JHU MechE Lecutre: Flying Robots: Beyond UAV's
MechE's 33rd Annual Alexander Graham Christie Lecture
Wednesday, April 13, 2016
12:00PM – 1:00PM,Johns Hopkins University - B17 Hackerman Hall
*Reception to be held directly afterwards outside lecture hall“Flying Robots: Beyond UAVs”
Presented by Professor Vijay Kumar
Nemirovsky Family Dean, University of Pennsylvania
Flying robots can operate in three-dimensional, indoor and outdoor environments. However, many challenges arise as we scale down the size of the robot, which is necessary for operating in cluttered environments. I will describe recent work in developing small, autonomous robots, and the design and algorithmic challenges in the areas of (a) control and planning, (b) state estimation and mapping, and (c) coordinating large teams of robots. I will also discuss applications to search and rescue, first response and precision farming. Publications and videos are available atkumarrobotics.org.
DR. VIJAY KUMAR is the Nemirovsky Family Dean of Penn Engineering with appointments in the Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, Computer and Information Science, and Electrical and Systems Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Kumar received his Bachelor of Technology degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur and his Ph.D. from The Ohio State University in 1987. He has been on the Faculty in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics with a secondary appointment in the Department of Computer and Information Science at the University of Pennsylvania since 1987.
Dr. Kumar served as the Deputy Dean for Research in the School of Engineering and Applied Science from 2000-2004. He directed theGRASP Laboratory, a multidisciplinary robotics and perception laboratory, from 1998-2004. He was the Chairman of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics from 2005-2008. He served as the Deputy Dean for Education in theSchool of Engineering and Applied Science from 2008-2012. He then served as the assistant director of robotics and cyber physical systems at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (2012 – 2013).
Dr. Kumar is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (2003), a Fellow of the Institution of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (2005) and a member of the National Academy of Engineering (2013). Dr. Kumar’s research interests are in robotics, specifically multi-robot systems, and micro aerial vehicles. He has served on the editorial boards of the IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation, IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering, ASME Journal of Mechanical Design, the ASME Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics and the Springer Tract in Advanced Robotics (STAR).