Collaborative Mechatronics Laboratory

Mechatronics is the combination of mechanics, electronics, and computation to achieve sophisticated – often intelligent – behavior of embedded systems for the benefit of humans. Robots are a prime example of mechatronic systems as they embody perception, cognition, and manipulation. The Advanced Mechatronics Lab addresses many fundamental research issues in mechatronics as well as several high-visibility application areas. One application area is search and rescue robotics. We study advanced locomotion, sensing and active sensing strategies, and in-situ self-adaptation. Autonomic computing is an offshoot of our work in self-adaptation. Another application area is robotic assistance for the elderly and handicapped. Our primary avenue of research in this area is Gesture-Based Programming, which allows humans to program robots by showing them what to do. Related to both these areas is our work in heterogeneous wireless sensor networks. Robots and vision systems must be networked to act in teams. Finally, we investigate force-based microassembly in the sub-micron domain.