 3D sensors for autonomous navigation in orchards}, journal={Robotics and Autonomous Letters}, author={A Durand-Petiteville and E Le Flécher and V Cadenat and T Sentenac and S Vougioukas}, year={2018}, pages={8} }
2017
- E. Le Flécher, A. Durand-Petiteville, V. Cadenat, T. Sentenac, and S. Vougioukas, “Implementation on a harvesting robot of a sensor-based controller performing a u-turn," in Proceedings of IEEE International Workshop of Electronics, Control, Measurement, Signals and their application to Mechatronics, 2017, p. 1–6.
[BibTeX] [DOI]@inproceedings{ECMSM_2017, title={Implementation on a harvesting robot of a sensor-based controller performing a u-turn}, ISBN={978-1-5090-5582-1}, DOI={10.1109/ECMSM.2017.7945895}, booktitle={Proceedings of IEEE International Workshop of Electronics, Control, Measurement, Signals and their application to Mechatronics}, publisher={IEEE}, author={Le Flécher, E. and A. Durand-Petiteville and V. Cadenat and T. Sentenac and S. Vougioukas}, year={2017}, month={May}, pages={1--6} } - A. Durand-Petiteville, L. E. Flécher, V. Cadenat, T. Sentenac, and S. Vougioukas, “Design of a Sensor-based Controller Performing U-turn to Navigate in Orchards," in ICINCO, 2017, p. 172–181.
[BibTeX] [DOI]@inproceedings{ICINCO_2017, title={Design of a Sensor-based Controller Performing U-turn to Navigate in Orchards}, ISBN={978-989-758-263-9}, DOI={10.5220/0006478601720181}, booktitle={ICINCO}, publisher={SCITEPRESS - Science and Technology Publications}, author={A. Durand-Petiteville and E. Le Flécher and V. Cadenat and T. Sentenac and S. Vougioukas}, year={2017}, pages={172--181} }