{ "routines": [ { "id": "341", "name": "Artificial Intelligence" }, { "id": "2", "name": "Human-Computer Interaction" }, { "id": "3", "name": "Robotics" } ], "articles": [ { "id": "1145", "title": "CHIMP Wins Third Place at DARPA Robotics Challenge", "content": "CHIMP, a four-limbed robot designed and built by Carnegie Mellon University\u2019s Tartan Rescue Team, finished third and won $500,000 June 6 at the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC), a two-day event that pitted 24 of the world\u2019s most advanced robots against each other in a test of their ability to respond to disasters.\r\n\r\nDuring its best run, the robot engaged the enthusiastic audience as it overcame several mishaps and missteps to complete all eight of the possible tasks in 55 minutes, 15 seconds \u2014 good enough to put the team in first place on the first day of competition.\r\n\r\nCHIMP was\u00a0the only robot of the many that fell during the competition that was able to get back on its feet unassisted.\r\n\r\n\"Our team operating the robot kept their cool,\" said Tony Stentz, team leader and research professor. \"They managed to get CHIMP to recover and complete all of the tasks. It says a lot about the robot and a lot about the people. It means there\u2019s great promise for this technology.\u201d\r\n\r\n ", "popularity": 0, "people": [ "Tony Stentz" ], "labs": [ "NREC" ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "204", "342", "2", "3" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Tartan-Rescue-rubble-small-1024x682.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "1142", "title": "TechBridgeWorld Wins Touch of Genius Prize For Braille Writing Tutor", "content": "The Braille Writing Tutor developed by the Robotics Institute's TechBridgeWorld research group to help visually impaired students learn how to write Braille is the winner of the 2014 Louis Braille Touch of Genius Prize for Innovation.\r\n\r\nThe $20,000 Touch of Genius prize recognizes technical innovations that promote Braille literacy. It is presented by the National Braille Press\u2019 Center for Braille Innovation and is sponsored by the Gibney Family Foundation.\r\n\r\nThe automated tutors help students learn the skills of creating Braille characters with a slate and stylus. They\u00a0have been field-tested in India, Bangladesh, Tanzania, Zambia and other nations where Braille typewriters and specialized keyboards, common in developed nations, are not readily available.", "popularity": 0, "people": [ "M Bernardine Dias" ], "labs": [ "TechBridgeWorld" ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "336", "333", "337", "2", "334" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/BWT_India-robowall-1024x768.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "1139", "title": "Robot Snakes Learn Turns By Following The Lead of Real Sidewinders", "content": "Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University who develop snake-like robots have picked up a few tricks from real sidewinder rattlesnakes on how to make rapid and even sharp turns with their undulating, modular device.\r\n\r\nWorking with colleagues at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Zoo Atlanta, they have analyzed the motions of sidewinders and tested their observations on CMU\u2019s snake robots. They showed how the complex motion of a sidewinder can be described in terms of two wave motions \u2013 vertical and horizontal body waves \u2013 and how changing the phase and amplitude of the waves enables snakes to achieve exceptional maneuverability.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe\u2019ve been programming snake robots for years and have figured out how to get these robots to crawl amidst rubble and through or around pipes,\u201d said Howie Choset, professor at CMU\u2019s Robotics Institute. \u201cBy learning from real sidewinders, however, we can make these maneuvers much more efficient and simplify user control. This makes our modular robots much more valuable as tools for urban search-and-rescue tasks, power plant inspections and even archaeological exploration.\u201d", "popularity": 0, "people": [ "Chaohui Gong", "Howie Choset", "Jin Dai", "Matthew Travers" ], "labs": [ "Biorobotics Laboratory" ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "336", "3" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Snake-robot-1024x768.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "1136", "title": "Parenting for Robotic Futures : New book by Illah Nourbakhsh to help raise \u201ctechnologically fluent\u201d children", "content": "", "popularity": 0, "people": [ "Illah Nourbakhsh" ], "labs": [ "CREATE Lab" ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "333", "334", "3" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/large_DSC05653-1024x576.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "1126", "title": "Students Will Flight Test Sensor Package Designed To Model Surface Pits on Moon ", "content": "A team of Carnegie Mellon University undergraduates is heading to California\u2019s Mojave Desert this spring to flight test a sensor package they developed for analyzing large pits in the surface of the moon or Mars.\r\n\r\nThe flight tests will be conducted aboard a reusable vertical-takeoff, vertical-landing XA-0.1-B rocket, called \u201cXombie,\u201d built and operated by Masten Space Systems. The three flights \u2013 two tethered and one free flight \u2013 will take place at the Mojave Air and Space Port and are funded through the Undergraduate Student Instrument Program (USIP) of NASA\u2019s Science Mission Directorate and the Flight Opportunities Program of NASA\u2019s Space Technology Mission Directorate.\r\n\r\nThe hardware and software package developed by the students would be used for a robotic lunar mission to the Lacus Mortis region of the moon planned by Astrobotic Technology and Carnegie Mellon. Orbital imaging suggests this region contains a pit \u2013 also known as a skylight \u2013 that may serve as an entrance to a cave.\r\n\r\nAs the landing craft flies over the pit, the sensor package would use computer vision to build a 3-D model of the depression. Upon landing, a CMU-developed robot, called Andy, would then explore the pit.\r\n\r\nThe team includes Neal Bhasin, a senior computer science student; Kerry Snyder, a senior computer science and robotics major; Oliver Daids, a sophomore computer science major; Rick Shanor, a senior in mechanical engineering and robotics; Ashrith Balakumar, a sophomore mechanical engineering major; and Edward Nolan and Brent Strysko, both seniors majoring in electrical and computer engineering.", "popularity": 0, "people": [ "Kerry Snyder", "Neal Bhasin", "Rick Shanor" ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "342", "3" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/sensor-package-1024x655.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "1123", "title": "International Competitors Join CMU Teams in DARPA Robotics Challenge", "content": "The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has qualified 14 additional teams, including competitors from Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, China and South Korea, to join teams from Carnegie Mellon University and elsewhere in the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) Finals, June 5-6 in Pomona, Calif.\r\n\r\nTartan Rescue, a team fielded by CMU\u2019s National Robotics Engineering Center, and Team WPI-CMU, a team based at Worcester Polytechnic Institute that includes CMU Robotics Professor Chris Atkeson, were among 11 teams that previously qualified for the DRC Finals based on their performance at the DRC Trials in December 2013.\r\n\r\nThe teams will be competing for one of three cash prizes, totaling $3.5 million, based on how their robots perform in response to a simulated natural or man-made disaster. Robots will have one hour to perform a series of tasks, such as driving a vehicle, climbing stairs and using power tools. DARPA also will include a \u201csurprise\u201d task.\r\n\r\nUnlike the earlier Trials, all of the robots will operate only on battery power, will communicate wirelessly with their operators and will operate without a safety harness, placing them in danger of falls.", "popularity": 0, "people": [ "Tony Stentz" ], "labs": [ "NREC" ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "342", "2", "3" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/CMU-NREC_1-682x1024.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "1120", "title": "Autonomous Firefighting Drone Flies in Dark, Tight Quarters", "content": "In a demonstration aboard a former U.S. Navy ship, a small quadrotor developed by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University\u2019s Robotics Institute and spin-off company Sensible Machines flew autonomously through dark, smoke-filled compartments to map fires and locate victims.\r\n\r\nLast fall\u2019s demonstration, part of an Office of Naval Research (ONR) project called Damage Control Technologies for the 21st Century (DC-21), showed that a small drone can operate in the confined spaces inside a ship to rapidly gather situational information to guide firefighting and rescue efforts.\r\n\r\n\u201cWith the micro-flyer, we wanted to show that it could autonomously navigate through the narrow hallways and doors \u2013 even in dense fire smoke \u2013 and locate fires,\u201d said Thomas McKenna, ONR\u2019s DC-21 program manager. \u201cIt succeeded at all those tasks.\u201d\r\n\r\nAs part of the DC-21 concept, information gathered by the micro-flyer would be relayed to a large humanoid robot, the Shipboard Autonomous Firefighting Robot (SAFFiR), that would work with human firefighters to suppress fires and evacuate casualties.", "popularity": 0, "people": [ "Sebastian Scherer" ], "labs": [ "AIR Lab" ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "3" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/DC21-microflyer-crop-1024x767.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "1107", "title": "Snake Monster Is First of New Breed of Reconfigurable Robots", "content": "Carnegie Mellon University\u2019s latest robot is called Snake Monster, but with six articulated legs, it looks more like an insect than a snake. It really doesn\u2019t matter what you call it, says its inventor, Howie Choset, because the whole point of the project is to make modular robots that can easily be reconfigured to meet a user\u2019s needs.\r\n\r\nThe walking robot, developed in just six months, is only one example of the robots that eventually can be built using this modular system, said Choset, a professor in CMU\u2019s Robotics Institute. His team already is working on modules such as force-sensing feet, wheels and tank-like treads that will enable the assembly of totally different robots.\r\n\r\n\u201cBy creating a system that can be readily reconfigured and that also is as easy to program, we believe we can build robots that are not only robust and flexible, but also inexpensive,\u201d Choset said. \u201cModularity has the potential to rapidly accelerate the development of traditional industrial robots, as well as all kinds of new robots.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency sponsored this work through its Maximum Mobility and Manipulation (M3) program, which focuses on ways to design and build robots more rapidly and enhance their ability to manipulate objects and move in natural environments.", "popularity": 0, "people": [ "Howie Choset" ], "labs": [ "Biorobotics Laboratory" ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "336", "3" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Snake-Monster-hi-res-1024x768.