REU Site: Research Opportunities in Bioinspired Robotics

马里兰大学（UMD）学院公园的本科生研究体验（REU）网站项目为来自生物启发机器人领域研究机会有限或没有研究机会的机构的不同和有才华的本科生提供了新的和令人兴奋的夏季研究机会（定义为受自然系统启发的机器人，如昆虫，鸟类，哺乳动物和爬行动物）。仿生机器人将用于在自然灾害发生后针对第一反应者的努力，并提供一些任务来协助人类（例如，搬运额外的货物，修复损坏的货物，建筑结构等）。然而，设计、制造和应用这些机器人是一项长期的科学和工程挑战。每年夏天，这个REU网站将为10名本科生提供资源和机会，开始解决其中的一些挑战。该项目将与UMD的工程女性项目和科学与工程少数族裔中心合作，以更好地招募和评估该项目对女性和代表性不足的少数族裔学生的影响，这些学生传统上受到“管道泄漏”的影响，这些学生的比例随着他们在研究职位上的提升而下降。这一问题将通过关注职业和学术发展（研讨会和研究生导师）来解决，此外还将通过多样化的指导池提供一个新的榜样网络。在这个关键的研究领域，更多受过高等教育的研究人员将创造更多的劳动力来解决国家最棘手的环境、技术和国家安全挑战。仿生机器人提供了一个真正跨学科的系统研究挑战，包括生物学、材料、机械设计、控制、传感器和执行器、电力和电子。为了提供必要的合作来解决这些挑战，并鼓励学生走向未来的研究事业，该计划将：1。定义由教师、研究生导师和本科生研究人员组成的多元化团队。2. 提供令人兴奋的研究课题，涵盖生物机器人的许多方面。3. 通过非传统方式鼓励合作和讨论，包括Facebook等社交媒体论坛和学生之间的非正式午餐交谈。4. 除了到当地实验室实地考察外，还提供指导和专业发展研讨会。5. 通过短期、长期、定量和定性指标评估项目成功。在这些合作中取得的发现将通过出版物和报告传播给更广泛的科学界。

This Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Site program at the University of Maryland (UMD)College Park offers new and exciting summer research opportunities to diverse and talented cohorts of undergraduates, from institutions with limited or no research opportunities in the field of bioinspired robotics (defined as robots that are inspired by natural systems such as insects, birds, mammals, and reptiles). Bioinspired robots will be used to target the efforts of first responders after a natural disaster and provide a number of tasks to assist humans (e.g., carrying extra goods, repairing damaged goods, building structures, etc.). However, designing, fabricating, and applying these robots is a long-term scientific and engineering challenge. Each summer, this REU site will provide 10 undergraduates with resources and opportunities to begin tackling some of these challenges. The program will collaborate with UMD's Women in Engineering program and the Center for Minorities in Science and Engineering to better recruit and assess the impact of this program on women and underrepresented minority students who traditionally suffer from the "leaky pipeline" in which percentages of these students decrease as they move up through the ranks of research positions. This problem will be addressed by focusing on career and academic development (seminars and graduate student mentors) in addition to providing a new network of role models through a diverse mentoring pool. A more diverse group of highly educated researchers in this critical research field will create a larger workforce to solve the nation's toughest environmental, technical, and national security challenges.Bioinspired robotics offer a truly interdisciplinary systems research challenge that encompasses biology, materials, mechanical design, control, sensors and actuators, power, and electronics. To provide the collaborations necessary to solve some of these challenges and encourage students toward future research careers, the program will: 1. Define diverse teams of faculty, graduate student mentors, and undergraduate researchers. 2. Provide exciting research topics covering many aspects of bioinspired robotics. 3. Encourage collaboration and discussion through non-traditional means, including social media forums like Facebook and informal lunch talks among students. 4. Offer tutorial and professional development seminars in addition to field trips to local labs. 5. Assess project success through short-term, long-term, quantitative and qualitative metrics. The discoveries made during these collaborations will be communicated to the broader scientific community via publications and presentations.