MAE Seminar: Do Robots Need to Look Human?

Abstract: In Hollywood, robots are often depicted in the humanoid form. Thus when we think of robots we naturally imagine humanoid robots. For robots to move around in a human environment and to do work using tools made for humans, it is natural to have robots that have the shape and size of a human. We have been developing humanoid robots at RoMeLa (Robotics & Mechanisms Laboratory) for more than a decade for fire fighting and disaster relief applications. However, such robots are still too slow, too unstable, too complex, too expensive and too unsafe which prevent them to be used in real life situations. Do robots really need to look human? We revisit this question and present some of the new exciting morphologies as solutions, discuss the creative process and imagine our future with robots.

Bio: Dennis Hong is a professor and the founding director of RoMeLa (Robotics & Mecha-nisms Laboratory) of the Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Department at UCLA. His research focuses on robot locomotion and manipulation, autonomous vehicles and humanoid robots. His work has been featured on numerous national and international media. Washington Post magazine called Hong “the Leonardo da Vinci of robots.” 

Hong has been named to Popular Science’s 8th annual “Brilliant 10,” “Forward Under 40” by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Alumni Association, and also honored as “Top 40 Under 40” alumni by Purdue University. Hong’s other past awards include the National Science Foundation’s CAREER award, the SAE International’s Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award, and the ASME Freudenstein / GM Young Investigator Award to name a few. 

Hong received his B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (1994), his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from Purdue University (1999, 2002).