2012 Maryland Robotics Day draws hundreds of visitors

• Maryland Robotics Day
• robotics

L-R, top to bottom: Micro Robotics Lab--Microfluidic channels that could some day enable production of a robot segmented "worm." Robotics, Automation and Medical Systems Lab--a "passive grasping" system is explained. Space Systems Lab--a grad student diver talks about the simulated space environment inside the neutral buoyancy tank. Autonomous Systems Lab--autonomous robot vehicles are explained. Perceptual Robotics Lab--A robot with vision learns how to recognize and make a salad. Robot Realization lab; young engineers learn about microrobots from a grad student; a robot that can climb stairs.

Hundreds of robotics professionals from industry and government, along with high school students, their teachers and parents, spent the afternoon of Sept. 21 learning about many kinds of cutting-edge robotics research at Maryland Robotics Day. This large open house event showcased 17 different laboratories affiliated with the University of Maryland’s Maryland Robotics Center.

On display were robots from the center’s five main areas of research:

Collaborative, Cooperative, Networked Robotics: bio-inspired robotics concepts, time-delayed robotics, robotic swarms, robotic cooperation under limited communication, and distributed robotics.

Medical Robotics: MRI-compatible surgical robotics, haptics-enabled AFM, exoskeletons for rehabilitation, and magnetic micromanipulation for drug delivery.

Miniature Robotics: mesoscale robots; bio-inspired sensing, actuation, and locomotion; cell manipulation (optical, AFM based, and micro fluidics); and micro and nano manipulation (optical and magnetic).

Robotics for Extreme Environments: space robotics and autonomous deep-submergence sampling systems.

Unmanned Vehicles: micro air vehicles, unmanned sea surface vehicles, unmanned underwater vehicles, and planetary surface rovers.

The afternoon provides a forum for robotics professionals to discuss research ideas and future collaborations with Maryland faculty, graduate and undergraduate students. It’s also an inspiration for future engineers planning their college careers.

Want to see the robots for yourself? You can view videos of Maryland robots in action any time at our YouTube channel.

Published September 21, 2012