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "1101", "title": "New Product Could Revolutionize Musculoskeletal Tissue Repair", "content": "Treating patients with their own blood, modified to increase the concentration of heal-inducing platelets, has been touted as the \"cure-all\" for bone, muscle, and tissue repair for athletes, weekend warriors or those with traumatic injuries.\r\n\r\nBut the outcomes of this therapy, called platelet-rich plasma, or PRP, have been unpredictable. So researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and Allegheny General Hospital (AGH) have devised what they believe is a better way to deliver the therapy\u2014as a putty\u2014and the initial results have been encouraging.", "popularity": 0, "people": [ ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "3", "1" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Carmell-056633_weiss_robowall_story-1024x682.jpg", "Phill Campbell, Lee Weiss and James Burgess" ] ] }, { "id": "1096", "title": "CMU Lunar Rover Wins GLXP Milestone Prize ", "content": "The Google Lunar XPRIZE has awarded Andy, a four-wheeled lunar rover designed and built by Carnegie Mellon University, with a Milestone Prize for mobility. It is one of three Milestone Prizes awarded to CMU and Pittsburgh's Astrobotic Technology, which have partnered in pursuit of the XPrize.\r\n\r\nMilestone Prizes were awarded in three categories: mobility, lander and imaging, with Astrobotic winning for its Griffin lander and its imaging technology. A total of nine\u00a0Milestone Prizes were awarded in the three categories; the Astrobotic\/CMU teams was the only one to win prizes in each category.\r\n\r\n\u201cAndy has proven to be a tough, smart, sure-footed machine,\u201d said William \u201cRed\u201d Whittaker, professor of robotics, who led a team of about 50 students, faculty and staff members from across the CMU campus to create the rover. \u201cWe\u2019ve shaken it to simulate launch forces, driven it through moon dirt and exposed it to the extremes of lunar temperatures among many, many tests. Our team and our machine faced a rigorous evaluation by world-class judges and came out on top.\u201d\r\n\r\nCMU's mobility prize included a $500,000 cash award. Astrobotic received $1 million for its lander win and $250,000 for the imaging category, for a total of $1.75 million in winnings.\r\n\r\n\u00a0", "popularity": 0, "people": [ "Curtis Boirum", "Heather Jones", "Jon Anderson", "Nate Otten", "Red Whittaker; Joe Bartels" ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ "Mobile Robot Design" ], "routines": [ "342", "3" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/andy-team-1024x682.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "1092", "title": "Breathe Cam Provides People With Tool To Study The Air We Breathe", "content": "A system of four cameras, called Breathe Cam, now keeps a constant watch on air quality over Pittsburgh, providing citizens with a new interactive tool for monitoring and documenting visual pollution in the air they breathe and even tracing it back to its sources.\r\n\r\nFunded by The Heinz Endowments as part of its Breathe Project, the camera system was developed and deployed by the CREATE Lab in Carnegie Mellon University\u2019s Robotics Institute. Anyone can access the cameras online at http:\/\/breatheproject.org\/learn\/breathe-cam, where images of the Downtown, East End and Mon Valley skylines are updated around the clock.\r\n\r\nUsing the interactive controls, people can zoom in on items of interest, whether it\u2019s a hovering brown cloud or individual smokestacks or coke plants. They can scan back in time to observe changes in visibility or to try to find the sources of dirty air. They also can skip back to particular dates and times that have been catalogued since the cameras were installed.\r\n\r\nThe researchers also have developed a computer vision tool to help people identify and quantify events of interest, such as releases from a smokestack. Users can correlate the visual conditions with hourly reports of fine particulate matter, ozone and other pollutant levels recorded by Allegheny County Health Department air monitoring stations.", "popularity": 0, "people": [ "Illah Nourbakhsh", "Paul Dille", "Randy Sargent" ], "labs": [ "CREATE Lab" ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "204", "336", "333", "2", "3" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/another-brown-cloud-wall-1024x614.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "1088", "title": "Carnegie Mellon Unveils Lunar Rover \u201cAndy\u201d", "content": "Carnegie Mellon University has unveiled Andy, a four-wheeled robot designed to scramble up steep slopes and survive the temperature swings and high radiation encountered while exploring the moon\u2019s pits, caves and polar ice.\r\n\r\n\u201cEvery extraterrestrial robot carries some DNA from Carnegie Mellon, but Andy would be the first true CMU robot to make the leap from Earth,\u201d said William \u201cRed\u201d Whittaker, professor of robotics and director of the Field Robotics Center. \u201cThis is the culmination of lots of work by lots of people and is the next step toward Carnegie Mellon becoming a spacefaring university.\u201d\r\n\r\nAndy, which derives its moniker from university namesakes Andrew Carnegie and Andrew Mellon, was developed by a largely student workforce and drew on expertise and resources from across the university, including the School of Computer Science, the College of Engineering, the College of Fine Arts and the Mellon College of Science.\r\n\r\nThe robot is Carnegie Mellon\u2019s contribution to an effort led by Pittsburgh\u2019s Astrobotic Technology to land a robot on the moon and win the $20 million-plus Google Lunar XPrize.", "popularity": 0, "people": [ "Curtis Boirum", "Heather Jones", "Jon Anderson", "Nate Otten", "Red Whittaker; Joe Bartels" ], "labs": [ "Field Robotics Center" ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "342", "3" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/andy-small-1024x682.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "1076", "title": "A New Twist on Peanut Butter Jars", "content": "Stephen Smith, a systems engineer and a student in the Robotics Institute's Master of Science Robotics Systems Development program, already hopes to revolutionize the food industry by making it easier to clean out peanut butter jars and other food containers.\r\n\r\nAs CEO of Jar With A Twist, Smith is working to find vendors interested in using the next-generation container, which uses a screw thread to move the contents of the jar to the top.\r\n\r\nThe MRSD curriculum provides a broad education in the sciences and technologies of robotics, reinforces theory through hands-on laboratory projects and exposes students to practical business principles and skills.\u00a0Graduates are being trained to go on to roles such as chief technology officers and other executive roles at companies.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe give them the tools and vocabulary and make them aware of how the world really works so they can hit the ground running much, much faster,\u201d said MRSD Director Hagen Schempf.", "popularity": 0, "people": [ "Hagen Schempf", "Stephen Smith" ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "336", "3" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/JarWithATwist2-1024x681.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "1071", "title": "Popular Science Honors Four Projects as \"Best of What's New\"", "content": "Four inventions that trace their origins to the School of Computer Science and, particularly, the Robotics Institute, have been honored by the annual Best of What\u2019s New Awards by Popular Science.\r\n\r\nThis year\u2019s winners, published in the magazine\u2019s December issue, include the Flex System, a neck surgery tool based on snake robot research; 360fly, a panoramic video camera; 3-D Object Manipulation Software, a photo editing tool, and LiveLight, a method for automatically editing out the boring parts of personal or security videos.", "popularity": 0, "people": [ "Howie Choset", "Natasha Kholgade", "Tomas Simon", "Yaser Sheikh" ], "labs": [ "Biorobotics Laboratory", "Computer Graphics Lab" ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "204", "191", "339", "3" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/BOWN-comp-1024x629.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "1067", "title": "Martial Hebert Named Robotics Institute Director", "content": "Martial Hebert, a leading researcher in computer vision and robotics at Carnegie Mellon University since 1984, will become director of the university\u2019s Robotics Institute.\r\n\r\n\u201cMartial is a widely admired and respected leader in robotics,\u201dsaid Andrew Moore, dean of the School of Computer Science. \u201cOver the years, he and the people who have worked with him have produced some of the most impactful work on robot vision and sensing that the world has seen. We are all very excited to have him lead one of CMU's most important centers of excellence.\u201d\r\n\r\nA native of Chatou, France, who earned a doctorate in computer science at the University of Paris, Hebert joined the Robotics Institute in 1984, just five years after the Robotics Institute was founded, and was named a full professor in 1999. The Robotics Institute has since grown into the world\u2019s largest robotics education and research institution, with an annual research budget of more than $54 million.\r\n\r\n\"Having joined the institute shortly after its creation, I am honored and thrilled to now have the opportunity to work with the faculty, students and staff to shape the next phase of its journey,\" Hebert said.", "popularity": 0, "people": [ "Andrew Moore", "Martial Hebert" ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "204", "3" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Martial-Hebert-and-Andrew-Moore-in-Panoptic-Studio-1024x682.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "1064", "title": "Robotics Institute's Inflatable Robotic Arm Inspires Design of Disney's Baymax", "content": "When Don Hall saw a robot arm made of balloons while visiting Carnegie Mellon University\u2019s Robotics Institute several years ago, he knew instantly that Baymax, a pivotal character in the animated feature he was co-directing for Disney, also would be an inflatable robot.\r\n\r\nIn the new comedy-adventure, \"Big Hero 6,\" Baymax, a gentle robot designed to care for humans, is transformed into a warrior and joins a band of high-tech heroes.\r\n\r\nThough fictional, the balloon-like robot reflects a growing field of research at Carnegie Mellon University known as soft robotics.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe movie is a tremendous win for soft robotics,\u201d said Chris Atkeson, professor of robotics, in whose lab the inflatable robotic arm was developed by former student Siddharth Sanan. He said mobile robots made from soft materials \u2014 fabrics, balloons, light plastics \u2014 offer advantages over metal robots, including lower weight, lower cost and greater safety when operating near people.\r\n\r\n ", "popularity": 0, "people": [ "Chris Atkeson" ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "336", "2", "3" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Baymax_Official_2014-small-1024x782.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "1010", "title": "HCI Capstone team makes significant improvements to robotic arm controller", "content": "A project team in the HCI Undergraduate Capstone Project collaborated with researchers in the Personal Robotics Lab to design a new control for a popular assistive robotic arm. It is shown by pilot studies to dramatically cut cognitive demand, frustration, and the level of exerted effort by users.