Engineering with Kirigami

Mapping the Ocean With Marine Robots

M. Ani Hsieh’s robotics lab investigates how to use ocean currents as a natural energy source for marine robots, which would enable widespread exploration.

At TED, Professor Aaswath Raman Talks About the Cold of Space as a Renewable Resource

Aaswath Raman, one of the newest members of the Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering, is using his background in optics and materials science to take an ancient idea and apply it to a pressing, modern-day problem: cooling. He spoke at this year’s TED conference in Vancouver, explaining how harnessing “radiative cooling” could be the […]

GRASP’s Research Experience for Teachers Featured in NSF Video Showcase

Penn Engineering’s GRASP lab is committed to sharing its expertise in cutting-edge robotics with the wider world. In 2015, it received a National Science Foundation grant to conduct a Research Experience for Teachers program, in which Philadelphia middle school teachers spend a summer in the lab, learning aspects of robotics that they can then impart […]

GRASP Lab Spin-off Exyn Technologies Featured on 6ABC

Exyn Technologies, a spin-off of the GRASP lab founded by Vijay Kumar, Nemirovsky Family Dean of Penn Engineering, develops software that allows flying robots to map and understand unfamiliar locations. Being able to navigate novel, dynamic environments without direct human oversight allows for a wide range of fully autonomous missions.

Aaswath Raman at TED2018: ‘The next renewable resource? The cold of space’

Aaswath Raman, one of the newest members of the Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering, is using his background in optics and materials science to take an ancient idea and apply it to a pressing, modern-day problem: cooling.

GRASP Lab’s ModQuad Robots on Discovery Canada’s Daily Planet

Imagine if you had construction materials that could move on their own. You could assemble a bridge to a nearby island without ever touching the water, or build a structure on top of a mountain without having to climb it. Engineers in the GRASP Lab are working toward this vision.

Penn-developed Robots Cameo on The Daily Show

If you caught The Daily Show on March 7, you might have spotted a familiar four-legged robot taking part in a futuristic court case. The robot’s name is Minitaur, and as noted in Technically Philly it is the product of Penn spin-off Ghost Robotics. Minitaur, Ghost Robotics’ flagship robot, is designed to deal with unpredictable […]

GRASP’s VIO-Swarm Flies on its Own

GRASP researchers Giuseppe Loianno, Aaron Weinstein and Adam Cho invited Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Tom Avril and photographer Tim Tai to check out their latest quadrotors. Dubbed VIO-Swarm, these flying robots use stereoscopic vision instead of GPS or external cameras to figure out where they are and where they’re going, opening up the possibility of using […]