Matthew T. Mason earned the BS, MS, and PhD degrees in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence at MIT, finishing his PhD in 1982. Since that time he has been on the faculty at Carnegie Mellon University, where he is presently Professor of Computer Science and Robotics. His research interests are in robotic manipulation and automated manufacturing systems. He is a AAAI Fellow, IEEE Fellow, winner of the System Development Foundation Prize, and presently serves as Chairman of the Robotics PhD Program at Carnegie Mellon. For more info, see his webpage at CMU.

Prof. Mason will present two seminars:

Automated Manufacturing and Robotic Juggling

Thursday, March 23, 2000
Seminar - Amos Eaton 214 @ 4:00 PM
Refreshments - Amos Eaton 214 @ 3:30 PM
Reception - Lally 104 @ 5:00 PM

Abstract

One of the great things about hands is that you need only one motion device to move a lot of different things. Automated manufacturing provides some interesting examples of this phenomenon, with simple machines manipulating lots of objects at the same time. Juggling is another example of the same idea: using one (or two) hands to control lots of different things. This talk will describe work with a variety of collaborators on factory automation, robotic juggling, and the deep connection between the two ideas.

Manipulation and Mobility

Friday, March 24, 2000
Seminar - Amos Eaton 214 @ 3:00 PM
Refreshments - Amos Eaton 214 @ 2:30 PM

Abstract

I'll talk about two aspects of recent work combining locomotion and manipulation. The first topic is a robot called the Mobipulator designed to manipulate paper and other small objects on a desktop. The Mobipulator looks like a car with a 10cm wheelbase. It has four wheels, independently driven, none of them steered. Its wheels are used both for manipulation and locomotion, in a variety of modes:

• Dual Diff Drive Mode: With two wheels on the desk, and two wheels on a piece of paper, it can manipulate the paper and drive around independently.
• Inchworm Mode: With all four wheels on a piece of paper, and a hump in the paper between the front and rear axle, it can incrementally advance the paper by alternately accelerating the rear and the front wheels.
• Dungbeetle Mode: With the front wheels atop a cylinder and the rear wheels on the desk, it can roll the cylinder forward.