Robotics & Multi-Agent Systems
Robotics and Multi-Agent Systems involves the concepting, building, and
implementation of robots, as well as the collaborative programming of multiple robots, to perform certain tasks.
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 […]
Achieving Consensus Among Autonomous Dynamic Agents using Control Laws that Maintain Performance as Network Size Increases
Recent advances in automation and robotics have created a pressing need for new “protocols,” that is, for algorithms or control laws that allow teams of multiple autonomous agents to cooperate and accomplish complex tasks. Unfortunately, many of the best protocols for multi-agent coordination problems suffer from scalability issues, that is, while they perform well when […]
CPS: Breakthrough: Collaborative Research: A Framework for Extensibility-Driven Design of Cyber-Physical Systems
A longstanding problem in the design of cyber-physical systems is the inability and ineffectiveness in coping with software and hardware evolutions over the lifetime of a design or across multiple versions in the same product family. The objective of this project is to develop a systematic framework for designing extensible cyber-physical systems that can enable […]
Detection and Tracking of Multiple Dynamic Targets with Cooperating Networked Agents
In the multi-agent framework, a team of autonomous agents cooperates in carrying out complex tasks in an environment that is potentially dynamic, hazardous, and even adversarial. In general, the team must seek out and then monitor targets that may also be moving while balancing the monitoring task with continued exploration. This setting, broadly termed persistent […]
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 […]
IDBR: Type A: Collaborative research: High-speed AFM imaging of dynamics on biopolymers through non-raster scanning
This award by the Instrument Development for Biological Research (IDBR) program in the Division of Biological Infrastructure (BIO Directorate) is co-funded by the Particulate and Multiphase Processes (PMP) program in the Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems (CBET, Engineering Directorate). Non Technical Abstract The primary aim of this project is to create a […]
Dances with Robots
Teaching automatons to figure out what needs to be done As dancers, this couple is no Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. The leader’s moves are clunky, his partner’s so tentative that she’s constantly behind a beat. But be kind: they’re beginners at salsa, and they’re bedeviled by something Fred and Ginger never faced. They’re robots. Watch […]
CIF: Medium: Collaborative Research: Interference-Aware Cooperation via Structured Codes: Creating an Empirical Cycle
The classical approach to wireless communication is to isolate communication links by maximizing signal strength and minimizing interference between users. This simple philosophy is supported by a rich theoretical foundation which has inspired powerful coding techniques and protocols that lie at the heart of modern wireless systems. However, these systems have recently become victims of […]
Collaborative Research: High-Speed AFM through Compressed Sensing
The primary research objective of this proposal is to improve the temporal resolution of atomic force microscopy (AFM) through non-raster sampling schemes based on compressed sensing (CS). While AFM continues to be used heavily for the study of systems with nanometer-scale features, its temporal resolution limits its applicability to the study of dynamics. The research […]
CPS: Synergy: Data Driven Intelligent Controlled Sensing for Cyber Physical Systems
The goal of this project is to develop the foundations of a control and optimization science base for sensor networks viewed as complex systems operating in an uncertain and potentially adverse environment. The approach taken is a combination of addressing fundamental research issues while maintaining a focus on a specific target application domain, a manufacturing […]