Robotics forum opens doors to collaboration

• robotics event

On Monday, April 25, The Office of Research and the Maryland Robotics Center organized a Robotics Forum in the Jeong H. Kim Engineering Building.

Forum attendees included an interdisciplinary group of ten center and institute directors across campus, as well as several members of the Robotics Center. Also in attendance were Professor and Clark School Associate Dean of Research Alison Flatau,, UMD Associate Vice President for Research Ken Gertz, and UMD Interim Vice President for Research Norma Allewell.

Following a short introduction to the Maryland Robotics Center by its director, Professor S.K. Gupta (ME/ISR), the directors introduced their centers/institutes and briefly explained some of the research being conducted by their faculty. In the course of the discussions that followed, potential collaborative projects were identified.

Gupta said, “Robotics technology has the potential of playing an important role in many application areas ranging from healthcare, food safety, transportation, space exploration, manufacturing, climate monitoring, and disaster relief. This forum brings together representatives from many different centers and institutes on campus to discuss potential applications of robotics.

"We expect that the dialog started at this event will enable robotics researchers to find new applications for their technology. At the same time, researchers working in other centers and institutes will be able to improve methods to support their missions by incorporating ideas from robotics."

Published April 25, 2011