This Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) award supports the development of interdisciplinary training in Biocentric Robotics at the University of Utah, including students and faculty in mechanical engineering, bioengineering, and the computer sciences. Biocentric robotics concerns the development of robots to physically interact with and assist people, and to attain advanced performance by applying biological principles. Students will be given interdisciplinary training in designing biocentric robots and in the salient aspects of biological systems. The emphasis is on developing the new components, design approaches, and control techniques necessary to build the robots of the future. Trainees from the different departments will undertake a common curriculum in robotics that is augmented with several new courses and new laboratories equipped for training and research. Students are immediately assigned a supervisory committee and commence with a sequence of lab rotations. Trainees will present their work at an annual meeting and will take part in a variety of activities to prepare them for their future careers.
The interdisciplinary curriculum and other activities will prepare trainees to develop robotics to assist humans in all aspects of life. Biocentric robots will be able to aid the physically impaired and elderly, assist in rehabilitation, and assist in surgical procedures. Biologically inspired robot designs will achieve some of the dexterity and capabilities enjoyed by mammals and invertebrates in order to perform tasks that are too dangerous or difficult for humans to do. Outreach activities will utilize robot projects and competitions to interest secondary school students in science and engineering. This project will work with Montana State University and North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University to recruit graduate students. IGERT is an NSF-wide program intended to meet the challenges of educating U.S. Ph.D. scientists and engineers with the interdisciplinary background, deep knowledge in a chosen discipline, and the technical, professional, and personal skills needed for the career demands of the future. The program is intended to catalyze a cultural change in graduate education by establishing innovative new models for graduate education and training in a fertile environment for collaborative research that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries.
This IGERT's theme of Biocentric Robotics emphasized the key role of biology in the future developments of robotics. The subthemes are bioinspiration, biomanipulation, and bioinstrumentation. Bioinspiration: Robots are increasingly playing a role in our everyday lives, and must deal with complex enviroments just like humans do. There are challenges to building robots that can sense, move, and manipulate skillfully in the real world. Biology offers many examples of animals that do just that, whether over land, in the air, or under the water. By studying the design and control principles of such animals, we can be inspired to come up with new robot designs which take advantage of such principles. Biomanipulation: Robots are increasingly coming into physical contact with humans, with a goal of helping them to do some task better or a goal of performing some medical intervention. Surgical robots are now in routine use in many hospitals, but new approaches are being developed such as microrobots in the body. Rehabilitation robots are being developed to assist therapists for patients with motor deficits such as spinal-cord injuries, Parkinson's disease, and stroke. These robots can assume some of the repetitive and strenuous training for such patients, as well as providing totally new therapies that improve outcomes. Microrobots are being developed that can be placed in the body and controlled by external magnetic fields; possible applications include eye surgery, gastroinstestinal camera pills, and cochear impants. Bioinstrumentation: Robotic technology can be applied to develop new instrumentation to monitor a person's mechanical interactions, or to assist in a medical procedure. Instrumented shoes have been developed that measure gait and footfall force. By imaging the change in fingernail coloration during fingerpad contact, either using external cameras or a nail-born miniature optical sensor, the forces of contact can be measured. Spinal-cord injured patients have a hope of being able to walk in the future by direct stimulation of nerves with microelectrode array implants. A robotic platform in an MRI scanner moves a high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) array to heat different parts of a tumor, as an alternative to radiation. There were 16 faculty from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Computing, and Department of Bioengineering who participated in supervising 30 IGERT students and furthering this IGERT's goals. A new faculty position in robotics in the School of Computing was created because of obtaining the IGERT. Students were enrolled in the Robotics Track, a joint program of study for MS and PhD students enrolled in Mechanical Engineering or School of Computing. The Robotics Track requires students to take core courses in the geometry, mechanics and control aspects of robotics, and a course each in computer vision, machine learning or artificial intelligence, and an action category class. A two-semester seminar was required, where the first semester focused on research presentations and the second semester involved professional development lectures by the robotics faculty. Three half-semester research rotations in different laboratories were required to acquaint IGERT trainees with first-hand experience of projects in different laboratories. Courses were tailored or revamped for this IGERT's theme and for the additional instrumentation and robot systems that were obtained with IGERT funding. Two KUKA Agiles robots and two Baxter robots were purchased and used to revamp the laboratory projects of the core Introduction to Robotics course. A Vicon motion tracking system was purchased and used in several courses. Smaller robot systems and instrumentation were obtained and used in several courses as well. The course Artificial Intelligence (AI) was totally revamped and split into two courses (AI and Machine Learning), emphasizing modern probabilistic methods used in advanced robotic systems such as autonomous driving cars. Given that mechanical engineering students are required to take computer science classes (AI/ML, computer vision, and motion planning), a new course Programming for Engineers was created to provide sufficient background. A new course, System Dynamics, was created to augment required control courses. The University of Utah provided space for a small and a large robotics lab. The small robotics lab has the smaller robot systems and various instrumentation, and is used in a variety of Robotics Track courses. The large robotics lab has a high ceiling (50 ft), and is ideal space for large-space motion capture of flying robots, mobile robots, and human motion. This space and the equipment mentioned above is used in research as well as teaching. A number of NSF and other grants have been obtained to support IGERT trainees as they transition off IGERT support, as well as other robotics students. For this IGERT, the robotics faculty promised to create a regional FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) in Salt Lake City. Previously, Utah had only 2 or 3 high school teams participating in a distant regional competition, Las Vegas. The first Utah Regional FRC was held in 2010 at the University of Utah. 30 teams participated, including 12 new teams from Utah. Two years later, the growth in the number of state teams as well as out-of-state teams required the venue to be moved to the Maverik Center. The 2014 regional had 50 teams. The importance of the FRC is recognized by the governor's office and state legislature, and at school district level. The Canyons District is now requiring all of its high schools to field teams.