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nThe team consisted of Whitney Aaronson, Yeon Soo Park, Kevin Schaefer, and Shreepal Shah. They spent the semester with working with Laura Herlant, Dr. Tekin Mericli, and Professor Siddhartha Srinivasa of the Robotics Institute\u2019s Personal Robotics Lab.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nThe robotic arm, MICO by Kinova Robotics, is an innovative wheelchair-mounted robotic manipulator arm with a two-fingered hand intended for people with paraplegia. The team found that its current control mechanisms are severely lacking in usability and learnability, finding it \u201cmentally exhausting\u201d to perform even simple tasks.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nThe team began by creating a simple experiment to evaluate people\u2019s experiences and preferences in controlling a robotic arm through both manual, low-level movements (like \u201cmove left\u201d, \u201cmove down\u201d, etc) and high-level, automated movements\u00a0 (like \u201cpick up the bottle\u201d). Their findings demonstrated that most people preferred the use of automated movements because of the ability to focus less on the task of controlling the arm.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nThe redesigned control is based primarily on a recording feature, that allows users of the arm to record repetitive movements and replay them using the joystick already built into in their wheelchair. It was designed in such a way to allow users to feel in control as well as capable of making adjustments to the recordings as they are played back.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nTwo early pilot studies suggest that the redesigned control offers significant benefits in certain situations. One study participant said \u201cIt was definitely easier to use the recording. The [current control] was difficult to use in comparison\u201d, a sentiment shared by many of the participants.\r\n\r\n ", "popularity": 0, "people": [ ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "3" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/team-1024x682.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "911", "title": "TechBridgeWorld Celebrates 10th Anniversary", "content": "2014 marks TechBridgeWorld's 10-year anniversary of developing Technologies with a Global Heart.\r\n\r\nTechBridgeWorld at Carnegie Mellon University is spearheading the innovation and implementation of technological solutions relevant and accessible to developing communities; using technology to build bridges rather than exacerbate divides.", "popularity": 0, "people": [ ], "labs": [ "Field Robotics Center" ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "333", "337", "3" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/uf2-1024x751.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "908", "title": "HCI Undergrad Part of Winning Team at Disney Imagineering", "content": "When she graduates in May, Christina Brant hopes to use the skills she\u2019s developed as an architecture and human-computer interaction major to design user experiences \u2014 physical, digital or both. Her recent first-place finish in the Walt Disney Imagineering \u201cImaginations\u201d competition could make achieving that goal a whole lot easier.\r\n\r\nStarted in 1992, Imaginations challenges teams of students from universities across the U.S. to showcase their skills and talents by designing a Disney-related project. This year, the teams were tasked with selecting a large, densely populated urban environment and designing an experience that temporarily or permanently transformed the city for the enjoyment of its residents and visitors.\r\n\r\nBrant and teammates John Brieger (senior, computer science), Angeline Chen (junior, communications design) and Matthew Ho (fifth-year senior, architecture) began their project not buy jumping right into the design, but by setting goals that would guide their whole process.\r\n\r\n\u201cFirst, we set the overall goal of creating an experience that someone wouldn\u2019t be able to encounter in their lifetime,\u201d Brant said. The team also focused on the notion of cultural exchange, and looked for a solution that would push its limits. They landed on the concept of antipodes \u2014 two locations literally across the world from each other. In this case, Bangkok and Lima, Peru.\r\n\r\nTheir project, aptly titled \u201cAntipode,\u201d takes the form of a two-week cultural-exchange festival that unfolds simultaneously in each country. The team created a backstory, in which two children long ago stumbled upon magical whispering tress \u2014 one each in Bangkok and in Lima. The trees allow the children to talk to each other from opposite ends of the globe, and they grow up sharing their lives. Eventually, though, the trees fill up with memories and stop working.\r\n\r\nThe Antipode Festival celebrates The Great Stumps \u2014 remnants of the magical trees that are converted into stages in each city to host cultural performances, and opening and closing ceremonies. At the closing ceremony, the Great Stump sinks into itself to become a portal between Lima and Bangkok, where guests can communicate with their counterparts from the other side of the world.\r\n\r\nThe students collaborated to create the backstory and characters for their project, and submitted a presentation to Disney Imagineering in November that contained original images and photomontages of their experience. They were named one of the six finalists in December, and earned an all-expense-paid trip to Walt Disney Imagineering the last week in January to present their work to a panel of Imagineering judges. The teams also went behind the scenes to see what makes Walt Disney Imagineering \u2014 and Disneyland \u2014 tick.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe\u2019ve been socializing with Imagineers, learning what they do and seeing projects. It\u2019s been awesome,\u201d Brant said. \u201cIt\u2019s been interesting to see the collaborative process and how things work.\u201d\r\n\r\nAt the end of the week, the CMU team took first place based on criteria Disney Imagineers use to critique their own work: the team\u2019s ability to collaborate across different disciplines and backgrounds; mastery of their individual skills; whether the project provides an engaging guest experience; understanding of the local and tourist market in the chosen location; the ability to tell a compelling and engaging story; and knowledge and passion for the Disney brand and Walt Disney Imagineering. They\u2019re the third consecutive CMU team to finish in the top three, but the first to win it all.\r\n\r\nIn addition to earning a cash prize, the CMU team members gained practical knowledge of design and multidisciplinary collaboration during their process.\r\n\r\n\u201cI learned how to work with people who had different backgrounds and skill sets, and how those can be melded into an overall proposal or product,\u201d Brant said of the experience. \u201cWhen people have diverse backgrounds and experiences, you have different opinions and ways of viewing things. And I think that really challenges and pushes the project further.\u201d\r\n\r\nFor Brant and her teammates, that collaborative style could pay off in a big way, as Disney Imagineering uses Imaginations as a platform for scouting the next generation of creative and innovative thinkers for possible internships with the company. And what better way to design experiences \u2014 physical, digital or both \u2014 than as a Disney Imagineer?", "popularity": 0, "people": [ ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "2" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/brieger-1024x682.png", "" ] ] }, { "id": "904", "title": "Jodi Forlizzi Named to CHI Academy", "content": "Jodi Forlizzi, associate professor of human-computer interaction and design, has been named to the CHI Academy \u2014 an honorary group of individuals who have made substantial contributions to the HCI field. Each year, the Association for Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group in Computer-Human Interaction elects five to seven new academy members whose efforts have shaped the discipline and the industry. Members are selected based on cumulative contributions to the HCI field, impact on the field through development of new research directions and\/or innovations, influence on the work of others, and participation in the ACM SIGCHI community.\r\n\r\nForlizzi's work in the field of interaction design ranges from understanding the limits of human attention to understanding how products and services evoke social behavior. She designs and researches systems ranging from peripheral displays to social and assistive robots and the interfaces that control them. Forlizzi has also applied her design research thinking to new research topics including big data, healthcare, and service design.\r\n\r\nForlizzi joins four current HCII faculty members who belong to the CHI Academy: Professor Scott Hudson, Hillman Professor of Computer Science and Human-Computer Interaction Sara Kiesler, Herbert A. Simon Professor of Human-Computer Interaction Robert E. Kraut, and Professor Brad Myers. Former HCII Professor Bonnie John the late Randy Pausch are also CHI Academy members.", "popularity": 0, "people": [ ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "2" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/forlizzi-691x1024.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "902", "title": "Cassell Assumes Associate Vice Provost Responsibilities", "content": "Justine Cassell, the Charles M. Geschke Director of the Human-Computer Interaction Institute and co-director of The Simon Initiative, has taken on additional responsibilities as the university's Associate Vice Provost of Technology Strategy and Impact.\r\n\r\nIn an email to faculty, Provost Mark Kamlet said Cassell's duties as associate vice provost will include strategy and outreach efforts related to the Global Learning Council as well as university-wide efforts that fall broadly within the area of human-computer interaction.\r\n\r\nThe Global Learning Council, chaired by President Subra Suresh, is a component of The Simon Initiative. The GLC is a distinguished group of thought leaders from across the globe who are committed to the use of science and technology to enhance learning.", "popularity": 0, "people": [ ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "2" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/4-682x1024.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "897", "title": "Crowdsourced RNA Designs Outperform Computer Algorithms", "content": "An enthusiastic group of non-experts, working through an online interface and receiving feedback from lab experiments, has produced designs for RNA molecules that are consistently more successful than those generated by the best computerized design algorithms, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and Stanford University report.\r\n\r\nMoreover, the researchers gathered some of the best design rules and practices generated by players of the online EteRNA design challenge and, using machine learning principles, generated their own automated design algorithm, EteRNABot, which also bested prior design algorithms. Though this improved computer design tool is faster than humans, the designs it generates still don\u2019t match the quality of those of the online community, which now has more than 130,000 members.\r\n\r\nThe research will be published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Online Early Edition.