Robot Demonstrations Point the Way to New Research Frontiers
Columbia Technology Ventures recently hosted “New Frontiers in Robotics: Bringing Imagination to Market,” its first on-campus conference to showcase the research of faculty from Columbia Engineering and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. Following the morning presentations, participants were invited to tour the faculty research labs to see demonstrations of research in robotics with applications ranging from medicine and healthcare to material handling and drones.
Click on the picture below to watch a slideshow of moments from the conference and demonstrations.
Satish Rao, associate director of physical sciences licensing for CTV, gives the opening remarks at Columbia Technology Ventures' first Frontiers in Robotics Conference.
Columbia Engineering Dean Mary C. Boyce addresses the audience.
Joel Stein, Simon Baruch Professor and chair of the Department of Rehabilitations and Regenerative Medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, introduced the range of options for mechanized physical therapy.
Sunil Agrawal, professor of mechanical engineering and of rehabilitative and regenerative medicine in the mechanical engineering department, described his use of robotics as “like training wheels,” allowing people to learn through repeated training and to remove the robotics aids when they become proficient.
Matei Ciocarlie, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, demonstrated a number of current projects in his ROAM lab, as well as the theoretical work that underpins them.
Phillipe Wyder, a graduate student in the Creative Machines lab, presented work from the lab of Mechanical Engineering Professor Hod Lipson. DeChant discussed a project which deployed drones to photograph and then analyze images of corn fields suffering from northern leaf blight. Using deep learning, this system can be trained to 97 percent accuracy in identifying the affected crops.
The half-day conference introduced executives from venture capital firms, technology companies, and academics to the broad spectrum of research in robotics with presentations and laboratory demonstrations of this cutting-edge research in areas ranging from medicine and healthcare to material handling and drones.
Dennis Fowler, medical director of the Columbia Biomedical Accelerator, biomedical engineering department and CEO of Platform Imaging LLC, used his own experiences to show the challenges of commercializing new surgical robotic technology.
After the morning's presentations, the audience broke out into groups for a series of lab tours. Here, researchers demonstrate robot grasping in the lab of Peter Allen.
Demonstration in the lab of Peter Allen using headgear to manipulate robot.
Robot models in Hod Lipson's lab.
3D food printing in the lab of Hod Lipson.
Innovative actuator muscle developed by Hod Lipson's lab demonstrated by Aslan Miriyev on robot skeleton.
Matei Ciocarlie lab demonstration of robotic grasping.