1997 — 2000 |
Ostrowski, James |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Geometric Methods For Analyzing and Controlling Undulatory Locomotion Systems @ University of Pennsylvania
This research studies the geometric aspects of motion generation and control for a large class of locomotion systems involving cyclic internal shape changes (often called undulatory). Particular emphasis is placed on the geometry and dynamics of robotic swimming motions, with models derived from the basic locomotion mechanisms found in eels, fish, and paramecia. This requires investigating continuous (in terms of shape and actuation) dynamic systems and addressing the associated design and control theoretic challenges. Optimal control theory is also employed to study both the optimality of gaits found in biological systems and to design more efficient forms of aquatic robotic locomotion. Swimming robotic mechanisms offer many potential advantages over rotor-driven devices, including increased efficiency, flexibility, and agility, and can be used in underwater search and rescue to enter areas that are not easily accessible by traditional vehicles. In this work, theoretical results will be tightly coupled with experimental verification and the development of robotic systems. This research also builds a foundation for future work in areas such as dynamic analyses of biological gaits and group swimming patterns, underwater surveillance and detection, and micro- locomotion. A long-term goal of this research is to fabricate locomotion devices on the cellular biological scale using MEMS technology.
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0.915 |
1999 — 2003 |
Ostrowski, James |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Career: Hybrid Locomotion Systems For Varying Terrains and Environments @ University of Pennsylvania
This award addresses issues of hybrid robotic locomotion systems --- robotic systems that utilize multiple locomotion modalities in order to achieve greater mobility. Examples of these systems include the use of arms or legs by a wheeled robot to walk or climb stairs, or the use of a tail by a legge&robot to provide swimming thrust or bracing forces in underground tunnels or pipes. Such systems can provide robotic platforms capable of operating in multiple environments, such as underwater, in pipes, or overland. Central to this research is how to generate appropriate input patterns, or gaits, for hybrid robotic locomotion systems, and how to modify these gaits when moving between environments, such as land to water. Other issues include the development of measures of terrain difficulty and mobility for robotic systems. These would provide a characterization of the mobility of a given robot configuration in relation to the difficulty of the path it must follow through the environment. Issues of sensing, both of the environment and of contact forces acting on the robot, will be addressed. The use of modular components will also be emphasized, in order to provide basic modules, such as legs, tails, and wheels, that can be rapidly configured into a complete robotic system. Using modular components, the experimental side of this research will, focus on the development of three basic robotic platforms: a salamander, a wheel-legged system, and an eel robot. Each of these systems will potentially possess advanced locomotion and manipulation capabilities that greatly exceed those found in existing robotic systems.
The education plan includes building visualization tools and graphics animation to help graduate students understanding difficult concepts by illustration. A website will be established for sharing such tools with educators around the world. At the undergraduate level, research will be integrated into education through senior design projects and the newly formed Penn Robotics Club. At the middle and high school level, an existing robotics mentoring program will be strengthened by introducing an internet-based mobile robot, with associated short-course modules.
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0.915 |
2000 — 2004 |
Kumar, R. Vijay Ostrowski, James Taylor, Camillo (co-PI) [⬀] |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Customized Interfaces For Assistive Technology @ University of Pennsylvania
This project seeks to develop a novel class of computer interfaces centered on a vision-based interaction paradigm, and human augmentation using a range of panoramic sensors and intelligent controllers to provide assistive technology to disabled users. The goal of such interfaces is to enable people with physical disabilities such as impaired limbs, paralysis, or tremors to overcome difficulties associated with accessing computers and products with embedded computers such as wheelchairs, household and office electronic equipment, and robotic aids with traditional input devices. The goal is to create the framework, architecture, scientific algorithms, and augmentative hardware and software to facilitate (a) interaction; (b) control and tasking; and (c) programming of computers and computer-controlled smart devices. There are two main sets of research problems that need to be solved: (a) the development of novel, flexible, portable, adaptable interfaces that allow users with physical disabilities to interact with computers and computer controlled devices by touching and feeling; and (b) human augmentation via a combination of inexpensive sensors and controllers, along with a set of algorithms and software for computer mediated control. This research will result in the next generation of interfaces for users to interact with computers and robot assistants, and more generally, devices with embedded controllers. Although the immediate goal is to develop the basic framework, methods, and algorithms using the smart wheelchair as a test product, the basic ideas will be applicable to a wider range of products.
