Robotics in action: CU Engineering demonstrates interdisciplinary research at showcase

Anonymous — Thu, 24 Oct 2024 21:33:11 +0000

Robotics in action: CU Engineering demonstrates interdisciplinary research at showcase Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 10/24/2024 - 15:33

Caroline Harrah

Standing-room-only event was part of CU Boulder’s annual Research & Innovation Week held Oct. 14-18

The College of Engineering & Applied Science welcomed a packed audience to its Robotics Showcase on Oct. 17. The standing-room-only event, part of CU Boulder’s annual Research & Innovation Week, drew students, faculty and robotics enthusiasts, including middle and high school students and the general public, eager to explore the latest advancements in research shaping the future of the field.

The event emphasized the interdisciplinary nature of CU’s robotics research, showcasing collaborations across electrical, computer and energy engineering; mechanical engineering; aerospace engineering sciences; and computer science to tackle complex societal challenges.

Attendees were treated to demonstrations of bio-inspired robots (Kaushik Jayaram and Nicole Xu), autonomous drone systems (Nisar Ahmed), robots with human-like dexterity (Nikolaus Correll), and robot skin technology (Alessandro Roncone), as well as Boston Dynamics’ Spot. The demos highlighted technologies poised to transform fields such as search and rescue, deep-sea exploration and industrial maintenance in challenging environments, while improving human-robot capabilities and interactions.

In addition to the research on display, CU Engineering introduced its new graduate degrees in robotics— two master’s programs (Master of Science in Robotics thesis option and Master of Science in Robotics nonthesis option) and a PhD in Robotics—launched in 2023. These programs offer students immersive, hands-on research opportunities that engage them with the technologies featured at the showcase, preparing them to lead in the evolving robotics landscape.

CU Engineering’s Research Support Office extends its thanks to all the participants who made the event a success. For more details, check out media coverage by the Boulder Daily Camera in the article “Take Humans Out of Dangerous Equations: CU Boulder Showcases its Progress in Robots” and Denver7’s “CU Boulder Hosts Robotics Showcase to Celebrate Research & Innovation Week,” which spotlight CU Boulder’s leadership in robotics research and innovation.

Showcase Highlights

The Robotics Showcase featured a range of innovative research that exemplifies CU Boulder’s interdisciplinary collaboration and commitment to addressing real-world problems. Highlights included:

Shape-Morphing Insect-Scale Robots
Kaushik Jayaram (ME, Robotics)
Hari Hari Prasad presented insect-scale robots capable of changing shape to adapt to their environment. These shape-shifting systems demonstrate agility and adaptability, essential for real-world applications in challenging environments.
Human-Centered Autonomy for Dynamic sUAS Target Search Operations
Nisar Ahmed (AERO, Robotics)
Hunter Ray demonstrated advances in autonomous drone systems that enhance collaboration with human operators. These drones are designed for search and rescue missions, leveraging real-time data from operators to improve decision-making.
Open World Manipulation
Nikolaus Correll (CS, Robotics)
William Xie demonstrated robots with human-like dexterity, integrating sensors, actuators, and communication capabilities into composite materials to create robots that mimic the functionality of muscles, skin, and bones.
Bioinspired and Biohybrid Robotics
Nicole Xu (ME, Robotics)
Yunxing Su demonstrated research on aquatic robots for environmental monitoring. These robots combine natural and engineered designs to create energy-efficient, maneuverable systems for tracking climate change.
Robot Skin and Dynamic Human-Robot Interaction
Alessandro Roncone (CS, Robotics)
Dusty Woods, Caleb Escobedo and Claire Lohrmann demonstrated robot skin technology that enhances human-robot interactions. These modular sensor units, placed on robot manipulators, enable robots to safely and intuitively respond to external contact.
NSF IUCRC Center for Aerial Autonomy, Mobility, and Sensing (CAAMS)
Zachary Sunberg (AERO, Robotics)
Sunberg’s lab demonstrated autonomous drones in wilderness search and rescue operations. By integrating human operators into the decision-making process, these drones improve the efficiency and safety of missions in remote environments.

CU Engineering welcomed a packed audience to its Robotics Showcase on Oct. 17. The event, part of CU Boulder’s annual Research & Innovation Week, drew students, faculty and robotics enthusiasts, including middle and high school students and the general public, eager to explore the latest advancements in research shaping the future of the field.

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Getting to Know Your Robot

Anonymous — Wed, 10 May 2017 06:00:00 +0000

Getting to Know Your Robot Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 05/10/2017 - 00:00

Computer scientist envisions a world where robots have that human touch

Just mention the words “drone” or “robot” and some will conjure unsettling visions of a future in which computers threaten to take over the world.

Dan Szafir, a professor in the Department of Computer Science and ATLAS Institute, envisions a day when robots can be found making beds at understaffed nursing homes, drones fly over fields providing precise measurements of crop yields, and flying automatons hover around the International Space Station, handling mundane chores so astronauts can tendto more important tasks.

Rather than seeing such intelligent machines as replacements for people (as is so often the fear), Szafir views them as integral collaborators, able to help DIY-ers with household projects.

“The ultimate goal is to design robots that can better support human activities—to improve usability, efficiency, and how much people enjoy interacting with them,” Szafir says.

With an undergraduate degree in history and a PhD in computer science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Szafir arrived at CU in 2015 with a reputation—at age 27—as a key player in the burgeoning multidisciplinary study of human-robot interaction.

“There are a lot of good technology people and a lot of good social scientists, but individuals who bridge the gap between the two are rare. Dan is one of them,” says Bilge Mutlu, an assistant professor at UW and Szafir’s mentor.

Remotely controlled robots have long been used in factories, bomb disposal and space-exploration. But as they transition to more complex, autonomous and intimate work alongside people—vacuuming homes like the iRobot Roomba, or assisting shoppers like Lowes’ new robotic greeters—it’s becoming critical that humans and robots understand each other better, Szafir says.

With funding from NASA, the National Science Foundation and Intel, Szafir has rolled out several new research initiatives.

One aims to improve robots’ ability to understand nonverbal cues, like eye gaze, hand gestures and changes in voice intonation. “As people, we are coded to use gestures. It’s something we do naturally, and we are very good at untangling what they mean,” Szafir says. Robots, not so much. For instance, he explains, if you’re working on a car with a friend, you might say, “Hey, can you grab that wrench?” while pointing or glancing at the toolbox across the room. If your co-worker were a robot, you’d have to say: “Next, I need the 7 mm wrench. It is on this particular table in this particular place. Go pick it up and put it in my hand.”

Szafir and his graduate students will first videotape teams of human volunteers building something in the lab, painstakingly documenting their verbal and nonverbal cues. Next, he hopes to develop probabilistic models (if a human gestures like X, there’s a 90 percent likelihood she means Y) that could someday be used to develop software for more intuitive robots.

He’s also exploring ways to design robots so humans can better predict their actions. “Right now, drones are loud, very robotic looking and hard to predict,” he says. “People find that unsettling.”

Szafir is also developing ways robots, drones and hand-held consumer devices can interact, sharing information gleaned from their myriad sensors to paint a fuller picture for a remote human user. Can’t make it to that football game? “We could potentially combine footage from drones overhead, ESPN, and pictures and videos from your friends’ cell phones to create a full, reconstructed 3D map of the environment and port it back to you at home using a virtual reality device. You’d get the sense that you were right there,” Szafir says.

Sound like science fiction? Maybe so. But Szafir, well aware that some are creeped out by his chosen field, believes the potential for good far outweighs the potential for harm.

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