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe quality of the designs produced by the online EteRNA community is just amazing and far beyond what any of us anticipated when we began this project three years ago,\u201d said Adrien Treiulle, an assistant professor of computer science and robotics at Carnegie Mellon, who leads the project with Rhiju Das, an assistant professor of biochemistry at Stanford, and Jeehyung Lee, a Ph.D. student in computer science at Carnegie Mellon.", "popularity": 0, "people": [ ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "3" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/EteRNA-design-1024x614.png", "" ] ] }, { "id": "891", "title": "VizWiz: Nearly Real-Time Answers to Visual Questions", "content": "VizWiz, led by Professor Jeff Bigham of the Human-Computer Interaction Institute, answers questions that people who are blind or visually impaired have about the things around them. Users take a photo, ask a question, and receive answers back quickly from people on the web (the crowd). VizWiz leverages color identification, text recognition, and recognition of objects seen before, but automatic methods are limited to a small subset of questions in practice. The bulk of remaining questions are answered by humans, e.g. \u201cis there a rash on my baby\u2019s head,\u201d \u201cwhat number is on this credit card,\u201d serving as challenges for computer vision. The VizWiz living laboratory illustrates the utility of deploying working crowd-powered systems to understand target domains via deployable Wizard-of-Oz. On-going work is using VizWiz to explore how people may volunteer their friends for microtasks they care about on social media.", "popularity": 0, "people": [ ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "2" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/2012-01-27_Jeff_Bigham_122-1024x681.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "886", "title": "Luis Von Ahn's Duolingo Named iPhone App of the Year", "content": "In an early morning phone call on Tuesday, an Apple executive congratulated Duolingo founder Luis Von Ahn on the Oakland company's designation as 2013 App of the Year -- and warned him to secure company servers for a new onslaught of business.\r\n\r\nNot long after, Apple announced publicly that the language learning software app was the editor's choice for the iTunes App Store 2013 App of the Year.\r\n\r\nThe free iPhone app, described in the computer giant's app store as \"fantastically well-designed and easy to use,\" beat out San Francisco-based photo editing app VSCO Cam and San Francisco-based educational game Endless Alphabet.\r\n\r\nMr. Von Ahn, a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University, reported a definite increase in activity following the announcement.\r\n\r\nBut despite the push from Apple, an influx of new users isn't exactly new to the company this year.\r\n\r\nDuolingo has seen its user base soar from 3 million in May to 16 million in December.\r\n\r\nHe said the designation from Apple was particularly notable because it made Duolingo the first education app to take home App of the Year and also the first non-Silicon Valley based company to take home the prize.\r\n\r\n(excerpt of Deborah M. Todd's article for the Pittsburgh Post Gazette)", "popularity": 0, "people": [ ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "2" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/skill-tree-1024x648.png", "" ] ] }, { "id": "881", "title": "National Science Foundation Features CoBots on \u201cScience Nation\u201d", "content": "Collaborative robots, or CoBots, developed by Manuela Veloso and her Carnegie Mellon research team, have been running errands for occupants of the Gates and Hillman centers for more than two years. Now, they are the subject of a \u201cScience Nation\u201d video and special report by the National Science Foundation.\r\n\r\nThe robots operate autonomously, navigating their own way through the buildings as they deliver mail and messages, or guide visitors. But they also employ what Veloso, professor of computer science, calls \u201csymbiotic autonomy,\u201d in that they recognize their own limitations. Without arms, they must ask people for help pressing elevator buttons, opening doors and placing items in its delivery basket. They also can search the Internet for information that they lack.\r\n\r\nThe CoBots move on an omnidirectional base, ask questions using a synthesized voice and accept input from people through a touchscreen interface. Gates and Hillman center occupants can schedule tasks for CoBot through a special web site.", "popularity": 0, "people": [ ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "3" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/cobot1+2+4-768x1024.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "876", "title": "Bio-Inspired Robotic Device Could Aid Ankle-Foot Rehabilitation", "content": "A soft, wearable device that mimics the muscles, tendons and ligaments of the lower leg could aid in the rehabilitation of patients with ankle-foot disorders such as drop foot, said Yong-Lae Park, an assistant professor of robotics at Carnegie Mellon University.\r\n\r\nPark, working with collaborators at Harvard University, the University of Southern California, MIT and BioSensics, developed an active orthotic device using soft plastics and composite materials, instead of a rigid exoskeleton. The soft materials, combined with pneumatic artificial muscles (PAMs), lightweight sensors and advanced control software, made it possible for the robotic device to achieve natural motions in the ankle.\r\n\r\nThe researchers reported on the development in the journal Bioinspiration & Biomimetics.\r\n\r\nPark, who did the work while a post-doctoral researcher at Harvard\u2019s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, said the same approach could be used to create rehabilitative devices for other joints of the body or even to create soft exoskeletons that increase the strength of the wearer.", "popularity": 0, "people": [ ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "337", "3" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/OrthoticDesign-final-1024x614.png", "" ] ] }, { "id": "872", "title": "DARPA Selects Tartan Rescue Team For Robotics Challenge Funding", "content": "The Tartan Rescue Team from Carnegie Mellon University\u2019s National Robotics Engineering Center ranked third among teams competing in the DARPA Robotics Challenge Trials this weekend in Homestead, Fla., and was selected by the agency as one of eight teams eligible for DARPA funding to prepare for next December\u2019s Finals.\r\n\r\nThe team\u2019s four-limbed CMU Highly Intelligent Mobile Platform, or CHIMP, robot scored 18 out of a possible 32 points during the two-day Trials. It demonstrated its ability to perform such tasks as removing debris, cutting a\r\nhole through a wall and closing a series of valves.\r\n\r\nThe Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is sponsoring the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) to spur development of robotic technologies that could be used to respond to natural or man-made disasters in environments engineered for humans, such as the Fukushima nuclear power plant crisis of 2011.\r\n\r\nSixteen teams competed at the Trials. DARPA on Saturday announced it would enter into funding negotiations with Tartan Rescue and seven other teams, who tallied the highest scores during the Trials. Gill Pratt, DARPA\u2019s program manager for the DRC, said the agency has $8 million budgeted for the teams and intends to spread the money evenly between them.", "popularity": 0, "people": [ ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "342", "3" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Darpa-1024x681.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "869", "title": "Robotics Institute Startup Supports Computer Science Education Week", "content": "BirdBrain Technologies, a Carnegie Mellon University startup, has released a flock of its Finch robots for Computer Science Education Week, Dec. 9\u201315. Developed at the Robotics Institute, the low-cost, tabletop robots are on loan to educators across the U.S. who are using them to help get kids excited about computer programming.\r\n\r\nDesigned for an engaging introduction to the art of programming, the Finch can support more than a dozen programming languages and environments, and are appropriate for students as young as eight years old.\r\n\r\nWith on-board features such as sensors, motors, accelerometers, a buzzer, a full-color beak LED and a USB port, the Finch allows for students to write richly interactive programs.\r\n\r\nTom Lauwers (E'03, CS'06, CS'10), who founded BirdBrain in 2010, said the loan program is meant to introduce computer science and programming to fourth through ninth graders.", "popularity": 0, "people": [ ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "3" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/BirdBrain1010-0011-crop-1024x1019.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "865", "title": "CHIMP Robot Prepares For DARPA Robotics Challenge Trials", "content": "It\u2019s only been a few weeks since Carnegie Mellon University\u2019s National Robotics Engineering Center (NREC) completed assembly of its four-limbed CHIMP robot, but the Tartan Rescue Team has high hopes for the robot\u2019s performance at the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) Trials Dec. 20-21. \u201cWe\u2019ve been on a fast track for the past year, doing detailed design and development of CHIMP at the same time as we were writing and testing its software on surrogate hardware,\u201d said Tony Stentz, NREC director and leader of the Tartan Rescue Team. \u201cThat\u2019s an aggressive approach to producing a robot unlike any we have built and not without risk, but it appears to be paying off.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe software allowed us to investigate a number of issues that influenced the design of the hardware and improved the robot,\u201d he continued. \u201cEven though we would love to have more time to practice with CHIMP prior to the trials, we\u2019ve been pleased so far with its performance.\u201d\r\n\r\nTartan Rescue is one of 17 teams competing at the DRC Trials at the Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Fla. Sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the DRC is intended to spur development of advanced robots that can mitigate disasters while working in environments engineered for people. Based on performance at the trials, up to eight teams will receive DARPA funding to help prepare for the DRC Finals next December.", "popularity": 0, "people": [ ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "3" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/CHIMP-cutout-3.fw_-1024x879.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "859", "title": "Robotics Institute Computer Teaches Itself Common Sense", "content": "A computer program called the Never Ending Image Learner (NEIL) is running 24 hours a day at Carnegie Mellon University, searching the Web for images, doing its best to understand them on its own and, as it builds a growing visual database, gathering common sense on a massive scale.\r\n\r\nNEIL leverages recent advances in computer vision that enable computer programs to identify and label objects in images, to characterize scenes and to recognize attributes, such as colors, lighting and materials, all with a minimum of human supervision. In turn, the data it generates will further enhance the ability of computers to understand the visual world.