The Robotics Institute

My goal is to build vehicles that can drive. I work with both autonomous vehicles and intelligent teleoperation; with ground vehicles and with air vehicles; with perception and architectures and human factors.

For many years, my group concentrated on autonomous driving with the Navlab vehicles. Now, in the Navlab work we are placing more emphasis on driver assistance, such as helping bus drivers drive safely through crowded urban areas.

Our latest research vehicle is the Navlab 11, a robot jeep. Contrary to popular opinion, a flashy red jeep with lots of chrome is not a sign of midlife crisis; the chrome light bar and brush guard are high-tech mounting points for the various sensors we use, including ladar (3 of them simultaneously), light stripe rangefinder, radar, sonar, and omnicamera.

After 33 years in The Robotics Institute, I have moved to Clarkson University as Provost, effective July 2012. I remain an adjunct professor of The Robotics Institute, as well as a loyal alumnus. My new email is cthorpe@clarkson.edu