The art of compelling machines
Professor Manfredi Maggiore and his students in collaboration with Quanser Inc. are developing a small, highly maneuverable, autonomous coaxial helicopter.The helicopter will be capable of aggressive maneuvering and be able to track user specified paths on the fly. A first prototype has been built and is currently being tested.
PhD student Paul Timothy Furgale and Professor Tim Barfoot have won the 2010 KUKA Service Robotics Best Paper Award for their paper on "Visual Path Following on a Manifold in Unstructured Three-Dimensional Terrain".
Professor Gabriele DŽEleuterio and his students collaborated in a rover field test conducted by NASA in conjunction with the Canadian Space Agency, the German Space Agency, and the University of Hilo. The field test took place at Mauna Kea volcano. The Canadian rovers demonstrated excavation tasks, particularly autonomous preparation of a landing pad site.
Professor Ridha Ben Mrad and his research group have recently been awarded two US patents focused on micro electrostatic actuators and on Ion Mobility Spectrometers.
Professor Tim Barfoot and his students conducted a mock rover mission in the Canadian high Arctic on Devon Island in 2009.
