Jerry L. Prince, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, was honored in 1993. He and his research team are working on a number of projects involving hyper-redundant manipulators, a type of robot that has the ability and versatility to configure into millions of positions. They can also be useful in an environment that you would not want humans to enter. So, it's important to use simple principles of mechanics in the design of robots so that they work reliably without human intervention. Powered by compressed air and controlled by a computer, the three pneumatic pistons driving the arm can manipulate it into 33,000 positions.
Binary manipulators have the potential to be very inexpensive.
Through our research, we're developing broadly applicable ideas that will result in cost-effective products. He foresees versions of the arm being used to slither through a nuclear reactor to detect leaks, pluck a wayward satellite from space, or inch through arteries during surgery. Dr. Chirikjian is also developing a spatial platform manipulator, a 3-D version of the binary arm that he likens to an elephant's trunk. Another project is his work in developing hexagon-shaped modules for a metamorphic robot, which will be able to form loops and branches. Let someone else build big complicated systems.