Friday, December 4, 2009 at 2 PM
Photonics Center, 8 St. Mary’s Street, Room 211

Herbert Tanner, Assistant Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Delaware
webpage

Randomized Model Predictive Robot Navigation

As mission objectives for mobile robots deployed in the field increase in number and complexity, control techniques that steer robotic platforms from point A to point B may no more be adequate. Our recent focus has been on miniaturized mobile robotic devises that need to navigate in cluttered uncertain environments, under constraints on available power and/or network connectivity. We will present a control design approach that blends randomized algorithms with receding horizon optimization and potential field-based robot navigation, highlight the technical challenges of this integration, discuss the proposed solutions and the associated benefits, both at the theoretical and at the application level.

Herbert Tanner received his Eng. Diploma and his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), Greece, in 1996 and 2001, respectively. From 2001 to 2003, he was a postdoctoral fellow with the Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn). From 2003 to 2005 he was an Assistant Professor with the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of New Mexico (UNM), and he held a secondary appointment with the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at UNM. He is a recipient of an NSF Early Faculty Career Award (2005).

Tanner’s research focuses on planning and control for multi-agent robotic systems. His research interests include cooperative planning and control of networked mobile robots, modeling and abstraction of hybrid systems, coordination of mobile sensor and actuation networks, and nonholonomic motion planning and control.

Bert Tanner is a member of the ASME, and IEEE’s Control Systems and Robotics and Automation Societies. Within ASME he serves as a Member of the Technical Committee on Robotics. Within IEEE, he is a member of the Robotics and Automation Society’s Financial Activities Board, and a Steering Committee member for the IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing. In addition, he serves on the IFAC Technical Committee on Discrete Event and Hybrid Systems. He is an Associate Editor for the IEEE Transactions of Automation Science and Engineering, and has served in the Conference Editorial Boards of the Control Systems and Robotics and Automation Societies.

Hosted by Professor Calin Belta.

Background

Information and systems engineering research at Boston University is strong and accomplished but also spread across departments, colleges and schools within the University. In 2002, the Trustees approved the new CISE in order to foster greater interactions among researchers speaking the same technical language across diverse application domains.

Currently, there are 30 affiliated faculty from the departments of Biomedical Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Mathematics and Statistics, Mechanical Engineering, Operations Management and the Division of Systems Engineering.

Mission Statement and Objectives

CISE provides a home across departments for faculty and students interested in information and systems engineering methodologies and their relevance to application domains encompassing the analysis, design, and management of complex systems.

Currently, focal application domains include:

• Automation, Robotics and Control
• Communications and Networking
• Computational Biology
• Information Sciences
• Production, Service Systems, and Distribution Systems

Within the scope of these interdisciplinary methodologies and application areas, and working in close collaboration with the Division of Systems Engineering, the Center’s objectives are to:

• Foster interdisciplinary collaboration in systems research amongst faculty and graduate  students at Boston University
• Enhance access to related interdisciplinary activities throughout Boston University
• Strengthen graduate and undergraduate student recruitment opportunities and improve retention of faculty who have achieved excellence in the field
• Support interdepartmental course and degree programs by increasing student and faculty awareness of the scope and depth of systems related offerings across departments
• Work with industry and government on systems applications critical to the implementation of emerging technologies

During the last ten years as the communications and computation revolution has taken hold, research utilizing information and systems engineering methodologies have flourished and focused on a wide range of application domains encompassing the analysis, design, and management of complex systems.

The Center for Information and Systems Engineering fosters interdisciplinary collaboration and research in these emerging applications and the use of methodologies such as Applied probability and statistics, Information and decision theory, Optimization methods, Queuing and control theory, Simulation and modeling in the following key application domains:

• Automation, robotics, and control
• Communications and networking
• Computational biology
• Information sciences
• Production, service systems, and distribution systems

Spring 2006 Seminar Schedule

Ph.D. University of Maryland

Associate Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Division of Systems Engineering
College of Engineering
Intelligent Mechatronics Laboratory

Contact Information:

Email: wangh@bu.edu
Phone: 617-353-8860
Office: PHO 535

Research Interests:

• Control of nonlinear phenomena and bifurcations

Courses taught:

ENG AM 403 Atmospheric Flight Mechanics
ENG AM 404 Dynamics and Control of Mechanical Systems.

Abbreviated CV:

Dr Wang received his Ph.D. at University of Maryland.

Please visit the CISE Research pages on Automation, Robotics and Control for more information about his research interests.

Ph.D. Harvard University

Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Division of Systems Engineering
College of Engineering

Affiliations with Electrical Engineering Department and Manufacturing Engineering Department
Director, Laboratory for Intelligent Mechatronic Systems
Affiliated with Boston University Sensor Network Consortium (SNC)

Contact Information:

Email: johnb@bu.edu
Phone: 617-353-9848

Research Interests:

John Baillieul’s research deals with robotics, the control of mechanical systems, and mathematical system theory. He has done research and written about (1) the connections between optimal control theory and what has recently been called “sub-Riemannian geometry,” (2) problems in the control of nonlinear systems modeled by homogeneous polynomial differential equations, (3) the control theory of rotating elastic systems, (4) motion planning and control of kinematically redundant manipulators, and (5) he has become interested in problems associated with anholonomy in planning motions for robots which have elastic joints and other components which store energy.

Professor Baillieul also directs the Boston University component of the Center for Control and Dynamics of Smart Structures and the Center for Communicating Networked Control Systems. He is past Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control.

Please visit Professor Baillieul’s personal web page for more information.

Thursday, May 8, 2008
9am – 5pm

Please visit our virtual May 8 galleries:

• Research Poster Presentations
• Event Photos

Agenda

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