REU Site: Undergraduate Robotics Research for Rural Appalachia

西弗吉尼亚大学（WVU）的本科生研究经验（REU）网站每年将允许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。调查员和导师团队的目标是为学生提供机会，并通过机器人相关的研究，教育和推广来促进STEM。学生将在WVU的机器人研究实验室之一的小组工作，同时研究几个主题之一。该网站的研究主题是针对与在农村环境中使用移动的机器人技术相关的问题，这些环境具有挑战性的地形和/或位于茂密的森林地区。参与者将进行基础研究，导致动手实验演示。该网站的智力重点将是运动规划，定位，协调，自主和运动的核心机器人领域的研究。项目将旨在农村环境中具有挑战性的实地应用中进行示范。研究主题机器人群从生物系统中学习的例子，森林地区无人机的弹性运动规划和定位方法，腿式机器人设计和轮式机器人感知和规划，以穿越恶劣的地形。REU学生将参加每周一次的小组研究报告，就与专业发展，团队建设活动和全校本科生研究研讨会相关的主题组织小组讨论。参与者将在机器人技术的专业领域内为最先进的技术做出贡献，和教师导师将使用小组讨论，强调机器人系统的整体观点，并确定潜在的协同作用和跨子团队的合作。该项目由CISE IIS和刺激竞争研究的既定计划（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知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.