Presidential Young Investigators Award

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The research will involve the analysis and design of high accuracy mechanical systems. Such systems include machines to perform finishing tasks on construction sites such as: 1) Wallbots, robots to assemble steel track and stud walls; and 2) Scaffbot, robot to perform maintenance and assembly tasks on vertical exterior surfaces of ships and building. Also included are machines to advance the state of the art of precision surveying and navigation, such as: 1) Acall, a machine to calibrate accelerometers, for the National Bureau of Standards, to achieve accuracies of one part per million. This type of accuracy is needed to allow slow moving vehicles to use inertial systems to navigate for extended periods of time. 2) Molecular Measuring Machine, a machine being designed with the National Bureau of Standards with the capability to measure the position of atoms on specimens centimeters in diameter.