The Haptics and Embedded Mechatronics Lab is currently conducting research in two primary areas: Haptics and Climbing Robots. A short description of current projects in each of these areas is provided below, with a link to pages on each of these topics with more details and specific project information.
Climbing Robots
| Our lab is interested in two novel research directions related to climbing robots. The first area is the design, simulation and testing of dynamic climbing robots that achieve both improved speed and efficiency over many prior robot designs. The second area of interested related to climbing robots is in the creation of bioinspired robot limbs with greater levels of embedded sensing and actuation that will allow our robots to better sense interactions with its climbing environment and be better prepared to respond appropriately. This is also related to our Meso-scale manufacturing and embedded mechatronics (SmartMaterials) research. We are also interested in using our bioinspired limbs to inform higher level controllers to provide complex high level robot behaviors in combination with local control loops for improved grasp force regulation. For more details please see our Climbing Robots Research Page |  |
Haptics
| Our lab is interested primarily in the design of novel hand-based tactile displays (tactile feedback devices) and investigating related human perception related to tactile feedback. Our projects include developing new devices for providing contact location feedback, rotational friction feedback, and shear feedback to the fingertip, and utilize custom ergonomic thimbles for interfacing our devices with a person’s fingertip. These tactile feedback devices are typically used in combination with commercial force feedback devices to provide an enhanced touch experience for virtual reality and telemanipulatoin. For more details please see our Haptics Research Page |  |
Other Projects
Our lab has also been involved with a number of other interesting projects related to sensing, Meso-scale manufacturing and embedded mechatronics (SmartMaterials), and other topics. For more details on these projects, please see this page
