"Maryland Robotics Center: An Introduction"

Location: LTS Auditorium, 8080 Greenmead Drive

Speaker:
Miao Yu
Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Institute for Systems Research

Abstract:
The Maryland Robotics Center (MRC) is an interdisciplinary research center housed in the Institute for Systems Research within the A. James Clark School of Engineering. The mission of the center is to advance robotic systems, underlying component technologies, and applications of robotics through research and educational programs that are interdisciplinary in nature and based on a systems approach.

The center’s research activities include all aspects of robotics, including development of component technologies (e.g., sensors, actuators, structures, and communication), novel robotic platforms, and artificial intelligence and autonomy for robotic systems. The center’s current research areas encompass bio-inspired robotics, collaborative, cooperative, networked robotics, cognitive robotics, medical robotics, miniature robotics, robotics for extreme environments, social robotics, and unmanned vehicles.

In this talk, a broad overview of the MRC research programs will be provided and the MRC’s unique facilities and capabilities will be discussed.

Speaker Bio:
Miao Yu is a professor of mechanical engineering and the Institute for Systems Research at the University of Maryland. She is currently the director of the Maryland Robotics Center.

Yu’s research interests encompass sensors and actuators, bio-inspired robotics, microsystems and nanosystems, and smart materials and structures.

The various awards and honors she has received include the Oak Ridge Associated Universities’ Ralph E. Power Junior Faculty Enhancement Award (2006), the NSF CAREER Award (2007), and the AFOSR Investigator Program (YIP) Award (2007). Yu was also a recipient of the University of Maryland’s 2002 Outstanding Invention of the Year award in the category of physical sciences and her two other inventions were selected as one of the three finalists for the same award in 2010 and 2011.

In 2012, she was nominated and selected to attend the Frontiers of Engineering Symposium organized by the U.S. National Academy of Engineering (NAE). In 2017, Yu was elected a fellow of ASME.

She received her doctorate in mechanical engineering from the University of Maryland in 2002.