This award supports the collaboration of Professor Arthur C. Sanderson of the Center for Advanced Technology in Automation, Robotics, and Manufacturing and the Department of Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Professor Shin'ichi Yuta, Director of the Intelligent Robot Laboratory, Institute of Information Sciences and Electronics, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan. Project funding will enable Dr. Sanderson to spend six months in Japan, resident at the University of Tsukuba, in order to study topics in experimental robotics including multisensor fusion, sensor-based planning, and distributed architectures. Professor Sanderson has previously developed important analytical results and algorithms which enable the design of sensor-based robots and describe their performance in complex environments. Professor Yuta has developed an outstanding laboratory for experimental studies of mobile robots. In this project, Professor Sanderson will combine his expertise with that of Professor Yuta to carry out experiments which demonstrate new capabilities for multirobot cooperation and evaluate these capabilities for new applications. This proposal brings together research scientists from two countries working in the area of robotics research. The U. S. scientist will have the opportunity to become familiar with the extensive experimental facilities and research methods provided by the University of Tsukuba while contributing to the overall research effort. Therefore, this proposal fulfills the objectives of the Program in its exchange and transfer of scientific knowledge through an international collaboration.