\r\n\r\nBut NEIL also makes associations between these things to obtain common sense information that people just seem to know without ever saying \u2014 that cars often are found on roads, that buildings tend to be vertical and that ducks look sort of like geese. Based on text references, it might seem that the color associated with sheep is black, but people \u2014 and NEIL \u2014 nevertheless know that sheep typically are white.\r\n\r\n\u201cImages are the best way to learn visual properties,\u201d said Abhinav Gupta, assistant research professor in Carnegie Mellon\u2019s Robotics Institute. \u201cImages also include a lot of common sense information about the world. People learn this by themselves and, with NEIL, we hope that computers will do so as well.\u201d", "popularity": 0, "people": [ ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "341", "204", "3" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/image-1024x576.png", "" ] ] }, { "id": "853", "title": "Curiosity Completes Drive Using CMU Navigation Software", "content": "Using autonomous navigation software first developed at Carnegie Mellon University\u2019s Robotics Institute, NASA\u2019s Mars rover Curiosity this week completed its first two-day autonomous drive, a new technique that enables the mobile laboratory to cover ground faster.\r\n\r\nSince July, Curiosity has been on a 5.3-mile trek from where it worked for the first half of 2013 to the lower reaches of Mount Sharp, a 3.4-mile-high peak within the Gale Crater that is the rover\u2019s next major science destination. Autonomous navigation software can quicken the pace by allowing the rover to safely drive itself across terrain not previously evaluated by human rover drivers on Earth.\r\n\r\n\u201cAutonomous navigation already has made it possible for the rover to extend its range each day, continuing to operate beyond the area we have been able to evaluate in advance,\u201d said Maimone, who earned his Ph.D. in computer science at CMU and worked as a post-doctoral fellow at the Robotics Institute before joining JPL. \u201cBut what really matters is how far we can drive between planning cycles. Autonomous drives over multiple days will allow Curiosity to keep moving, even on weekends and holidays when staff members aren\u2019t available.\u201d", "popularity": 0, "people": [ ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "3" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Curiosity-selfie-736x1024.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "846", "title": "CMU Robotics Kits To Be Integrated Into Local Schools", "content": "An innovative program that introduces robotic technology into non-technical middle school classes will be used by suburban Pittsburgh and rural West Virginia schools in a federally funded research project to identify and nurture students with an affinity for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).\r\n\r\nAll 7th and 8th grade students at Springdale Junior-Senior High School and all 6th, 7th and 8th grade students in the Mingo County (WV) Schools \u2014 a total of 900 children annually \u2014 will use robotic kits developed at Carnegie Mellon University. They will use the kits to complete at least one project or assignment each year in required courses such as health, earth science and language arts.\r\n\r\nThe three-year Creative Robotics project, supported by a $1.5 million National Science Foundation grant, seeks to increase the number and diversity of students in the STEM education pipeline.", "popularity": 0, "people": [ ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "3" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/IMG_1271-1024x682.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "841", "title": "CMU Motion Tracking Technology Is Precise, Inexpensive, Fast", "content": "Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and Disney Research Pittsburgh have devised a motion tracking technology that could eliminate much of the annoying lag that occurs in existing video game systems that use motion tracking, while also being extremely precise and highly affordable.\r\n\r\nCalled Lumitrack, the technology has two components \u2014 projectors and sensors. A structured pattern, which looks something like a very large barcode, is projected over the area to be tracked. Sensor units, either near the projector or on the person or object being tracked, can then quickly and precisely locate movements anywhere in that area.\r\n\r\n\u201cWhat Lumitrack brings to the table is, first, low latency,\u201d said Robert Xiao, a Ph.D. student in Carnegie Mellon\u2019s Human-Computer Interaction Institute (HCII). \u201cMotion tracking has added a compelling dimension to popular game systems, but there\u2019s always a lag between the player\u2019s movements and the movements of the avatar in the game. Lumitrack is substantially faster than these consumer systems, with near real-time response.\u201d", "popularity": 2, "people": [ ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "2" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/IMG3-1024x682.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "832", "title": "CMU's CHIMP Will Compete in DARPA Robotics Challenge Trials", "content": "The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) today announced that a team from Carnegie Mellon University\u2019s National Robotics Engineering Center (NREC) is one of six Track A teams chosen to compete this December in trials for the\u00a0DARPA Robotics Challenge.\r\n\r\nDARPA announced the trials will be Dec. 20-21 at the Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida and will be open to the public.\r\n\r\nThe NREC team is now assembling its four-limbed robot, called the CMU Highly Intelligent Mobile Platform, or CHIMP. The human-size robot is designed to perform tasks, such as climbing ladders, driving vehicles and closing valves that must be accomplished during the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC).", "popularity": 3, "people": [ "Tony Stentz" ], "labs": [ "NREC" ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "341", "3" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/20130523_chimp_tank-1024x635.jpg", "CHIMP can Climb, Roll and Use Its Hands" ] ] }, { "id": "817", "title": "Former Robotics Faculty Member Doug James Wins Katayanagi Prize", "content": "Former Robotics Institute faculty member Doug L. James and Stanford University's Pat Hanrahan, computer scientists whose innovations in computer graphics have enhanced such movies as \u201cAvatar,\u201d \u201cHugo,\u201d \u201cThe Dark Knight,\u201d \u201cFinding Nemo\u201d and \u201cStar Trek,\u201d are each recipients this year of Katayanagi Prizes in Computer Science.\r\n\r\nThe individual prizes honor the best and the brightest in the field of computer science and are presented by Carnegie Mellon University in cooperation with the Tokyo University of Technology (TUT). The prizes are endowed by Japanese entrepreneur and education advocate Koh Katayanagi, who founded TUT and several technical institutions in Japan.", "popularity": 4, "people": [ ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "3" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Doug-James2013-small-crop.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "814", "title": "BirdBrain Offers to Loan 1,000 Robots to K-12 Students", "content": "BirdBrain Technologies, a Pittsburgh startup that commercializes projects developed by Carnegie Mellon University\u2019s CREATE Lab, will loan 1,000 of its Finch robots to school districts or educational groups during Computer Science Education Week (CSEdWeek), Dec. 8-14.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe want to support Computer Science Education Week\u2019s Hour of Code initiative, which seeks to demystify computer code with a one-hour introductory activity for 10 million students,\u201d said Tom Lauwers, a Ph.D. graduate of the Robotics Institute and the founder of BirdBrain. \u201cFinch was developed at the Robotics Institute specifically to make computer programming more compelling for novices, so we want to make the robots available to as many students as possible that week.\u201d\r\n\r\nBirdBrain will loan the robots to up to 20 school districts or educational organizations.", "popularity": 14, "people": [ ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "3" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/BirdBrain1010-0011-crop-1024x1019.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "805", "title": "Myers Once Again Wins \u201cMost Influential\u201d Award", "content": "Brad A. Myers, professor in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute, will be honored for the second year in a row as the author of a Most Influential Paper at the IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing, (VL\/HCC). He is the first person to win the award twice since it was established in 2008.\r\n\r\nMyers and his co-authors \u2014 former students Andrew Ko, the first author, is now an assistant professor at the University of Washington, and Htet Htet Aung, now a principal user experience designer at Harris Healthcare Solutions in the Washington, D.C., area \u2014 will receive the Most Influential Paper award at VL\/HCC 2013, Sept. 15\u201319 in San Jose, Calif. The symposium is the premier international forum for research on how computation can be made easier to express, manipulate, and understand.", "popularity": 10, "people": [ ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "2" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/brad-myers-2006-770x1024.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "801", "title": "Study Finds Most Internet Users Seek Anonymity Online", "content": "A new survey by the Pew Research Center\u2019s Internet Project and Carnegie Mellon University finds that most Internet users would like to be anonymous online, but many think it is not possible to be completely anonymous online.\u00a0Some of the key findings:\r\n\r\n-86% of Internet users have taken steps online to remove or mask their digital footprints\u2014ranging from clearing cookies to encrypting their email.\r\n\r\n-55% of Internet users have taken steps to avoid observation by specific people, organizations, or the government.\r\n\r\nThe representative survey of 792 Internet users also finds that notable numbers of Internet users say they have experienced problems because others stole their personal information or otherwise took advantage of their visibility online. Specifically:\r\n\r\n-21% of Internet users have had an email or social networking account compromised or taken over by someone else without permission.\r\n\r\n-12% have been stalked or harassed online.\r\n\r\n-10% have had important personal information stolen such as their Social Security Number, credit card, or bank account information.\r\n\r\n-6% have been the victim of an online scam and lost money.\r\n\r\n-6% have had their reputation damaged because of something that happened online.\r\n\r\n-4% have been led into physical danger because of something that happened online.", "popularity": 5, "people": [ ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "2" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/8689936295_1d0e1e775f_o-1024x670.jpg", "Sara Kiesler, an author of the report and Professor of the HCI Institute" ] ] }, { "id": "780", "title": "Romibo Robot Designed to Assist in Social Therapy", "content": "The Romibo Robot Project is an evolving robot for motivation, education and social therapy. Our project goal is to improve research techniques through the use of robots and social therapies. The robot has been designed around applications for individuals with conditions including autism, traumatic brain injury and dementia.