8 minute read
Empowering Robots
Improving robot intelligence and autonomy, especially multi-agent systems ranging from small teams of robots to large numbers of simple agents.
MArkerS And MileStoneS
1995 Learning Agents Center established
2001 Applied Robotics Club is founded
2014 Volgenau School of Engineering hosts DC regional FIRST Robotics
Meet Minibot:
Te Little Robot Tat Can
When disaster strikes or dangerous work needs doing, humans look to robots for help. That’s why undergraduate engineering students at the Volgenau School of Engineering are building robotic systems of the future today.
Consider the cleanup after a meltdown of three Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactors in Japan in 2011, which seemed like a perfect task for robots to prove themselves. But many challenges made the chore too difcult. The robots used at the site couldn’t climb stairs or ladders, navigate the debris-ridden areas, or pick up tools. And the robot operators were specialists in nuclear cleanup, not robotics, so by the time they learned how to control the robot helpers, much of the damage was done.
A system like the award-winning senior design project Apparatus for Remote Control of Humanoid Robots (ARCHR) and its little robot “Minibot,” could make a big diference. Minibot, a pint-size humanoid robot, weighs less than fve pounds and can be controlled and
Minibot, a custom designed and 3-D printed robot, was created as a part of a Volgenau senior design project. (Courtesy photo)
manipulated with virtual reality gear by amateur users who have little or no training.
Standing 18 inches tall, Minibot’s proportions mimic those of an average human. The robot moves on six wheels for stability and its arms end in claw-like pinchers that allow it to pick up and hold objects. The real innovation, however, comes with the user interface. Because Minibot is kinematically scaled and includes haptic feedback, the operator feels and sees what the robot feels and sees.
“We chose this design for its agility and fexibility,” says Martyna Bula, one of the members of the senior design team. “We used AutoCAD for the design, did the code in open source so anyone can use it, and printed the parts with a 3-D printer.”
—Mannan Javid, BS Electrical and Computer Engineering ’15
The students admit that they didn’t really know much about 3-D printing when they started, so there was a bit of a learning curve. It takes a long time to print parts—in fact, the robot’s tiny head took 18 hours.
After building the prototype, the students put the system through its paces with untrained users, such as middle school students, Mason undergraduates, and faculty members.
“We had the most fun when we took the system to the Johnson Center during lunch time and asked people to try it out. People were very curious and eager to test their skills,” says Bula. The students discovered that even people without previous experience could learn to use it quickly.
What’s next for Minibot? Daniel Lofaro, associate professor and the team’s advisor, has submitted a grant to the National Science Foundation that proposes using the little robot and its system in Ebola-ridden Africa, where it can perform tasks for longer periods of time than hazmat-suited humans.
“I’m impressed with what these students were able to do with the design, building, and testing of the robot,” says Lofaro. “Next year’s seniors already have plans to take the design and modify it by making it smaller.”
The “Minibot” design team members with their adviser: Martyna Bula, Patrick Early, Mason professor Daniel Lofaro, Mannan Javid, and Eric Eide. (Courtesy photo)
Students and Alums Readied Robots to Rumble at Competition
Robots brought Jacob Cohen's future to life and he's returning the favor.
The George Mason University alumnus returned to the Patriot Center, now EagleBank Arena, this spring to mentor students from his former high school in Haymarket, Virginia. Their six-foot-tall robot competed in the FIRST Robotics DC regional competition March 27–28.
"I was Mr. Fix-It in my family from age 6," says Cohen, who earned his computer engineering degree from George Mason last year. "I didn't know what computer engineering was until I joined the ILITE Robotics team at Battlefeld High School. It just clicked. Plus, robots are also a ton of fun."
A FIRST Robotics competition is no quiet afair. A thumping soundtrack, cheering fans, and center ring competition make it feel like a professional wrestling event. The robots break down and teams fx them at furious speeds.
The ILITE Robotics team won the Chairman's Award at the event. FIRST's most prestigious award, it goes to the team that, in the judges' estimation, best represents a model for other teams to emulate, embodying the goals and mission of FIRST.
