GRASP Seminar Series: Spring 2006

January 19, 1:00 p.m., Berger Auditorium, Skirkanich Hall.

Greg Chirikjian
Johns Hopkins University

"Harmonic Analysis, Computational Structural Biology and Self-Replicating Robots" 

Abstract: In this talk, it will be shown how methods of noncommutative harmonic analysis (e.g., Fourier analysis on the rotation and motion groups) can be used to model problems in robotics and polymer statistical mechanics. The connection of the latter to protein structure prediction and conformational transitions in proteins will be discussed. Finally, it will be shown how the fundamental property of all living things - the ability of cells and organisms to repair and reproduce - can be emulated with physical automata.

Biography: Gregory S. Chirikjian received the Ph.D. degree from the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, in 1992.  Since the summer of 1992, he has been with the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, where he is now Professor and Chair. His research interests include the kinematic analysis, motion planning, design, and implementation of biologically inspired robots - in particular, "hyper-redundant," "metamorphic," and "binary" manipulators, and, most recently, self-replicating robots. In recent years, Dr. Chirikjian has also been applying methods from robotics to model conformational transitions in biological macromolecules.


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