\u00a0Romibo includes features taken from other therapeutic robots\u00a0currently used in research, such as Keepon, Pleo and Paro. The Romibo Project stands out by providing a low-cost development platform while providing the necessary features for use in a wide range of social therapies. The platform features a fully customizable design,\u00a0allowing for individual creativity, ease of assembly and experimentation. Romibo is a social robot, able to convey emotions, communicate socially, and form relationships with individuals.", "popularity": 72, "people": [ "Aubrey Shick" ], "labs": [ "Quality of Life Technology Center" ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "336", "337", "2", "3" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/I-Spy-Photo-1024x768.jpg", "" ], [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Romibo-Ian-Drawing-1024x744.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "773", "title": "Undergraduates design iPad app to track pressure ulcers", "content": "As part of Professor Anind Dey's Designing Human-Centered Software course, a team of undergraduates designed and prototyped an iPad app to help nurses track, analyze, and treat clinical pressure ulcers. Their tool\u00a0helps nurses collect data and photos of an ulcer over time, step through existing tests, keep track of repeated treatments, and analyze everything later.\r\n\r\nWhile learning essential HCI methods such as contextual inquiry, the team spent months interviewing and shadowing physicians, researchers, and nursing staff at local hospitals and nursing homes.\u00a0They identified problems in existing work flows and gather a clear understanding of the constraints of working in a hospital environment.\r\n\r\nThe team was comprised of undergraduates Jessica Aguero, MacKenzie Bates, Ryhan Hassan, Sukhada Kulkarni, and Stephanie Yeung.", "popularity": 32, "people": [ "Anind Dey" ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ "Designing Human-Centered Software" ], "routines": [ "337", "2", "339" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Photo-2013-03-19-05.29.23-AM-1024x768.png", "" ], [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/856187_10151482013824497_146436408_o-1024x768.jpg", "" ], [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/P2213195-1024x768.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "760", "title": "HCII Ph.D. Student Receives Microsoft Research Fellowship", "content": "Jeff Rzeszotarski, a Ph.D. student in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute, is among 12 students of U.S. universities who are recipients of 2013 Microsoft Research Ph.D. Fellowships.\r\n\r\nRzeszotarski studies how crowds of people generate content online and how to improve the content that they create. By looking at the behavior of people as they produce content, his research identifies places where people may be going wrong, so interventions can be developed to help them make better contributions.\r\n\r\nThe two-year fellowship covers all tuition and fees for the 2013-14 and 2014-15 academic years and includes a travel allowance, the offer of a paid internship, and a $28,000 annual stipend.", "popularity": 34, "people": [ "Jeffrey Rzeszotarski" ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "2" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/jeff-rzeszotarsk-819x1024.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "756", "title": "Tiramisu App Wins FCC Chairman\u2019s Award", "content": "The Carnegie Mellon research team that created Tiramisu, a smartphone app that enables transit riders to create realtime information about bus schedules and seating, has won this year\u2019s Federal Communications Commission Chairman\u2019s Award for Advancement in Accessibility in the Geo-Location Services category.The crowdsourcing app was launched in Pittsburgh in 2011 and now also is in use in Syracuse, NY. Preparations are underway to deploy it in Brooklyn, NY.Tiramisu Transit was developed by researchers in the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Accessible Public Transportation (RERC-APT), funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research. The work is also supported in part by CMU\u2019s Traffic21 initiative and the US Department of Transportation.", "popularity": 23, "people": [ ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "2", "339", "338" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Tiramisu-1024x680.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "751", "title": "Spontaneous Design Studio!", "content": "Professor Haakon Faste created Spontaneous Design Studio in Fall 2012 in response to a perceived lack of design-oriented elective courses in the Masters in HCI curriculum. While traditional HCI courses tend to focus on targeted topics and areas of existing knowledge, the aim of this course is to build creative confidence, intuition, motivation, empathy, teamwork and fulfillment while working on unconstrained and ambiguous projects. To this end, the course has no syllabus or pre-determined plan. Instead, the first assignment is to design the second assignment and everything else happens spontaneously thereafter.\r\n\r\nSome of the projects students have worked on in this course have included: mobile shopping applications, Jack-o-lanterns, philanthropy networks, self-driving cars, talking refrigerators, elegant shoes, life philosophies, and large interactive public displays (specifically: Robowall, the interface you're looking at right now!)", "popularity": 25, "people": [ "Haakon Faste" ], "labs": [ "Creative Systems Lab" ], "courses": [ "Deliberate Design Studio", "Spontaneous Design Studio" ], "routines": [ "336", "2" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Photo-Oct-15-2-20-18-PM-e1375694105606-768x1024.jpg", "" ], [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/shoe-wall-2-1024x764.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "735", "title": "John Anderson Earns Highest Honor From Association for Psychological Science", "content": "CMU's John R. Anderson\u2014whose human thought and cognition research has revolutionized how we learn\u2014has been selected to receive the Association for Psychological Science's (APS) William James Lifetime Achievement Award for Basic Research. The award, APS's highest honor, recognizes Anderson's profound impact on the field of psychological science and his significant intellectual contributions to the basic science of psychology.\r\n\r\n\"John Anderson is being recognized both for the importance of his theoretical contributions and for his success in transitioning his theories into widely used applications having great societal impact,\" said John Lehoczky, dean of the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences. \"It is entirely fitting that John would be selected for the William James Lifetime Achievement Award, as he is among the very best scholars of psychological science.\"", "popularity": 26, "people": [ ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "2" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/anderson-631x1024.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "700", "title": "OmniTouch: Wearable Multitouch Interaction Everywhere", "content": "OmniTouch is a body-worn projection\/sensing\u00a0system that enables graphical, interactive, multitouch input on everyday surfaces. Our shoulder-worn implementation allows users to manipulate interfaces projected onto the environment (e.g., walls, tables), held objects (e.g., notepads, books), and even their own bodies (e.g., hands, lap). This\u00a0approach allows users to capitalize on the tremendous surface area the real world provides. For example, the surface area of one hand alone exceeds that of typical smartphone; tables are often an order of magnitude larger than a tablet computer. If these ad hoc surfaces can be appropriated in an on-demand way, users could retain all of the benefits of mobility while simultaneously expanding the interactive capability.\u00a0", "popularity": 63, "people": [ "Andy Wilson", "Chris Harrison", "Hrvoje Benko" ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "2", "339", "338" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/IMG_0262-1024x682.jpg", "" ], [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/IMG_0255-1024x682.jpg", "" ], [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/IMG_0209-1024x682.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "695", "title": "FingerSense: Enhancing Finger Interaction on Touch Surfaces", "content": "Six years ago, multitouch devices went mainstream, and changed the industry and our lives. However, our fingers can do so much more than just poke and pinch at screens. FingerSense is an enhancement to touch interaction that allows conventional screens to know how the finger is being used for input: fingertip, knuckle or nail.\u00a0This opens several new and powerful interaction opportunities for touch input, especially in mobile devices, where input bandwidth is limited due to small screens and fat fingers. For example, a knuckle tap could serve as a \u201cright click\u201d for mobile device touch interaction.", "popularity": 45, "people": [ "Chris Harrison", "Greg Lew", "Julia Schwarz", "Robert Xiao", "Scott Hudson" ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "2", "339" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/IMG_9109-1024x682.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "691", "title": "Zoomboard: A Diminutive QWERTY Keyboard for Ultra-Small Devices", "content": "The proliferation of touchscreen devices has made soft keyboards a routine part of life. However, ultra-small computing platforms like the Sony SmartWatch and Apple iPod Nano lack a means of text entry. This limits their potential, despite the fact they are capable computers. We created a soft keyboard interaction technique called ZoomBoard that enables text entry on ultra-small devices. Our approach uses iterative zooming to enlarge otherwise impossibly tiny keys to comfortable size. We based our design on a QWERTY layout, so that it is immediately familiar to users and leverages existing skill. As the ultimate test, we ran a text entry experiment on a keyboard measuring just 16 x 6mm \u2013 smaller than a US penny. Users achieved roughly 10 words per minute, allowing users to enter phone numbers and searches such as \"closest pizza\" and \"directions home\" both quickly and quietly.", "popularity": 38, "people": [ "Amy Ogan", "Chris Harrison", "Jason Wiese", "Stephen Oney" ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "2", "339" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/IMG_0524-1024x682.jpg", "" ], [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/IMG_5976-1024x682.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "683", "title": "Using Shear as a Supplemental Input Channel for Rich Touchscreen Interaction", "content": "Touch input is constrained, typically only providing finger X\/Y coordinates. To access and switch between different functions, valuable screen real estate must be allocated to buttons and menus, or users must perform special actions, such as touch-and-hold, double tap, or multi-finger chords. Even still, this only adds a few bits of additional information, leaving touch interaction unwieldy for many tasks. In this work, we suggest using a largely unutilized touch input dimension: shear (force tangential to a screen\u2019s surface). Similar to pressure, shear can be used in concert with conventional finger positional input. However, unlike pressure, shear provides a rich, analog 2D input space, which has many powerful uses.", "popularity": 29, "people": [ "Chris Harrison", "Scott Hudson" ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "2", "339" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/IMG_4023-1-1024x697.