Michigan Robotics Newsletter, Summer 2021
Note: these posts were migrated from Twitter’s Revue newsletter after it shut down in January, 2023. Unfortunately links will not redirect at this time, but we hope to find some time to go through these and relink in the future.
Welcome to the Michigan Robotics Newsletter, a summary of what’s happening in the University of Michigan Robotics Institute community.
If you didn’t catch it this spring, our new dazzling home, the Ford Motor Company Robotics Building, is now open!
Research
Conor Esterwood, Jessie Yang, and Lionel Robert conducted a survey on the trust and attitudes toward AV busses.
Taking an exoskeleton from ‘ready, set’ to go
An exoskeleton user can now go from sitting to standing safely and without assistance based on the work of Eva Mungai and Jessy Grizzle, who developed a new approach to create and test solutions to such problems virtually.
How risks affect the relationships between trust and driver behavior in automated driving systems
From the MAVRIC team, this research led by Herbert Azevedo-Sa dives into how internal and external risks, like driver visibility impact trust.
Parameterizing Human Locomotion Across Quasi-Random Perturbations and Inclines
Rebecca Macaluso of UT Dallas and Robert Gregg explore methods to measure gaits to better synchronize prosthetics with the user.
Helping robots learn what they can and can’t do in new situations
Peter Mitrano and Dmitry Berenson demonstrate a way for robots to predict when they can’t trust their models, and to recover when they find that their model is unreliable.
Congrats
Congratulations to Robotics faculty on 2021 achievements
Robotics faculty have received a plethora of recognition for their exemplary work this past year, including:
Peter Gaskell earning the Robotics Faculty Award
Ben Kuipers earning the Herbert Kopf Service Excellence Award
Ram Vasudevan earning the 1938E award
Jessie Yang earning an NSF Career Award
Maani Ghaffari, Jessy Grizzle, Chad Jenkins, and Dwayne Joseph of Morehouse College earning a Provost’s Teaching Innovation Prize
The Google Research Scholar Award under the Machine Learning and Data Mini Initiative has been awarded to Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Nima Fazeli.
Hebert Azevedo-Sa (watch) and Preeti Ramaraj were part of the Human-Robot Interaction Pioneers Workshop.
Rackham Predoctoral Fellowship Awards
Nikhil Divekar was awarded a fellowship for work on wearable lower limb robots.
Best paper award for a robot that can see and move transparent objects
From Zheming Zhou, Xiaotong Chen, and Chad Jenkins, a method enabled robot arms to build a tower of champagne glasses.
Look
The new Ford Motor Company Robotics Building opens.
Peek into last semester's ROB 103: Robotic Mechanisms.
Michigan Mars Rover Team URC SAR 2021 Submission.
Also, check out the latest defense videos from Cyrus Anderson, Alex Vaskov, and Zheming Zhou.
And, catch Wami Ogunbi and Eva Mungai talk about how they teach robots to walk on “A Scientist Walks into a Bar.”
Read
Chad Jenkins, the first Black recipient of a computer science Ph.D. from the University of Southern California, worries that other racial and ethnic minority students may lack the support that aided his success. He studied calculus, linear algebra, discrete math, graph theory, and abstract algebra, persevering through setbacks with help from his mentors. But other students may not be so fortunate, he says, as they face the barrage of calculus courses at the beginning of a typical engineering degree.
Reflecting on a 10-year Career with U-M Aerospace Engineering and Being the Only One
Robotics PhD student and co-founder of the Black Students in Aerospace student group (BSA), Prince Kuevor, has been an avid advocate for diversity and inclusion during his ten-year career as a student in the College of Engineering at the University of Michigan. However, when he first began his undergraduate program, he wasn’t always consonant with being an advocate for the Black community, and he struggled with being “the only one” in many of his classes.
"I Can See Myself in STEM" Ambassador
Anouck Girard offers a model for the next generation by discussing her own experiences and path in engineering.
Elliott Rouse gives tips for students on becoming an engineer, and what he loves most about his work.
Parting shot
Numerous robots showcase the Robot Garden outside the new building. Photo: Robert Coelius