The Computing Innovation Fellows Project

Posted on: Thursday, May 12th, 2011
Broad Research Area: AI / Machine Learning / Robotics / Vision, HCI / CSCW, Other, Scientific/Medical Informatics

Research Interests:

I recommend you go to the Healthcare Robotics Lab website (http://healthcare-robotics.com) to learn more about my lab’s research. There are many opportunities for postdoctoral researchers to make high-impact contributions. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

My lab’s research seeks to advance the capabilities of real robots so that they can provide valued assistance to people in the context of healthcare. Specifically, we work with semi-autonomous mobile robots that physically manipulate the world (mobile manipulators). Our current efforts include research into human-robot interaction, autonomous mobile manipulation, machine perception, machine learning, and haptics.

The following three large-scale efforts are especially exciting to us and we would welcome a postdoc to become involved:

1) Assistive Mobile Manipulation for Older Adults at Home: This is the PR2 Beta Program project at Georgia Tech for which I’m the principal investigator. It involves several initiatives with the overall goal of providing assistance to older adults in their homes. Our PR2 is currently in the Aware Home, where it will be interacting with older adults this summer (2011).

2) We have a new project that is not yet public that is very exciting in terms of helping people with severe motor impairments. Please contact me for details.

3) Haptically-guided Manipulation within Extreme Clutter: We are investigating the possibility of a new foundation for robot manipulation using compliant actuation and whole-body skin. This project is also new and not much is public, so please contact me for details.

My lab is multi-disciplinary with members from computer science, biomedical engineering, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering. We are also collaborative. We are active in the Robotics PhD program and the Center for Robotics and Intelligent Machines (RIM@GT), and we work closely with other labs on campus, including the Human Factors and Aging Lab in the School of Psychology and the Socially Intelligent Machines Lab in the College of Computing. Although much of our research has a long time horizon, we actively engage industry and look for opportunities to make an impact.

We have several state-of-the-art robots, including a PR2 from Willow Garage, the custom humanoid robot Cody, and a variety of smaller assistive robots that we have developed. By the end of the summer (2011), we also expect to have an additional sophisticated human-scale mobile manipulator. Our other facilities include rapid prototyping equipment (3D printer and laser cutter), a machine shop, and a force and motion capture studio.

Best of luck with your application.

- Charlie

Contact Information:

Send your CV and interests in an email to me here:
email obfuscated - click to reveal.edu