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "679", "title": "WorldKit: Ad Hoc Interactive Applications on Everyday Surfaces", "content": "Creating interfaces in the world, where and when we need them, has been a persistent goal of research areas such as ubiquitous computing, augmented reality, and mobile computing. The WorldKit system makes use of a paired depth camera and projector to make ordinary surfaces instantly interactive. Using this system, touch-based interactivity can, without prior calibration, be placed on nearly any unmodified surface literally with a wave of the hand, as can other new forms of sensed interaction. From a user perspective, such interfaces are easy enough to instantiate that they could, if desired, be recreated or modified \u201ceach time we sat down\u201d by \u201cpainting\u201d them next to us. From the programmer\u2019s perspective, our system encapsulates these capabilities in a simple set of abstractions that make the creation of interfaces quick and easy. Further, it is extensible to new, custom interactors in a way that closely mimics conventional 2D graphical user interfaces, hiding much of the complexity of working in this new domain.", "popularity": 28, "people": [ "Chris Harrison", "Robert Xiao", "Scott Hudson" ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "204", "2", "339", "338" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/IMG_5733-1024x682.jpg", "" ], [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/IMG_5644-1024x682.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "673", "title": "Acoustic Barcodes", "content": "Acoustic Barcodes are structured patterns of physical notches that, when swiped with a fingernail, produce a complex sound that can be resolved to a unique ID number. A single, inexpensive contact microphone attached to a surface or object is used to capture the waveform. Acoustic Barcodes could be used for information retrieval or to triggering interactive functions. They are passive, durable and inexpensive to produce. Further, they can be applied to a wide range of materials and objects, including plastic, wood, glass and stone.", "popularity": 30, "people": [ "Chris Harrison", "Robert Xiao", "Scott Hudson" ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "2", "338" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/IMG_6170f-1024x682.jpg", "" ], [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/IMG_6290f-1024x768.jpg", "" ], [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/IMG_6388f-1024x768.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "567", "title": "Schwartz Team Demonstrates Mind Control of Robot Arm", "content": "A research team led by Andrew Schwartz, a professor of neurobiology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and an adjunct faculty member in the Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute, has enabled a woman with longstanding quadriplegia to control a human-like robot arm using two electrodes implanted in her brain.Schwartz and his colleagues reported in The Lancet on the brain-computer interface (BCI) technology and the training programs that made it possible for Jan Scheuermann of Whitehall Borough, Pa., to move the arm, turn and bend a wrist and close a hand. Scheuermann was even able to feed herself a bit of chocolate.", "popularity": 13, "people": [ ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "3" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Schwartz-robot-hand-1024x681.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "561", "title": "HERB Debuts in Oreo \u201cCookie vs. Creme\u201d Video", "content": "The Robotics Institute\u2019s Home Exploring Robot Butler, better known as HERB, is featured in a YouTube video that is part of Oreo\u2019s ongoing \u201cCookie vs. Creme\u201d campaign. The video, shot Feb. 12 in the Personal Robotics Lab in Newell-Simon Hall, debuted March 8.Carnegie Mellon has produced a \u201cbehind the scenes\u201d video regarding HERB\u2019s video shoot for Oreo. And check out HERB's new website.HERB, a two-armed, mobile robot, twists an Oreo apart and scrapes off what it terms \u201cthe precious creme\u201d in the video, the fourth and final \u201cOreo Separator\u201d machine in the online series. Sidd Srinivasa, associate professor of robotics, and Pras Velagapudi, project scientist, play prominent roles as well.", "popularity": 44, "people": [ ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "3" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/HERB-Oreo-Twist-1024x680.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "558", "title": "Human-Scale CHIMP Robot Has Four Limbs, But Moves Like a Tank", "content": "A team from Carnegie Mellon University\u2019s National Robotics Engineering Center is building a new class of robot to compete in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency\u2019s (DARPA) Robotics Challenge \u2014 a human-size robot that moves, not by walking, but on rubberized tracks on the extremities of each of its four limbs.Though the appearance of the CMU Highly Intelligent Mobile Platform, or CHIMP, is vaguely simian, its normal mode of locomotion will be much like that of a tank, with the tracks of all four limbs on the ground. This configuration would offer a particular advantage when moving over debris and rough terrain. But CHIMP also can move on the treads of just two limbs when needed, such as when it must use one or more limbs to open a valve, or to operate power tools.CHIMP will have to do that and more during the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC), in which robots will have human-like capabilities to respond to calamities such as the 2011 Fukushima nuclear plant disaster. Climbing ladders and driving vehicles are among the obstacles robots will face in environments engineered for people.", "popularity": 116, "people": [ ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "3" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/CHIMP-1024x540.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "555", "title": "Nourbakhsh's Book Suggests Humans Brace Themselves for Robo-Innovation", "content": "Robots already vacuum our floors, help dispose of bombs and are exploring Mars. But in his new book, \u201cRobot Futures\u201d Illah Nourbakhsh, professor of robotics at Carnegie Mellon University, argues that robots are not just wondrous machines, but a new species that bridges the material and digital worlds. The ramifications for society are both good and bad, he says, and people need to start thinking about that.\r\n\r\nIn the book, published by MIT Press, Nourbakhsh contemplates what might happen in the not-so-distant future as robots become both ubiquitous and highly capable. Some robots no doubt will display annoying behaviors \u2014 what he calls \u201crobot smog.\u201d Robots, in turn, will bring out the worst in some people, who will see robots as targets for bullying and other abuse. Robots will serve as physical avatars, enabling people to interact simultaneously with others in farflung locations and circumstances. They may even enable people to assume new and different forms. Robots may well change perceptions of what it means to be human.", "popularity": 118, "people": [ ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "3" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/9780262018623-698x1024.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "552", "title": "More Than a Good Eye: HERB Uses Arms and More To Discover Objects", "content": "A robot can struggle to discover objects in its surroundings when it relies on computer vision alone. But by taking advantage of all of the information available to it \u2014 an object\u2019s location, size, shape and even whether it can be lifted \u2014 a robot can continually discover and refine its understanding of objects, say researchers at Carnegie Mellon University\u2019s Robotics Institute.\n\nThe Lifelong Robotic Object Discovery (LROD) process developed by the research team enabled a two-armed, mobile robot to use color video, a Kinect depth camera and non-visual information to discover more than 100 objects in a home-like laboratory, including items such as computer monitors, plants and food items.", "popularity": 49, "people": [ ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "3" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/HERB-explores-objects-1024x682.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "549", "title": "NREC's Robotic Paint-stripping System Is Edison Award Winner", "content": "A robotic paint-stripping system being developed by Carnegie Mellon University's National Robotics Engineering Center and Concurrent Technologies Corporation of Johnstown, Pa., was named a Gold winner in the materials science category of the 2013 Edison Awards, announced April 25 at an awards ceremony in Chicago.The Advanced Robotic Laser Coating Removal System (ARLCRS) uses high-powered lasers mounted on mobile robotic platforms to remove paint and coatings from aircraft. NREC and CTC are developing the system for the U.S. Air Force. NREC is building six autonomous mobile robots, which will each be equipped with a high-power laser coating remover developed by CTC. As part of a two-year project, the robots will be deployed in teams to remove paint and other coatings from aircraft at Hill Air Force Base in northern Utah.", "popularity": 45, "people": [ ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "3" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Paint-stripping-robot-system-C130-1024x768.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "546", "title": "CMU Joins Launch of Alliance To Mentor African-American Computer Scientists", "content": "Carnegie Mellon University has joined Clemson University and five other university partners to launch the Institute for African-American Mentoring in Computing Science (iAAMCS), a U.S. resource for increasing African-American participation in computing.The alliance is supported by a $5 million grant from the National Science Foundation and is directed by Juan Gilbert, chairman of the Human-Centered Computing Division at Clemson, and Shaundra Daily, assistant professor in Clemson\u2019s School of Computing. It will extend the work of current NSF alliances and demonstration projects that seek to increase the number of African-Americans pursuing careers in computer science.", "popularity": 43, "people": [ ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "3" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/calliope2sp-iaamcs-878x1024.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "543", "title": "Siewiorek Named Director of Quality of Life Technology Center", "content": "Daniel P. Siewiorek has been named director of the Quality of Life Technology (QoLT) Center, a National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center. Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh are partners in the center, which focuses on creating intelligent systems that improve the quality of life for everyone while enabling older adults and people with disabilities.\r\n\r\nSiewiorek, a longtime CMU faculty member who had been acting director since the fall of 2011, was selected for the position following a nine-month national search process. He succeeds Takeo Kanade, director emeritus and professor of computer science and robotics.", "popularity": 176, "people": [ ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "337", "2", "3" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Siewiorek_Dan_Tobin_300dpi_July_2012-682x1024.