There are enough FIRST Robotics alums at Mason that freshman Katie Barthelson started the FIRST Alumni and STEM Club in the fall. The Mason student, who is also an alumna of Battlefeld High School and the ILITE Robotics club, has two siblings earning their degrees at Mason. And since this year's competition theme is recycling, competitors donated their scrap metal at the Patriot Center. Barthelson, who's studying systems engineering at the Volgenau School of Engineering, hauled the scrap to the recycling center.
"They say ‘measure twice and cut once,' but sometimes you can't always cut perfectly," she jokes.
The engineering school's growing robotics expertise is catching on. Engineering students used Mason's 3-D printer to create some specialized parts for the ILITE Robotics robot.
Roughly 600 students have been a part of the ILITE team––many of them have gone to Mason and all have gone on to college, says Gail Drake, ILITE coach and a professor at Northern Virginia Community College. The NOVA-Mason connection is appealing to students, especially those who want to earn their master's degrees, she says.
College students continue to beneft from the robotics team as volunteers and mentors, says Lakshmi Meyyappan, who's now working on her master's degree in computer engineering after graduating last year. Both Meyyappan and Cohen work as consultants for the software company Macedon Technologies, a team sponsor.
"The reason I stick around the organization is, it's more than just robots," says Meyyappan, whose sister is also a Mason graduate student. "Students get life skills. They're taught organization and how to present a plan. If you can't program, it's not the end."
Cohen adds, "It's very similar to real life—you have a deadline and you'd better hit it. We've pulled all-nighters.”
And mentoring grade school to high school students has helped the college students through challenging engineering classes at Mason.
"There are points in engineering when it's difcult and I wish I had taken an easier major," Meyyappan says. "What I'm passionate about is getting kids into STEM. The STEM felds are the future."
Seeing the younger students having that "light bulb" moment is amazing, Meyyappan says. One gradeschool student kept herself in the background until Meyyappan stepped in to give her some guidance.
"A few weeks in, she said ‘I can do this!' and then she started helping someone else," Meyyappan says. "She owned it."
And the younger students can see the possibilities of where robotics can take them.
"I'm these kids in four years," Cohen says. "It gives them a glimpse of a closer future."
A version of this story by Michele McDonald appeared in Mason News.
Lakshmi Meyyappan, computer engineering graduate student
— LAKSHMI MEYYAPPAN
Around the Corner or in the Home:
Improving Robot Navigation and Localization
Imagine being dropped of in a new city without a map or your GPS and think about how you would move around and not get lost. Most people would try to recognize landmarks and keep track of their turns and motions, so they could eventually reach their destination or retrace their steps. Now, imagine doing this with your eyes closed. That's what it feels like to be a robot without "eyesight."
The problem of navigation and localization is one of the main challenges robots or autonomous cars must solve very accurately. Computer science professor Jana Košecká is conducting research that seeks to open the "eyes" of robots, allowing them to perceive the visual world. A person who is blind can learn and adapt because of the human brain, but it is much harder for a robot that is limited by its computer programming. The challenge for computer scientists is to build a sufciently robust robot "brain" that can interpret what its cameras and sensors detect. "A really good example of computer vision at work is a robotic ofce or home assistant doing various fetch-and-delivery tasks such as navigating a room and trying to fnd keys, a phone, or a stapler," says Košecká. "In addition to knowing its way around, the robot assistant must be able to detect and recognize objects in a large amount of clutter. Computer vision makes all this happen."
The use of visual information, however, goes beyond the navigation, recognition, or scene-understanding tasks, which are the main problems that Košecká's group is focusing on. Developing computer programs for interpreting the visual world that surrounds us can beneft the visually impaired, enhance manufacturing and service robotics in households and health care environments, expand robot use in search-and-rescue missions, and enable drones to deliver packages.
"In recent years, our feld made some great strides. Some pieces of the puzzle are coming together," says Košecká. "Yet large portions remain unsolved. While we are still far away from having systems that can describe in words something as complex as Monet's paintings, the number of specialized applications that rely on interpreting visual information in restricted domains is growing faster than ever."
The natural environment is notoriously unpredictable and changing, so agents [robots] that can navigate around buildings or through landscapes in place of humans have valuable practical applications. Košecká says she fnds the problems in her feld contagiously interesting. She says, "I enjoy teaching students about computer vision, robotics, and artifcial intelligence, and sharing a laboratory with many cool robots."
A version of this story by Martha Bushong originally appeared on the Volgenau School website.
