Developing Robotics with Security in Mind

Robotic systems are becoming increasingly prevalent in various industries, from manufacturing to healthcare. As these systems become more complex and interconnected, ensuring their security is paramount. During my time at the University of Strathclyde, I managed to get an internship with the Computer Science department and the Carnegie Trust.

The Carnegie Trust is a small independent foundation that provides research grants to both postgraduate and undergraduate students to pursue independent research. They awarded me a Vacation Scholarship that allowed me to research network security of different robotic systems. I then went on to present to both the university Interns and the Carnegie Scholars. Throughout this scholarship, I developed and analysed networked robotic systems. Then using traffic analysis, I found recurring patterns that leaked vital information about the system’s current and earlier operations.

During this internship, I worked with various robotic platforms, including drones and ground robots, to assess their network security vulnerabilities. I utilized tools such as Wireshark for traffic analysis and developed custom scripts in Python to automate the detection of potential security flaws. My research focused on identifying patterns in network traffic that could reveal what the robot was doing, such as its movements, tasks, and interactions with other devices.

Research Proposal

The proposal I submitted for this internship can be found below:

Presentation

The presentation I delivered at the end of the internship can be found below:

• MCU
• Robotics
• Python
• C/C++
• Java