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "539", "title": "Zo\u00eb Returns To Atacama On NASA Mission To Search for Subsurface Life", "content": "The autonomous, solar-powered Zo\u00eb, which became the first robot to map microbial life during a 2005 field expedition in Chile\u2019s Atacama Desert, is heading back to the world\u2019s driest desert this month on a NASA astrobiology mission led by Carnegie Mellon University and the SETI Institute. This time, Zo\u00eb is equipped with a one-meter drill to search for subsurface life.As before, Zo\u00eb will be testing technologies and techniques that will be necessary for exploring life on Mars. NASA\u2019s Curiosity rover is finding life-friendly areas on the Red Planet and the space agency now is deciding how best to equip a rover set to follow in Curiosity\u2019s tracks in 2020.", "popularity": 80, "people": [ ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "3" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Zoe-Atacama-2013-1024x682.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "534", "title": "CMU's CHIMP Will Compete in DARPA Robotics Challenge Trials", "content": "The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) today announced that a team from Carnegie Mellon University\u2019s National Robotics Engineering Center (NREC) is one of six Track A teams chosen to compete this December in trials for the DARPA Robotics Challenge. The Track A teams, which are building their own robots for the competition, join seven previously announced Track B and C teams that will use humanoid robots supplied to them by DARPA. The NREC team is now assembling its four-limbed robot, called the CMU Highly Intelligent Mobile Platform, or CHIMP. The human-size robot is designed to perform tasks, such as climbing ladders, driving vehicles and closing valves that must be accomplished during the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC).", "popularity": 56, "people": [ ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "3" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/CHIMP-arm-and-head-768x1024.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "531", "title": "Startup by RI Alums Gets High-Profile Spot at Apple WWDC", "content": "Anki, a robotics startup founded by a trio of Robotics Institute alumni, emerged from stealth mode to announce its first product during one of the highest profile events in the tech world: the keynote of Apple\u2019s Worldwide Developers Conference June 10 in San Francisco.Anki, a robotics startup founded by Carnegie Mellon University alumni, emerged from stealth mode to announce its first product during one of the highest profile events in the tech world: the keynote of Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference, June 10 in San Francisco.Boris Sofman, who received a Ph.D. from the Robotics Institute, led the demonstration of Anki Drive, an immersive racing game that features motorized cars with artificial intelligence.The game goes on sale this fall, and the app is available at the iTunes Store.", "popularity": 106, "people": [ ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "3" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Screen-Shot-2013-06-10-at-10.14.00-AM-1024x576.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "527", "title": "CMDragons Take Chinese Team Down to the Wire in RoboCup Final", "content": "The CMDragons, Carnegie Mellon University\u2019s team in the RoboCup small-size league, performed impressively in the finals of the RoboCup 2013 world championship on June 30 in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, before finally falling to the ZJUNlict team from China\u2019s Zhejiang University by the narrowest of margins in a shoot out.Manuela Veloso, professor of computer science, said the team faced fierce competition not only in the final, but also in the quarter final and semi-final contests. In the final, the two teams were deadlocked, 2-2, at the end of regulation as well as following overtime play. In the shoot-out, the CMU robots scored on all but one of the penalty shots, giving Zheijiang a 7-6 edge.\u201cWe came in second place, in the closest possible way to first,\u201d Veloso said. \u201cThe team from China even asked us to go up on the stage together with them for the award ceremony.\u201dThe team is led by Joydeep Biswas, a Robotics Institute Ph.D. student, and includes Juan Pablo Mendoza, also a robotics Ph.D. student; Danny Zhu, a Ph.D. student in the Computer Science Department, and computer science undergraduates Ben Choi, Steve Klee, and Alex Etling. Mike Licitra, formerly a senior engineer at NREC, provided the robots\u2019 design and hardware.", "popularity": 47, "people": [ ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "3" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/RoboCup-award-ceremony-2013-1024x682.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "524", "title": "CMU Snake Robot Navigates Pipes of Nuclear Power Plant", "content": "Tests of a modular snake robot in an Austrian nuclear power plant proved the multi-jointed robot with a camera on its head can crawl through a variety of steam pipes and connecting vessels, suggesting it could be a valuable inspection tool, report researchers at Carnegie Mellon University\u2019s Robotics Institute.The snake robot was able to maneuver through multiple bends, slip through open valves and negotiate vessels with multiple openings. With a video camera and LED light on its head, the snake was able to peer into holes and get multiple views of items inside the pipes.", "popularity": 49, "people": [ ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "3" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Snakebot-and-Matthew-Tesch-1024x680.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "521", "title": "Six Months of CPU Time Yields Detailed Portrait of Cloth Behavior", "content": "It would be impossible to compute all of the ways a piece of cloth might shift, fold and drape over a moving human figure. But after six months of computation, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of California, Berkeley, are pretty sure they\u2019ve simulated almost every important configuration of that cloth.\u201cI believe our approach generates the most beautiful and realistic cloth of any real-time technique,\u201d said Adrien Treuille, associate professor of computer science and robotics at Carnegie Mellon.To create this cloth database, the team took advantage of the immense computing power available in the cloud, ultimately using 4,554 central processing unit (CPU) hours to generate 33 gigabytes of data.", "popularity": 77, "people": [ ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "3" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/ClothSimulation-crop2.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "518", "title": "HERB Wins Top Honors at Robot Film Festival", "content": "\u201cDo Robots Dream of Cookies?\u201d a video starring the Robotics Institute\u2019s HERB, the Home Exploring Robot Butler, won top honors at the Robot Film Festival July 20-21 in San Francisco.The video features HERB\u2019s newly acquired ability to separate Oreo cookies and was created as an online component of this year\u2019s \u201cCookie vs. Creme\u201d advertising campaign for the popular brand. Sidd Srinivasa, associate professor of robotics and head of the Personal Robotics Laboratory, and Pras Velagapudi, project scientist, had supporting roles.The festival jury selected the video as the winner of the \u201cBotsker\u201d award for \u201cMost Innovative Technology.\u201d The theme of this year\u2019s festival, \u201cForm vs. Function,\u201d made that a significant award, said Heather Knight, a Ph.D. student in robotics and the festival\u2019s executive director.", "popularity": 48, "people": [ ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "3" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/RobotFilmFestivalHERB-Botsker.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "501", "title": "Designing Robowall", "content": "Robowall was designed to\u00a0serve as an interactive public exhibition in Newell-Simon Hall of the amazing projects of the HCII and Robotics Institute. It was designed and developed throughout the 2012-2013 school year by students in Professor Haakon Faste's Deliberate Design Studio. It was built by Jason Block (MHCI), Susan Buenafe (MHCI), Kristine Mendoza (MHCI), Chris Mueller (MHCI), Kevin Schaefer (IS + HCI), and Heidi Yang (Tepper).\r\n\r\n ", "popularity": 112, "people": [ "Chris Mueller", "Haakon Faste", "Heidi Yang", "Jason Block", "Kevin Schaefer", "Kristin Mendoza", "Susan Buenafe" ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ "Deliberate Design Studio", "Spontaneous Design Studio" ], "routines": [ "2", "3" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/2013-01-22-16.16.22-1024x768.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "484", "title": "Understanding Data Collection in Autism Education \t", "content": "Autism education programs for children collect and use\u00a0large amounts of behavioral data on each student. PhD Student Gabi Marcu has been investigating this for several years. Staff use\u00a0paper almost exclusively to collect these data, despite\u00a0significant problems they\u00a0face in tracking student data\u00a0in\u00a0situ, filling out data sheets and graphs on a daily basis, and\u00a0using the sheets in collaborative decision making.\r\n\r\nGabi and her team conducted fieldwork to understand data\u00a0collection and use\u00a0in the domain of autism education to explain why current\u00a0technology had not met staff needs. They found that data\u00a0needs are complex and unstandardized, immediate demands\u00a0of\u00a0the job interfere with staff ability to collect\u00a0in situ\u00a0data,\u00a0and existing technology for data collection is inadequate. They also identified opportunities for technology to improve\u00a0sharing and use of\u00a0data.", "popularity": 41, "people": [ ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "2" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/2012-10-19-10.26.34-768x1024.jpg", "" ] ] }, { "id": "435", "title": "CMU Student Startup Places Payments at Users\u2019 Fingertips", "content": "It may take two to tango, but payments now are as easy as one touch.\r\n\r\nFour Carnegie Mellon University seniors tired of digging through backpacks, pockets and purses for their student identification and debit cards have developed PayTango,\u00a0a fingerprint-based identification and payment system.\r\n\r\nWith majors ranging from information systems and human-computer interaction to industrial design, Brian Groudan, Kelly Lau-Kee, Umang Patel and Christian Reyes combined their expertise to launch their startup.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe believe you should be able to walk into any establishment and prove who you are without carrying anything \u2014 no apps, no cards,\u201d Groudan said. \u201cPayTango can be used for everyday activities like paying for a morning coffee or critical scenarios like identifying patients\u2019 medical information in a hospital.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe startup is attracting attention from media and potential investors. Inc. magazine recently named it among\u00a0\u201cAmerica\u2019s Coolest College Startups\u201d\u00a0for 2013.", "popularity": 42, "people": [ ], "labs": [ ], "courses": [ ], "routines": [ "2", "338" ], "media": [ [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/paytango2-1024x682.jpg", "" ], [ "https:\/\/robowall.hcii.cs.cmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/paytango-1024x682.jpg", "" ] ] } ] }