Students in the LCI's Reading and Writing 450 classes toured the Virginia Tech Terrestrial Robotics Engineering and Controls Lab in Goodwin Hall this week as a part of a unit on robotics.
The lab's director, Alexander Leonessa, introduced students to Darwin, Charlie, and Thor and explained the robots' applications. Thor, for example, was designed for the U.S. Navy to put out fires at sea.
Classes were also treated to a special trip to Ph.D. candidate Vinay Kamidi's robotic locomotion lab, where he is working on algorithms to provide a variety of locomotive gaits to two dog-like robots that may have future applications in search and rescue, in hazardous environments, and as electronic guide dogs. Students were able to see both "dogs" in motion.
Finally, the group was joined by Kaveh Hamed, who explained the potential uses of robotics in medical technology, such as in intelligent prosthesis and in exoskeletons for those with mobility impairments.
The LCI students will be using information the learned during the tour in upcoming research papers on the positive and negative aspects of artificial intelligence and robotics.
