Laboratory is an interdisciplinary laboratory with 9 faculty members and approximately 30 students pursuing research in robotics, computer vision, and automation. The laboratory consists of computer scientists, mechanical engineers, and electrical engineers, and maintains active links with laboratories in psychology, cognitive science, neuroscience, microfabrication, and manufacturing. Research activities span the areas of design, control, sensing, perception, manufacturing, and systems integration. One project that involves many researchers from different departments addresses the cooperative control of robots. As an example, consider the task of carrying a large object such as a piano from one room to another.
Human beings are very adept at cooperating in such manipulation tasks.
But there are many challenges in controlling two or more independent robots to cooperatively pick up an object and transport it. It is clear that communication is essential to cooperation. However, robots may either communicate directly by exchanging information, or indirectly, by observing each other where the information is acquired through vision. Finally, it is necessary to control the independent robots so that the object is grasped in a stable fashion while the robots move. These studies and the algorithms required for sensing, decision making, and control will eventually result in a fixtureless approach to handling, enabling robots to handle complex, large objects without special purpose fixtures or tooling.