RIT Lecture Focuses on 'Mobile Robots'

Raffaello D'Andrea, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering in the Sibley School at Cornell University, will discuss “Challenges and Opportunities in Distributed, Autonomous Systems” 1-1:50 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 10, at Rochester Institute of Technology. The talk, free and open to the public, will focus on the development of inexpensive sensors, embedded computation, and communication networks in designing, deploying and controlling large interconnected systems.

D'Andrea, who is also vice president of systems architecture for Kiva Systems Inc. in Burlington, Mass., will also discuss multi-vehicle systems including the Cornell Autonomous Robot Soccer Team, which won the international RoboCup competition four times since 1999; acrobatic, autonomous flying vehicles used to form airborne, phased array antennas; and autonomous, distributed and networked mobile robots in an industrial setting.

The lecture, in RIT's Xerox Auditorium in the James E. Gleason Building, is part of the Kate Gleason College of Engineering's Distinguished Speaker Series.

Other upcoming talks include Horace Becker, a former Xerox Corp. vice president, speaking on “The Birth of the Xerox 914—The World's First Plain Paper Copier” on March 10; Judy Hoyt of Massachusetts Institute of Technology discussing “Nanostructure Devices” on March 31; and Barry Nelson of Northwestern University speaking on “A Reliable COMPASS for Optimizing Simulated Systems” on April 21.

WHAT: “Challenges and Opportunities in Distributed, Autonomous Systems,” a free lecture by Raffaello D'Andrea, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Cornell University; part of the Kate Gleason College of Engineering's Distinguished Speaker Series

WHEN: 1-1:50 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 10

WHERE: Xerox Auditorium, James E. Gleason Building, Rochester Institute of Technology

SPONSOR: Kate Gleason College of Engineering, Rochester Institute of Technology