REU Site: Undergraduate Robotics Research for Rural Appalachia

REU 网站：阿巴拉契亚农村地区本科生机器人研究

• 批准号: 2348288
• 负责人: Jason Gross
• 金额: $ 45.42万
• 依托单位: West Virginia University Research Corporation
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2024-04-15 至 2027-03-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2348288&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: REU; Site; Undergraduate; Robotics; Research

This Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Site at West Virginia University (WVU) will allow ten undergraduate students each year, mostly from the Appalachian region, to perform state-of-the-art robotics research that is relevant to the region. The goal of the investigator and mentor team is to open opportunities for students and promote STEM through robotics-related research, education, and outreach. Students will work in small groups in one of WVU’s robotics research laboratories while researching one of several themes. The site’s research themes are tailored to problems associated with enabling the use of mobile robotics in rural environments, which have challenging topography and/or are in densely forested areas. Participants will perform fundamental research leading to hands-on experimental demonstrations. The intellectual focus of the site will be research in the core robotics areas of motion planning, localization, coordination, autonomy, and locomotion. Projects will aim for demonstration in challenging field applications in rural settings. Examples of research themes robot swarm learning from biological systems, resilient motion planning and localization approaches for drones in forested regions, and legged robot design and wheeled robot perception and planning to enable traversing harsh terrains. The REU students will participate in weekly group research presentations, organized panel discussions on topics related to professional development, team-building activities, and a university-wide undergraduate research symposium. Participants will contribute to the state of the art within a specialized area of robotics, and faculty mentors will use group discussions to emphasize a holistic view of robotics systems and identify potential synergies and collaborations across sub-teams.This project is jointly funded by CISE IIS and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

西弗吉尼亚大学(WVU)的本科生研究体验(REU)网站将允许每年10名本科生，主要来自阿巴拉契亚地区，进行与该地区相关的最先进的机器人研究。研究人员和指导团队的目标是为学生提供机会，并通过与机器人相关的研究、教育和推广来促进STEM。学生们将在西弗吉尼亚大学的机器人研究实验室中以小组形式工作，研究几个主题中的一个。该网站的研究主题是针对与在农村环境中使用移动机器人相关的问题而量身定做的，农村环境具有挑战性的地形和/或位于森林茂密的地区。参与者将进行基础研究，从而进行动手实验演示。该网站的智能重点将是运动规划、定位、协调、自主和运动等核心机器人领域的研究。项目的目的将是在农村地区进行具有挑战性的实地应用示范。研究主题的例子包括从生物系统中学习机器人群体，森林地区无人机的弹性运动规划和定位方法，以及能够穿越恶劣地形的腿式机器人设计和轮式机器人感知和规划。REU的学生将参加每周的小组研究报告，组织与专业发展相关的小组讨论，团队建设活动，以及大学范围内的本科生研究研讨会。参与者将为机器人专业领域的最新技术做出贡献，教师导师将利用小组讨论强调机器人系统的整体观点，并确定潜在的协同效应和子团队之间的合作。该项目由CISE IIS和既定的激励竞争研究计划(EPSCoR)共同资助。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。