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Microdynamic Systems Laboratory
Head: Ralph Hollis

Mailing address:
Carnegie Mellon University
Robotics Institute
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Location:
EDSH 120

For more information, see this lab's homepage.

This page last updated - January 1999.

In the Microdynamic Systems Laboratory we are exploring the limits of robotics in terms of speed, precision, dexterity and miniaturization. This endeavor requires development of new sensing, actuation, and control technologies for agile robotic systems that can be applied to a variety of real-world situations. Major themes of our work include moving toward robotics operating at or below the micrometer scale, simplifying robotic mechanisms while providing greater functionality through software, and providing new ways for humans to interact with the world through robotics. Examples include sensor-moderated coarse-fine manipulation, miniature factories for precision assembly, magnetic levitation haptic interfaces that allow humans to interact with remote or simulated environments through the sense of touch, dynamically-stable mobile robots for human environments, and high-speed walking machines.

Name - Title <Email Address>
• [Home] Galen Clark Haynes - PhD Student, RI <gch@cs.cmu.edu>
• [Home] Ralph Hollis - Research Professor <rhollis@cs.cmu.edu>
• [Home] Jonathan W Hurst - PhD Student, RI <jhurst@cmu.edu>
• Stephanie Matvey - Administrative Coordinator <smatvey@cs.cmu.edu>
• Sarjoun Skaff - Visiting Scholar <sarjoun@gmail.com>
• Hanns Tappeiner - PhD Student, RI <hwt+@andrew.cmu.edu>
• Bertram Unger - PhD Student, RI <bju@andrew.cmu.edu>

• Actuator with Mechanically Adjustable Series Compliance - We are developing actuation methods for highly dynamic legged locomotion.
• Architecture for Agile Assembly - Reduction of time to market in agile manufacturing
• Dynamically-Stable Mobile Robots in Human Environments - We are developing novel dynamically-stable rolling machine and walking machine research platforms to study interactions with people and operating in normal home and workplace environments.
• Free-Roaming Planar Motors - We are developing autonomous planar motors for precision positioning.
• Magnetic Levitation Haptic Consortium - Low-cost, high-fidelity haptic magnetic levitation haptic interface systems for use by a consortium of haptics researchers in the United States
• Psychophysics of Haptic Interaction - Quantitative comparisons of human subjects performing peg-in-hole experiments with real, virtual, and real-remote haptic environments
• Robots in Scansorial Environments - We are developing a bioinspired climbing robot with the unique ability to walk on land and climb on vertical surfaces.
• Teleoperation with a 12-DOF Coarse-Fine Manipulator - High-fidelity manipulation of remote environments using a 6-DOF robot equipped with a 6-DOF magnetic levitation fine-motion wrist.
• The Electric Cable Differential (ECD) Leg - We are designing a bipedal robot to be capable of running, walking, jumping, hopping, and generally behaving in a highly dynamic manner.

• Integrating Planning and Control for Constrained Dynamical Systems
  D.C. Conner
  doctoral dissertation, tech. report CMU-RI-TR-08-01, Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, January, 2008. [Abstract]
  Download: pdf [5585 KB] copyrighted

• Context Identification for Efficient Multiple-Model State Estimation
  S. Skaff, H. Choset, and A. Rizzi
  IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), No. 2, November, 2007, pp. 2435-2440. [Abstract]
  Download: pdf [279 KB] copyrighted

• Valet Parking Without a Valet
  D.C. Conner, H. Kress-Gazit, H. Choset, A. Rizzi, and G.J. Pappas
  Proceedings of 2007 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2007), IEEE, San Diego, CA, October, 2007, pp. 572-577. [Abstract]
  Download: pdf [187 KB] copyrighted

• Haptic Rendering and Psychophysical Evaluation of a Virtual Three-Dimensional Helical Spring
  V. Varadharajan
  master's thesis, tech. report CMU-RI-TR-07-21, Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, May, 2007. [Abstract]
  Download: pdf [866 KB] copyrighted

• A Policy for Open-Loop Attenuation of Disturbance Effects Caused by Uncertain Ground Properties in Running
  J.W. Hurst, B. Morris, J. Chestnutt, and A. Rizzi
  IEEE Conference on Robotics and Automation, April, 2007. [Abstract]
  Download: pdf [162 KB], ps.gz [128 KB] copyrighted

• Design and Philosophy of the BiMASC, a Highly Dynamic Biped
  J.W. Hurst, J. Chestnutt, and A. Rizzi
  IEEE Conference on Robotics and Automation, April, 2007. [Abstract]
  Download: pdf [386 KB], ps.gz [928 KB] copyrighted

• Automatic Transition of Ballbot from Statically Stable State to Dynamically Stable State
  A. Mampetta
  master's thesis, tech. report CMU-RI-TR-06-41, Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, September, 2006. [Abstract]

• Gait Regulation and Feedback on a Robotic Climbing Hexapod
  G. Haynes and A. Rizzi
  Proceedings of Robotics: Science and Systems, August, 2006. [Abstract]
  Download: pdf [1359 KB] copyrighted

• Integrated Planning and Control for Convex-bodied Nonholonomic systems using Local Feedback Control Policies
  D.C. Conner, H. Choset, and A. Rizzi
  tech. report CMU-RI-TR-06-34, Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, August, 2006. [Abstract]
  Download: pdf [1774 KB] copyrighted

• Integrated Planning and Control for Convex-bodied Nonholonomic Systems Using Local Feedback
  D.C. Conner, H. Choset, and A. Rizzi
  Proceedings of Robotics: Science and Systems II, MIT Press, Philadelphia, PA, August, 2006, pp. 57-64. [Abstract]
  Download: pdf [446 KB] copyrighted