News – Page 10 – Robotics Center

Strain Localization Evolution and Failure

High speed imaging is combined with high strain rate loading to probe the evolution of strain localization leading up to failure in Mg alloys. From this study pathways for deformation are identified which lead to undesired shear band formation and crack formation. Show below is a comparison of the strain localization that occurs at a machined defect for three different loading orientations. The left two strain maps demonstrate the ability of two loading orientations to accommodate deformation in regions away from the specimen through hole. The strain map on the right shows strong localization near the machined defect which...

RoboUtes Placed Third in National Competition

Like the proverbial Phoenix rising from the ashes, the University of Utah’s RoboUtes student robotic team emerged from a crippling lab fire last year to place third in the 2016 RASC-AL Robo-Ops robotic competition in Houston, Texas. “Not having a central home for the team made it very difficult to have the team meet and be cohesive,” said the team’s advisor, U mechanical engineering associate professor Mark Minor. “But the core of the team really made this happen. I’m really proud of what they did.” This year’s five-person team, made up of students from the U’s mechanical engineering and...

U Robot Team Wins Award

The University of Utah’s mining robot team struck gold in them Martian hills, winning the Innovation Award as well as third place overall in the 2016 NASA Robotic Mining Competition in Cape Canaveral, Florida. It is only the second time the team has competed in the annual contest. The Utah Mining Robotic Mining Project — comprised of 14 members from the U’s departments of mechanical engineering, electrical and computer engineering, geology, mining engineering and computer engineering — competed May 18 to 20 with a robot that simulates scooping up Martian ice. In all, 45 schools from across the country...

Robotics graduate Dr. Andrew Petruska (Ph.D., 2014) will join Colorado School of Mines, Dept. of Mech. Engineering

Dr. Andrew Petruska has accepted an offer to join the faculty of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines. Congratulations Andrew! He and his wife are very excited to start their new life in Colorado. Andrew earned a B.S. in Physics, a B.S./M.S. in Mechanical Engineering (ME) from Carnegie Mellon University, and his Ph.D. in ME (Robotics track) in 2014 under the supervision of Prof. Jake Abbott. Before starting his Ph.D. work, he spent four years in the defense industry working on ordnance and control systems for solid rocket motors. At the University of Utah he...

Chris Pratt’s ICRA paper and video make the final cut of ICRA 2016 Video Trailer Episode I — Flying Robots!

Robotics graduate student Chris Pratt and Prof. Kam Leang’s ICRA paper and video make the final cut of ICRA 2016 Video Trailer Episode I — Flying Robots! Paper is entitled, “Dynamic Underactuated Flying-Walking (DUCK) Robot” Details can be found here: http://trailer.icra2016.org/...

In Memoriam: Stephen C. Jacobsen

Stephen C. Jacobsen, engineer, roboticist and biomedical pioneer passed away at 75. Jacobsen, Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Utah, was at the forefront of robotic and biomedical device design. He was the biomechanical engineer behind a number of firsts in medicine: the first artificial heart implanted in a human, the first artificial wearable kidney, and the Utah Arm, which allowed amputees to precisely control an artificial arm with tiny twitches of a chest or shoulder muscle. Read more…...

The University of Utah Robotics Center launches!

The Utah State Board of Regents recently approved the University of Utah Robotics Center (UURC). The UURC consists of faculty and graduate students from the School of Computing and the Department of Mechanical Engineering. The UURC is also pleased to jointly offer the second graduate program in robotics in the US, with a curriculum that imparts fundamental knowledge about robotics and specific courses in perception, cognition, and action. Read full story here…...

Prof. John Hollerbach named IEEE Life Fellow

Congratulations to Prof. John Hollerbach! He was recently named IEEE Life Fellow (in January), for his contributions in the robotics field and involvement with IEEE. Professor Hollerbach’s research involves robotics, virtual environments, and human motor control. He is also the Editor of the International Journal of Robotics Research, one of the top journals in robotics. ...

Prof. Jake Abbott receives funding for two-handed large-workspace haptic interface

The Utah Robotics Center recently added two 7-degree-of-freedom Quanser HD^2 haptic interfaces to the shared Large Robotics Lab (valued at $191,800). This equipment purchase was made possible with an award from the University of Utah Research Instrumentation Fund, lead by Prof. Jake Abbott, combined with generous academic discounts from Quanser. A haptic interface is a robotic force-feedback human-input device used to interact with virtual environments and teleoperate remote robotic systems. The haptic interface system will support research from robot-assisted retinal microsurgery to robotics for nuclear applications and nuclear facilities. The new equipment will be shared by the Robotics faculty in the Department...

Computer Vision Faculty Search in School of Computing

School of Computing – Tenure-Track Faculty Position Openings The School of Computing at the University of Utah seeks applications for multiple tenure-track faculty positions at the rank of Assistant Professor, beginning Fall 2016. Exceptional candidates at higher ranks will also be considered. Applications in all areas of computer science are encouraged, but the School is particularly interested in the following areas of expertise: Computer vision Computer security Computer architecture The University of Utah is a Carnegie Research I Institution, and the School of Computing is an exciting, growing school with a 50-year history of excellence in computer science education,...