Tianlu Wang Assistant Professor Department of Mechanical Engineering University of Hawai’i at Mānoa Location Information **This seminar will be held both in person (Bilger Hall 150) and over Zoom** https://hawaii.zoom.us/j/95081858686 Meeting ID: 950 8185 8686 Passcode: OREseminar The emerging field of miniature soft robots with unprecedented maneuverability, adaptation, and safe interactions with surrounding environments has endowed new platforms to overcome critical challenges in hard-to-reach marine and biomedical scenarios. Focusing on system-level construction, we first synergized soft actuators and bio-inspired structures to create small-scale soft robots emulating larval zebrafish and jellyfish. A class of magnetically actuated laval fish-like milliswimmers was investigated
Seminar: Bioinspired Propulsion and Sensing Systems Enabling Next Generation Underwater Vehicles
Michael Krieg, PhD Assistant Professor Department of Ocean & Resources Engineering University of Hawai’i at Mānoa Even the most robust and sophisticated underwater robots pale in comparison to the performance of the ocean’s natural inhabitants, as many of which seem to traverse turbulent environments with ease and also demonstrate effective long range migration patterns. This talk analyzes a novel propulsion mechanism inspired by the locomotion of squid and jellyfish; whereby, finite fluid jets are ejected from a flexible internal cavity in a periodic fashion. Vortex ring formation, which is associated with expelled jets starting from rest, causes the thrust associated with this
Seminar: The Challenges and Capabilities of Free-Floating Autonomous Robots for Exploration of Extreme Environments
Corina Barbalata, PhD Assistant Professor Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Louisiana State University The Deep Space and the Deep Ocean are very similar in the sense that they are positioned at the end of continuum of extreme environments and pressures, that without the advancement of technology humans cannot access it. The advancements of robotics allowed us to access areas that have never been reached before and see details of wonders that were previously hidden to the human eye, all while reducing costs and increasing safety for space and ocean exploration. Nevertheless, robots used for space and ocean exploration still struggle with the environmental hazards. Moreover, if
Seminar: Towards Virtual Environments to Support Maritime Robotics
Dr. Brian S. Bingham Associate Professor Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA Simulation plays an increasingly important role in the development and testing of robotic and autonomous systems. While simulation cannot replace field testing, it can provide a surrogate for both the robot and its operating environment, emulating the robot’s motion and sensor measurements to exercise the system software while reducing the required development cost and time. For maritime applications the high cost of the robotic platforms, challenges associated with access to the operating environment and lack of control over environmental factors accentuate the importance of
Seminar: Bioinspired Propulsion and Sensing Systems Enabling Next Generation Underwater Vehicles
Michael Krieg, PhD Research Scientist Institute for Networked Autonomous Systems (INAS) University of Florida Even the most robust and sophisticated underwater robots pale in comparison to the performance of the ocean’s natural inhabitants, as many of which seem to traverse turbulent environments with ease and also demonstrate effective long range migration patterns. This talk analyzes a novel propulsion mechanism inspired by the locomotion of squid and jellyfish; whereby, finite fluid jets are ejected from a flexible internal cavity in a periodic fashion. Vortex ring formation, which is associated with expelled jets starting from rest, causes the thrust associated with this
Seminar joint with Mechanical Engineering: New Perspectives on the Localization and Coordination of Underwater Vehicles in Strong Geophysical Circulations
Dr. Zhuoyuan Song Assistant Professor Department of Mechanical Engineering University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Small autonomous robots as environmental perception instruments are often severely constrained in actuation capability, navigation system accuracy, and on-board processing capacity. The presence of ubiquitous geophysical flows tends to exacerbate challenges associated with the control and state estimation of these mobile platforms. Conventionally, background flows are considered as adversarial factors to the mobility and navigation accuracy of mobile robots. I advocate a new perspective on the role of background flows as ubiquitous navigation references and transportation “highways” for independent and networked autonomous robots. The first part