Project Descriptions

Updated 2006

Superbot is a modular, multi-functional, self-reconfigurable robot, originally designed to be able to perform tasks in space. Instead of designing single special-purpose robots that perform their specific tasks very well and cost millions to build and launch, we propose to use Superbot as a general-purpose robot that can perform a large variety of tasks for the same cost. The tasks Superbot will do include walking, running, climbing, digging, drilling, exploring, transporting, and building.

Each Superbot module includes on-board processing, motors, sensors, and infrared transmitters to communicate with neighbors. Each module is capable of 3 degrees of freedom: yaw, pitch, and roll. The modules include 6 docking connectors for modules to connect together in various configurations. The docks are also used for connecting to specialized equipment such as tools or sensor packages.

Updated 2006

The I-Room is a testbed for sensor tasking and surveillance. Using a set of pan-tilt cameras placed in an office space, the I-Room builds off of the Neuromorphic Vision Toolkit offered by USC ILab and their previous research of visual-based attention and saliency. This ongoing work is in conjunction with Aerospace Corporation. Previously produced work has been on task-selection and task-merging as well as analysis of various surveillance coverage strategies.

Updated 2005

Contour Crafting seeks to automatically construct buildings using the principles of rapid-prototyping machines. Extruding a specialized concrete, it rapidly solidifies and creates buildings from CAD drawings just like a printer. Alternate materials could also be used such as adobe or planetary regolith for extra-terrestrial construction. If successful, this will revolutionize the construction industry and finally make houses dramatically more affordable. This work is led by Behrkoh Khoshnevis at USC. My project role was creating methods for computational visual inspection for wall surface defects.

Ended 2004

The SOLAR project's aim was to design methods for autonomously assembling structures in space with a team of free-flying robots and reconfigurable connectors. The implementation was a pair of robots floating on an air table connected together with a retractable tether. Using this 2D experimental approximation of space, we successfully assembled beams to form triangles, a fundamental unit for creating trusses.

Updated 2006

NEA mining is a long-term project to develop the technology and understand the requirements for a successful resource extraction mission to a near earth asteroid such as platinum group metals or volatile chemicals. Early work studied the economic and orbital factors involved in mission planning and resource returns. Current work focuses on the required technology for creating an automous robotic mining mission. This involves multi-robot coordination, human-robot communication, in-situ construction and assembly, and mobility in a micro-gravity environment.