Calin Belta
DynSyst_Special_Topics: A formal approach to the control of stochastic dynamic systems
The research objective of this award is to establish a theoretical framework for stochastic, complex systems such that given a specification, we can analyze the system to determine the probability that the specification will be achieved and automatically find an input law to maximize this probability. The research approach progresses from the adaptation of existing […]
GCR: COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: MICRO-BIO-GENETICS FOR PROGRAMMABLE ORGANOID FORMATION
This project aims at defining a new area of dynamically-controlled, robot-assisted biological design. A convergent research team consisting of experts in microrobotics, machine learning, and synthetic biology will focus on developing a radically new approach towards analyzing and replicating intricate cellular patterning in mammalian tissues. Not only will this research result in new biological rules, […]
Synthetic gene sensors and effectors to redirect organoid development
Human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived organoids hold great promise for tissue engineering and personalized drug screening, but obtaining the desired multicellular organization and function from these systems is usually performed in an ad hoc fashion without forward design specification. Recently, we reported successful liver bud formation containing stromal cells, vascular tube-like structures and hematopoiesis-like […]
NRI: FND: A Formal Methods Approach to Safe, Composable, and Distributed Reinforcement Learning for co-Robots
Many applications require heterogeneous teams of robots to collaborate with each other and with humans to accomplish complex tasks. Consider, for example, a futuristic robotic restaurant, in which the goal is to make hotdogs and serve them together with drinks to incoming customers. A couple of robotic manipulators have sensors and actuators allowing them to […]
GCR: Collaborative Research: Fine-grain generation of multiscale patterns in programmable organoids using microrobots
People with diseased or defective vital organs often need organ replacement to survive, but the availability of replacement organs is severely restricted by shortages of suitable tissue-matched donors and complexities such as postmortem organ deterioration and immunological rejection. These problems could be overcome by using high fidelity artificially-grown organs, but achieving that goal faces daunting […]
S&AS: INT: COLLAB: Autonomy as a Service
How can one deploy teams of autonomous robots over long periods of time in such a way that they can be recruited and tasked by operators to perform a wide variety of tasks? Examples of such tasks include the environmental monitoring tasks encountered in biological conservation applications or in precision agriculture. This project will address […]
CPS: FRONTIER: COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: BIOCPS FOR ENGINEERING LIVING CELLS
Recent developments in nanotechnology and synthetic biology have enabled a new direction in biological engineering: synthesis of collective behaviors and spatio-temporal patterns in multi-cellular bacterial and mammalian systems. This will have a dramatic impact in such areas as amorphous computing, nano-fabrication, and, in particular, tissue engineering, where patterns can be used to differentiate stem cells […]
CPS: Synergy: Collaborative Research: Efficient Traffic Management: A Formal Methods Approach
The objective of this project is to develop a formal methods approach to traffic management. Formal methods is an area of computer science that develops efficient techniques for proving the correct operation of systems, such as computer programs and digital circuits, and for designing systems that are correct by construction. This project extends this formalism […]