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0.915 |
2000 — 2003 |
Massey, Christine [⬀] Ostrowski, James Weaver, Gerald Amos, Thomasennia |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Pge/Lcp : Agents For Change: Robotics For Girls @ University of Pennsylvania
This 3-year project involves a collaboration among the Institute for Research in Cognitive Science, including the GRASP robotics lab, at the University of Pennsylvania and two Clusters in the School District of Philadelphia. In response to current statistics documenting the extreme underrepresentation of girls and women in physical science and technology fields, the Agents for Change: Robotics for Girls Project undertakes to develop school-based and informal education projects and curriculum materials for middle school students designed to increase girls' participation rates, achievement, and motivation in these domains. Robotics is the organizing theme that provides a progressive sequence of hands-on learning experiences; has interesting and comprehensible applications; and integrates multiple areas of science, math, and technology in a seamless fashion. Project activities will a) emphasize connections to role models and mentors, b) provide extensive professional development for teachers and support staff to create equitable learning environments for underrepresented students, and c) involve families and community organizations in a support system helping girls to pursue education and careers related to science, mathematics, engineering, and technology. The project will also be used as a research site to study current questions in gender and education with a large, multicultural pool of participants.
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0.915 |
2002 — 2006 |
Kumar, R. Vijay Ostrowski, James |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Near: Network of Autonomous Robots @ University of Pennsylvania
The proposed project addresses the development of a NEtwork ofAutonomous Robots (NEAR) with sensors and wireless network cardswith the goal of developing a distributed implementation of arobotic assistant. The key applications of NEARinclude: (a) transportation and retrieval of objects in asemi-structured environment; (b) organization and reconfiguration ofsensors for observations in dynamically changing environments; and (c) coordinated motion of multiple vehicles for cooperative manipulationor for efficient group locomotion. The NEAR robot network isalways "near" the human user, interacting with the user, andaugmenting her skills, providing a natural synergism.Our focus in this project is to leverage advances in automation andaugmentation and steer them in the direction of autonomy for servicerobotics. We will develop a network of simple mobile robots serving ahuman being. Each robot has some basic sensing capability (vision inour case) and the ability to communicate with other mobilerobots. Robots can be programmed to exhibit simple behaviors:controllers and estimators and policies that couplessensing/perception at a very low level. The ability to use multiplerobots enables autonomy without increasing the complexity ofindividual robot behaviors but by instead exploiting the distributedexecution of these behaviors in a network. Since the human isexplicitly involved in programming and commanding the robots, it ispossible to exploit this natural synergy by allowing humans toinfluence the assembly of the behaviors and the organization of theteam in a top-down fashion.
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0.915 |
2002 — 2005 |
Dorny, C. Nelson (co-PI) [⬀] Kumar, R. Vijay Ostrowski, James Taylor, Camillo (co-PI) [⬀] Pappas, George (co-PI) [⬀] Pappas, George (co-PI) [⬀] |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Robotics Laboratory and Curriculum Development @ University of Pennsylvania
Engineering - Mechanical (56)
The project is modeled on successful existing implementations of undergraduate robotics efforts at MIT and Swarthmore, but with a specific emphasis on the freshman and sophomore experience. The investigators are purchasing equipment to develop and implement the Laboratory for Undergraduate Robotics Education (LURE), permitting them to develop new, technologically advanced laboratory space for undergraduate education. The laboratory allows them to change to a mode of teaching that provides analysis, design, and manufacturing skills in a robotics setting. The equipment requested also permits them to inject engineering content with a hands-on laboratory component into the curriculum at an early stage (freshman year). This provides some perspective and motivation to beginning students, who currently receive the impression that engineering consists only of theoretical physics and mathematics. In the evaluation study, they are investigating how the differences in background preparation and training of incoming students affect development for high-tech courses related to robotics. They are developing and disseminating robotic-related curricular materials for use both in interdisciplinary college-level education, as well as K-12 outreach programs.
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0.915 |