Undergraduate Research Initiative (URI) for Integration of AI with Robotics and Automation through the Acquisition of Intelligent and Collaborative Robotic Systems
Abstract
The objectives of this proposal are (1) to establish a research hub that will create new hands-on research activities that tie the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) with robotics and automation to address the DoDÕs need for graduates with multidisciplinary engineering knowledge and practical programming skills and (2) to enhance the collegeÕs existing mechatronics/robotics program, which was funded by a grant from the NSF Advanced Technology Education (ATE) division in 2010. City Tech, as a top producer of 2-year and 4-year engineering technology technicians from under-represented minority groups, has the opportunity to play a leadership role in training technicians who know how to integrate AI, robotics, and automation into their engineering coursework through project-based research and design activities. The URI that prepares graduates with research experiences in AI, robotics and automation can significantly improve the STEM education in City Tech and will make this practice a hallmark of STEM education at City Tech. Equipment a) Quanser intelligent Robotic Systems with five QCar units - self-driving autonomous vehicles; five QArm units - robotic manipulators with two-stage grippers and RGBD cameras; and five QDrone units - air vehicles with Intel¨ Aero Compute boards, high resolution cameras and Wi-Fi. b) Collaborative Robotic System from UR with two UR3e co-robots, one UR5e co-robot, and one MiR autonomous mobile robot. Collaborative robots are new types of robots equipped with sensor technology that allow humans to work side-by-side without worrying about being hit by the robots. Research Interests Principal investigators seek to create multidisciplinary research projects to enhance research capabilities in the following areas vital to the DoDÕs mission: À Research in multi-agent systems consisting of QCar, QDrone, and MiR100 Autonomous Mobile Robot that can be used for dataset generation, mapping, navigation, swarm and vision-based applications. Focus will be placed specifically on the multi-agent reinforcement learning for the energy critical distributed system and its applications in autonomy and coordination. À Research in mechatronics which focuses on the integration of AI and machine learning with robotics/collaborative robotics technologies for applications in automation, human machine interaction, and coordination. Key Educational and Outreach Components: À To enhance the collegeÕs robotic curricula by introducing powerful new controllers such as NVIDIA Jetson and Intel¨ Aero Compute board; new sensing devices such as RGBD cameras and LIDARs, new programming tools such as Python, ROS (robot operating system), and MatlabÕs Simulink. Students will learn how to program educational robots from Quanser as well as industrial collaborative robots from Universal Robots (UR). À To create research projects for college students in AI, robotics, and automation and to attract more students to study STEM through holding competitions and workshops. À To use the research hub as an incubator for new research ideas in AI, robotics, and automation that will attract new industry partners in the Navy Yard and to strengthen our outreach programs with the Navy YardÕs STEAM Center of eight minority high schools through regular workshops, laboratory visits, and getting teachers and students involved in research projects.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Aug 02, 2022
- Source ID
- W911NF2210169
Entities
People
- Andy Zhang
Organizations
- Army Contracting Command
- New York City College of Technology
- Office of the Secretary of Defense