Mechanical Engineering Faculty Awarded DURIP Grant to Advance Intelligent Robotics Research
The Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP) provides funding for university-based research that is critical to advancements in
Navy-related studies. Professors from the Mechanical Engineering department teamed
up on a project titled, "A Computational and Physical Framework for Rapid Prototyping of Robotics Systems with
Embodied Intelligence."
The principal investigator Dr. Anurag Purwar, along with Co-PIs, Dr. William Stewart, Dr. Kedar Kirane, Dr. Shanshan Yao, Dr. Shikui Chen, Dr. Nilanjan Chakraborty, and Dr. David Hwang had this project funded for $505,332 by the Department of Defense Office of Naval Research (ONR) to establish a sophisticated System of Instruments to advance the research on areas crucial to the Navy. They identified four primary areas of focus: multimodal aerial robotics, collaborative robotic (cobot) exoskeletons, soft embedded intelligence, and component and system level mechanical characterization. The system being acquired is a complementary suite of instruments including a CNC laser, material mechanics test stage, a bio 3D printer, and a 6-axis robotic arm.