CAREER: Multi-task-domain Distributed Manipulation and Mechatronics Education

Regents Of The University Of Michigan - Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor MI

Investigators

Abstract

The project focuses on deepening of our understanding of the process of distributed manipulation. A representative set of three types of distributed manipulation systems will be considered: 1) an actuator array (a fixed planar array of many small stationary elements which cooperate to manipulate a large object); 2) a superposition of planar potential fields to manipulate objects (here air flow, using potential field theory); 3) snake-like or tentacle-like robots to wrap, fully or partially, around the manipulated object. On the education front, a wide effort on bringing mechatronics into the mechanical engineering curriculum will be made.