Sunday, September 8, 2013

Self-Driving Car

Video: Self-driving Car Test
Since DARPA Grand Challenge 2005, autonomous ground vehicle which can travel across hostile desert terrain without human intervention has become a reality. On November 3, 2007, DARPA Urban Challenge further proved that unman ground vehicle can successfully navigate through the urban environment. Nowadays, Google driverless cars running on the street or highway is no longer a big news. Within about a decade, the autonomous ground vehicle (actually it's a form of robot!) will dramatically change our lives.

Thursday, September 5, 2013

A Summer of Robotics

Hi Everyone,

How was your summer? I wish each one of you have a fun, restful and restorative summer! This summer is kind of "special" for me since I literally worked throughout the whole summer. Even though the work is intensive, it is actually quite interesting. I happened to get an opportunity to support a robotics class of high-school students, and guided another group of college transfer students of engineering school to do research at City College of New York (CCNY). We were mainly working on the AR Drone 2.0 and its flight-control app (FreeFlight). The results are very encouraging. Part of that effort will be integrated into our curriculum (Drone Programming).

Robotics Class Competition

Screen Shot of CityDrone App

CityDrone: A test app for AR Drone 2.0 motion control


I also got a new experience to participate in the booth exhibition of SpaceFest 2013 at Intrepid Museum.
SpaceFest 2013

Visitors of the booth at SpaceFest (photo is taken from a drone)

Visiting Space Shuttle Pavilian
While I am preparing for the new semester, I wish you all enjoy the last few days of your summer! I can't wait to see you all in our new class next Monday, and hear you sharing your summer stories.