The brown haze that settled over Pittsburgh and other U.S. cities last summer was merely an irritant to most residents, but for researchers at Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute (RI), it was a reminder of why they are developing drones to help fight wildfires. The[...]

Kshitij Goel, a Ph.D. student in the Robotics Institute, was awarded the 2024 Alan J. Perlis Graduate Teaching Award by Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Computer Science (SCS) for outstanding work in redesigning and teaching Mobile Robot Algorithms Laboratory (MRAL), general excellence in teaching and[...]

David Held, an associate professor in Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute, is one of two CMU faculty members selected to lead teams receiving Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) funding from the Department of Defense (DoD). Created in 1985, the highly competitive MURI program provides important funding to teams[...]

Carnegie Mellon University researchers teamed up with scientists at NASA to develop a robot capable of searching underwater oceans on distant planets for signs of life. NASA's Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor (EELS) is a self-propelled, autonomous, snake-like robot inspired by a desire to one day[...]

The CMU team is monitoring four small satellites as they communicate with each other, determining where they are relative to one another and autonomously maneuvering to stay within communication range. The satellites have no propulsion systems but can change their orbital positions by adjusting their[...]

Researchers in Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute are developing a modular robot that can creep inside natural gas pipelines to map where pipes are, detect decrepit or leaking pipes, and, when necessary, repair the pipe by applying a resin coating along its inner wall. "We[...]