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GRASP Seminar Series: Fall 2006
September 29, 11:00 a.m., Wu & Chen Auditorium
Daniela
Rus
MIT
Abstract:We
wish to create versatile robots by using self-reconfiguration: hundreds
of small modules autonomously
organize and reorganize as geometric structures to best fit the terrain
on which the robot has to move, the shape of the object the
robot has to manipulate, or the sensing needs for the given task.
Self-reconfiguration allows large collections of small robots to
actively organize as the most optimal geometric structure to perform
useful coordinated work.
A self-reconfiguring robot consists of a set of identical modules that
can dynamically and autonomously reconfigure in a variety of shapes,
to best fit the terrain, environment, and task. Self-reconfiguration
leads to versatile robots that can support multiple modalities of
locomotion and manipulation. Self-reconfiguring robots constitute
large scale distributed systems. Because the modules change their
location continuously they also constitute ad-hoc networks.
This talk will discuss the challenges and successes of creating
self-reconfiguring robots, ranging from designing hardware capable
of self-reconfiguration to developing distributed controllers
and planners for such systems that are scalable, adaptive, and
support real-time behavior.
Biography:Daniela
Rus is an associate professor in the EECS
Department at MIT. Previously, she was a professor in the computer
science department at Dartmouth College.
She holds a PhD degree in computer science form Cornell
University. Her research interests include distributed robotics,
mobile computing, and self-organization. She was the recipient of an
NSF Career award. She is a Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellow and a
class of 2002 MacArthur Fellow.
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Last update: 26 January, 2006