Lachlan Viney

PhD Candidate · RMIT University · company speakers →

<p>Lachlan Viney is a PhD Candidate at RMIT University, supported by the CSIRO Next-Gen Graduates Program, working in the area of autonomous systems. His doctoral research addresses the problem of safe, autonomous surfacing for AUVs operating in GPS-denied environments alongside active maritime traffic.<br /> His work focuses on three interconnected challenges: formulating safe-to-surface planning as a kinodynamic problem so that surfacing manoeuvres remain executable under real AUV motion and actuator constraints; incorporating ocean currents and sea state not merely as risk penalties but as physical constraints on both trajectory execution and surface operability; and propagating navigation, control, and environmental uncertainty through the full surfacing manoeuvre to enable robust surfacing decisions. Together, these contributions aim to move AUV surfacing from static risk selection toward closed-loop, uncertainty-aware autonomy.<br /> Lachlan holds a dual degree in Mechatronic Engineering and International Business, and brings industry experience from a 12-month engineering internship at Johnson Electric in Aachen, Germany. He is driven by the challenge of building autonomous systems that are not just theoretically optimal, but physically executable and safe in the real ocean.</p>

Is this you? Claim this profile →