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Sarjoun Skaff
Visiting Scholar

Email address: sarjoun@gmail.com

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

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My research is centered on state estimation for robots with high dynamics. I am interested in developing techniques that reliably interpret information from sensors subjected to substantial dynamical disturbances. High-bandwidth and accurate state estimates are necessary for tracking and controlling the evolution of robots that are too complex to model accurately. Such techniques are necessary for running robots and high-speed rovers traversing rough terrains.

active perception, assembly, control, field robotics, legged locomotion, mechanisms, mobile robots, sensor fusion, and space robotics

• Microdynamic Systems Laboratory - Exploring the limits of robotics in terms of speed, precision, dexterity and miniaturization.

• RHex Robot - We are developing a six legged robot capable of achieving a wide variety of dynamically dextrous tasks.
• Robotic Demining - We are developing an autonomous robot to find landmines.
• Robots in Scansorial Environments - We are developing a bioinspired climbing robot with the unique ability to walk on land and climb on vertical surfaces.
• Skyworker - Skyworker is an assembly, inspection, and maintenance robot that will softly and autonomously transport and manipulate payloads of kilograms to tons over kilometer distances.

Note: This list may not be comprehensive. It contains only those publications in the RI publications database. Entries are listed in reverse chronological order.

• 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

• Context-Based State Estimation for Hybrid Systems with Intermittent Dynamics
  S. Skaff
  doctoral dissertation, tech. report CMU-RI-TR-07-06, Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, March, 2007.
  Download: pdf [2276 KB] copyrighted

• A Context-Based State Estimation Technique for Hybrid Systems
  S. Skaff, A. Rizzi, H. Choset, and P. Lin
  Proceedings of the 2005 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, IEEE, April, 2005, pp. 3935-3940. [Abstract]
  Download: pdf [202 KB] copyrighted

• Inertial navigation and visual line following for a dynamical hexapod robot
  S. Skaff, G.A. Kantor, D. Maiwand, and A. Rizzi
  2003 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Vol. 2, October, 2003, pp. 1808-1813. [Abstract]
  Download: pdf [478 KB] copyrighted

• Skyworker: a robot for assembly, inspection and maintenance of large scale orbital facilities
  P. Staritz, S. Skaff, C. Urmson, and W.L. Whittaker
  Proceedings of the 2001 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA '01), Vol. 4, May, 2001, pp. 4180 - 4185. [Abstract]
  Download: pdf [465 KB] copyrighted

• Skyworker: Robotics for Space Assembly, Inspection and Maintenance
  S. Skaff, P. Staritz, and W.L. Whittaker
  Space Studies Institute Conference, 2001. [Abstract]
  Download: pdf [215 KB] copyrighted