Tech Square Researchers Share Current Projects in Honor of National Robotics Week
National Robotics Week (RoboWeek) aims to “inspire students in robotics and STEM-related fields and to share the excitement of robotics with audiences of all ages.” And since many of our researchers, scientists, professors, and students at the Technology Square Research Building (TSRB) are involved in the industry, we wanted to celebrate the occasion with some cookies – and questions.
Right around lunch, we popped-up in the lobby of TSRB to greet members as they entered and exited the building, enticing them to commemorate the holiday with some sweet treats while sharing if they are currently working with robotics and what they think will be the biggest advancement in the field in 2023.
And while we uncovered that majority of the participants were not currently working with robotics, nearly a quarter were – and another near-fourth wanted to! However, those that were shed some insight on their fascinating work and projects:
Arianna Mastali, a PhD student from the Animal-Computer Interaction Lab, is working on WAG’D – Wearable Activity and Gait Detection for canine athletes. This project aims to track the performance of dogs through a wearable device, similar to a harness, which will collect vitals in order to provide health assessments.
The Contextual Computing Group (CCG), which creates wearable and ubiquitous computing technologies using techniques from artificial intelligence (AI) and human-computer interaction (HCI), is working on indoor localization using a single anchor. This will allow for language data to be turned into usable information, which allows for more human-like conversation with AI.
And Claire Stricklin from the Digital Media program has created the Party Mascot, which “is designed to “flicker” between social, gameplay, and fictional frames of interaction. Taking the form of a talking mechanical raven, the Party Mascot extends audience participation on the Twitch platform from its native chat interface to the physical play space.”
Meanwhile, Supratim Pait, a Computer Engineering student at Georgia Tech is working on a “thermal painting” robot while Lane Lawley, a Postdoctoral Researcher from the Teachable AI Lab (TAIL), is working on a Verbal Apprentice Learner (VAL), which focuses on natural language instructions.
As we wrapped up the event, it was inspiring to hear about all the work happening in robotics and STEM – especially since these advancements are being made right in our own community!
What do you think will be the biggest advancement in robotics in 2023? Let us know in the comments below.