Media Contact: Evan Lerner | elerner@upenn.edu | (215) 573-6604 | Posted 3 April 2012
The University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University are taking part in an ambitious new project, led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to reinvent how robots are designed and produced. Funded by a $10 million grant from the National Science Foundation, the project will aim to develop a desktop technology that would make it possible for the average person to design, customize and print a specialized robot in a matter of hours. “Our goal is to develop technology that enables anyone to manufacture their own customized robot. This is truly a game changer,” said Vijay Kumar, deputy dean for education in Penn’s School of Engineering and Applied Science, who is leading the team from Penn. “It could allow for the rapid design and manufacture of customized goods and change the way we teach science and technology in high schools.”