Students in the department’s Cooperative Robotics Research Lab are working on robots that can interact cooperatively with humans in real-world situations. The lab features several types of robots, including six 18-inch battery operated robots trained to find a target; three larger robots controlled by an open-source software called Robotic Operating System and Microsoft XBOX Kinect; and three Matilda robots on loan from the Army. Faculty and students working in the lab are also developing a virtual tour guide, or TourBot, which has a human-like form and is programmed to follow a human tour guide while avoiding obstacles.
