March 7, 2005
Purdue celebrates robotics with demo, competition, research
Journalists are invited to join Purdue and the public in a celebration of robotics March 10-19. Two very visual public events are planned, and the Purdue News Service also can facilitate interviews with faculty who are involved in related research.
During that nine-day period, ASIMO, which Honda Motor Co. created and bills as the world’s most advanced robot, will perform at 14 shows. Also, middle school and high school students from 10 states, along with the robots they created, will compete in FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Boilermaker Regional Robotics Competition.
Suggested times and dates for optimal news opportunities include:
ASMIO PERFORMS
March 10, 10:30 a.m., Loeb Playhouse, Stewart Center. Journalists are invited to a preview of the first of 14 Purdue performances for ASIMO. Please sign in and set up by 10:15 a.m. Representatives of Purdue and Honda Motor Co. will be available to answer questions following the 25-minute demonstration.
ASIMO will demonstrate humanlike abilities, including talking, walking forward and backward, kicking a soccer ball, balancing on one leg, dancing and climbing stairs. The robot stands 4-feet tall, weighs 115 pounds. Video will be available shortly after the performance. A related news release and photos can be found online, and https://www.asimo.honda.com.
FIRST ROBOTIC COMPETITION
March 17, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Purdue Armory. Students involved with the FIRST competition will square off in preliminary rounds.
March 18, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Purdue Armory. FIRST competition continues.
• 10 a.m. – Suellen Reed, Indiana’s superintendent of public instruction, will visit the teams
• 11:50 a.m. – Reed delivers a speech.
March 19, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Purdue Armory. FIRST competition continues.
• 9:30 a.m. – Purdue President Martin C. Jischke will address participants.
• 1 p.m. – Final competition begins.
Background information will be available at the armory. Interviews can be arranged in advance and video b-roll of students practicing with the robots is available upon request. Contact Marydell Forbes, (765) 496-7704, mforbes@purdue.edu or Cynthia Sequin, (765) 494-4192, csequin@purdue.edu. Related news release and photos can be found online.
PURDUE ROBOTICS RESEARCH SUGGESTIONS
Many Purdue faculty conduct robot-related research. Here are a few you might want to explore:
• A four-year project is underway to enable humanoid robots to move more like people and adapt quickly to new situations so they can complete a variety of tasks they weren’t specifically programmed to perform. Purdue will collaborate with researchers from the Advanced Institute of Science and Technology in Japan, a world leader in humanoid-robot research.
CONTACT: C.S. George Lee, professor of electrical and computer engineering, (765) 494-1384, sglee@purdue.edu; Howard Zelaznik, professor of health and kinesiology, (765) 494-5601, zelaznik@purdue.edu
• Researchers are placing robotic dogs in the homes of isolated senior citizens to determine whether the mechanical substitutes, like pets, can improve the quality of life for humans. Professor Alan Beck, director of the Center for the Human-Animal Bond in Purdue’s School of Veterinary Medicine; and Nancy Edwards, professor of nursing, are leading the animal-assisted study.
CONTACT: Beck, (765) 494-0854, abeck@purdue.edu; Edwards, (765) 494-4015, nedwards@nursing.purdue.edu
• The population of robots nearly doubled over the last decade in North America alone. They are becoming increasingly important in applications ranging from quality control to space exploration, to surgery to the service industry, states the most recent edition of the "Handbook of Industrial Robotics." It was edited by Shimon Nof, professor of industrial engineering,
CONTACT: Nof, (765) 494-5427, nof@ecn.purdue.edu.
• Researchers in Purdue’s Robot Vision Lab explore sensory intelligence for the machines of the future. This laboratory has made pioneering contributions in 3-D object recognition, vision-guided navigation for indoor mobile robots, and task and assembly planning.
CONTACT: Avi Kak, professor of electrical and computer engineering, (765) 494-3551, kak@purdue.edu.
Writer: Cynthia Sequin, (765) 494-4192, csequin@purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
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