Robotics: Safe, resilient, scalable, and in service of humanity

Winter 2021 | EQuad News 33, Issue 1

Once specialized equipment for factories or other controlled environments, robotic systems operate increasingly in our everyday lives. With a quickly growing faculty and new lab spaces, robotics at Princeton Engineering is spurring innovation, corporate partnerships, and entrepreneurship.

Photo of experimental setup by graduate student Jimmy Wu.

In picking up trash, robots pick up new approaches to work

Researchers used a computer simulation to develop AI systems for robots to navigate an unfamiliar space by following a human’s instructions. Image courtesy of the researchers

Empowering young AI researchers, and advancing robots’ powers of perception

Four portraits — From left: Radhika Nagpal, Reza Moini, Aimy Wissa, Glaucio Paulino

New faculty bring wide-ranging expertise in robotics

Portrait — Bartolomeo Stellato. Photo by Andrea Fanelli

Speeding decisions to ease automation

Portrait — Yasaman Ghasempour. Photo by David Kelly Crow

Boosting signals to boost robots’ performance

Felix Heide is working to improve the imaging and computer vision capabilities of sensors for autonomous vehicles. Panels show a street scene in heavy snow using a standard vehicle imaging system (left), and the output of ZeroScatter (right), a technique developed by Heide’s team that improves image quality and reveals objects at long distances, such as the house at the end of the road. Images by Zheng Shi et al.

Computation and optics unite to sharpen robotic vision

Researcher manipulates material inside an industrial drill press — Ryan Adams is working to improve manufacturing robots. Photo by David Kelly Crow

Machine learning: In this lab, machines learn to make machines

Robot show from within an arch made of glass blocks — Researchers used automotive assembly robots to build a glass arch during an exhibition in London. Photo by SOM, Maciej Grzeskowiak

Building bots could brave harsh environments, create new types of structures

Two students behind mesh curtain flow drone, which is in foreground — Ph.D. student Nathaniel Simon (left) and undergraduate Kyle Ikuma (right) work on a project to develop systems that allow drones to fly in high winds. Photo by Frank Wojciechowski

Small, efficient sensors help drones fly in high winds

People fly a drone indoors behind a mesh wall — Photo by Sameer A. Khan/Fotobuddy

Robotics lab opens for experimentation and collaboration

Woman and robots shown from above — Charlotte Cathcart, graduate student in the lab of Professor Naomi Leonard. Photo by Sameer A. Khan/Fotobuddy

Equipping robot teams to move smoothly around people

Robot and man face each other — Jaime Fernández Fisac works to improve the safety of robots’ interactions with humans. Photo by Sameer A. Khan/Fotobuddy

To guarantee safety, these robots dance the bolero