Archive for June 25, 2012


The Future of Drone Surveillance Swarms of Cyborg Insect Drones

In his lab at Penn, Vijay Kumar and his team build flying quadrotors, small, agile robots that swarm, sense each other, and form ad hoc teams — for construction, surveying disasters and far more.

GRASP LAB

The General Robotics, Automation, Sensing and Perception (GRASP) Laboratory integrates computer science, electrical engineering and mechanical engineering in a vibrant, collaborative environment that fosters interactions between students, research staff and faculty. GRASP has grown into a $10 million research center with impressive technological innovations. Pioneering GRASP researchers are building autonomous vehicles and robots, developing self-configuring humanoids, and making robot swarms a reality. Our doctoral students are trained in theory and practice and mentored to become leaders in research and education. The graduates of the interdisciplinary Master’s in Robotics program are uniquely equipped to face research and development challenges of the fast-growing robotics industry.

Image Source: usatrends.org

Today, our NewsHour inclusive statistic of all un- and under-employed totals more than 26 million Americans, nearly 17 percent of the work force. How many of them worked at jobs that machines now perform more cheaply? How many so-called knowledge workers are threatened by the likes of IBM’s “Jeopardy” champ, Watson?