OSU to lead robotics research by making standardized robots … – KEZI TV

CORVALLIS, Ore. Two Oregon State University researchers will lead a project to accelerate robotics research by making standardized humanoid robots available to the scientific community, according to OSU officials.

The college said that OSU College of Engineering researchers Bill Smart and Naomi Fritter will lead the $5 million National Science Foundations Computer and Information Science and Engineering Community Research Infrastructure program.

A big hurdle in robotics research has been the lack of a common robot to work with, Smart said. Its tough to compare results and replicate and build on each others work when everyone is using a different type of robot. Robots come in many shapes and sizes, with different types of sensors and varying capabilities.

The project will build and distribute 50 robots to be utilized as a standardized platform for researchers, OSU officials said. University officials said these robots feature such human characteristics as an expressive face, bowing spine and gesturing arms and are capable of both lab-based and real-world experimentation settings.

OSU will partner with University of Pennsylvania researchers as well as a Los Angeles-based robotics software specialist on the project, the college said.

OSU officials said their researchers will set up and maintain a network of resources for the robots use, as well as helping to provide beta testing.

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OSU to lead robotics research by making standardized robots ... - KEZI TV