ME/EECS/VISE co-sponsored Robotics seminar, Monday March 17, 134 FGH (Jacob’s Believed in Me Auditorium) 3:10 p.m
Dan Popa, Associate Professor with the Electrical Engineering Department at The University of Texas at Arlington, will present Multiscale Robotics: A view from Microns and Millimeters to Human size Monday March 17, 3:10-4 pm, Jacobs Believed in Me Auditorium/FGH 134.
Abstract:
Having been established more than half a century ago, the fields of control and robotics are continuously evolving by expanding their scale-independent toolboxes into new domains of science and engineering. In this talk, we use examples from our recent research to highlight surprising findings from applying control and robotics tools to micro world, at one end of the scale size, and to human-robot interaction, at the other end. At small scales, manufacturing and physics constraints are pushing robots toward a higher degree of autonomy. Examples include microfactories and mobile microrobotic swarms that do not require human intervention. And, at larger scales, robot companions require a higher degree of interactivity, usability and personalization. Examples include physical human-robot interaction, and advanced communication methods whose sole purpose is to solidify the adaptive relationship between robots and humans.
Useful links with information about Popa’s work in the field:
http://www.uta.edu/utari/research/robotics/index.php
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOqYKo0qbnw&feature=youtu.be
About Dan Popa
Dan Popa is an Associate Professor with the Electrical Engineering Department at The University of Texas at Arlington, and head of the Next Generation Systems (NGS) research group. He received a BA in Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science and a MS in Engineering, both from Dartmouth College where he was a Montgomery Scholar from 1990 to 1994. He received a PhD in Electrical, Computer and Systems Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in 1998, focusing on control and motion planning for nonholonomic systems and robots. He then joined the Center for Automation Technologies at RPI, where was Research Scientist until 2004. After moving to Texas in 2004, Dan Popa has continued his research as an affiliated faculty member of UT Arlington’s Research Institute (UTARI – formerly known as the Automation & Robotics Research Institute – ARRI). Dr. Popa has a broad experience base, including the modeling, simulation and control of microsystems, the design of multiscale robotic assembly systems, and in control and adaptation aspects of human-robot interaction. Dr. Popa is the recipient of several prestigious awards, including the UT Regents Outstanding Teaching Award, and is a member of IEEE, ASME and the author of over 100 refereed publications. He also serves as associate editor for the IEEE Transaction on Automation Science and Engineering (T-ASE), Springer Journal of Micro and Bio Robotics, and is an active member in the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (RAS) Committees on Micro-Nano Robotics and the ASME Committee on Micro-Nano Systems (MNS).