Robotics

From stretchable electronics to miniature mobile robots, engineers are creating the next generation of robotics for human interaction by collaborating across disciplines. In the College of Engineering, our work with robotics includes soft and wearable robotics, legged and aerial robots, medical robotics, micro/nano-robotics, underwater robots, and IoT robots.

Learn more about our research by watching videos from our robotics playlist.

Mar 9

Robotics

Engineering breakthrough in softbotics

Introducing the first soft material that can maintain a high enough electrical conductivity to support power hungry devices.

Watch the Video

Jan 24

Robotics

Gwen’s Girls partnership fosters children’s interest in robomechanics

A student-driven partnership between Aaron Johnson’s RoboMechanics lab and Gwen’s Girls has introduced nearly 100 grade school girls to engineering design and robotics.

Aaron Johnson’s Robomechanics Lab tested spherical foot designs to find the best fit so their biped robot with 15-cm legs could walk steadily.

Big steps for mini robots

Oct 21

Advanced Manufacturing

Manufacturing Day 2022

Area high school students visit Mill 19 on Manufacturing Day to learn about advanced manufacturing career opportunities.

Sep 30

Artificial Intelligence

Playing nice: self-driving and human-driven cars sharing the road

Akin to when Model Ts traveled alongside horses and buggies, autonomous vehicles and human-driven vehicles will someday share the road. How to best manage the rise of AVs is the topic of a new Carnegie Mellon policy brief.

Sep 13

Advanced Manufacturing

Hydrogels pave way for future of soft robotics

Wenhuan Sun, Victoria Webster-Wood, and Adam Feinberg have created an open-source, commercially available fiber extruder to benefit future research with hydrogels and soft robotics.

Jul 26

Robotics

Open-source software gives a leg up to robot research

Aaron Johnson’s Robomechanics Lab has developed an open-source software that enables more agile movement in legged robots.

Jul 19

Energy & Environment

CMU team designs the airports of tomorrow

An interdisciplinary team from Carnegie Mellon University won NASA’s Blue Skies: Airports of Tomorrow competition with their project focused on sustainability and connected autonomy, earning them internships with NASA this upcoming year.

Researchers combined liquid crystal elastomers with a thermoelectric device to develop a stretchable transducer for soft robotics.

A cooler side to soft robotics

Apr 22

Advanced Manufacturing

Robots that can learn to safely navigate warehouses

Advances in chips, sensors, and AI algorithms are enabling robots to continuously learn how to plan routes, avoid obstructions, and operate safely in large dynamic warehouse environments.

Mar 25

Artificial Intelligence

Students’ ingenuity automates scientific research

In an effort to modernize scientific research, CMU students used only commercial parts and the cardboard boxes they came in to build a modular robot able to autonomously conduct experiments.

Jan 31

Advanced Manufacturing

Biden calls for investment in American innovation

President Biden touted the importance of advanced manufacturing innovation, robotics, 3D printing, and artificial intelligence during his recent visit to Mill 19.

May 20

Advanced Manufacturing

RK Mellon Foundation grant funds manufacturing and robotics

A $150 million Richard King Mellon Foundation grant includes $30 million for the Manufacturing Futures Institute and $45 million for a new facility, the Robotics Innovation Center (RIC).

Four engineering faculty received NSF CAREER awards to support their education and research goals.

NSF CAREER grants awarded to engineering faculty

Apr 16

Robotics

Tailing new ideas

Aaron Johnson’s Robomechanics Lab is looking to nature for robotic tail designs that make orientation tasks easier for moving robots.

Mar 11

Robotics

A touch of silver

Researchers in the Soft Machines Lab have developed a new silver-hydrogel composite for artificial skin that combines high electrical conductivity with soft, stretchable biocompatibility.

Feb 10

Robotics

Under the sea

A team of researchers from Carnegie Mellon’s Soft Machines Lab has created a soft robot inspired by the quick and agile brittle star, the first mobile and untethered underwater crawling robot.

Watch the Video

Research paper

Dec 4

Robotics

Latch on, launch off

Researchers observe the fastest organisms in nature—Dracula ants, froghoppers, and spore-ejecting fungi—to investigate spring-powered latch mechanisms for robotics.

Dec 1

Robotics

Making mechanical skin

These 3D printed circuits are self-healing, re-writable, and energy-harvesting, thanks to liquid metal.

Explore Other Research Topics

Centers & Institutes

Robomechanics Lab

The Robomechanics Lab at Carnegie Mellon University is working to take robots out of the lab and factory and into challenging real world environments, such as rocky hills and cluttered houses. We are interested in the mechanics of how a robot interacts with that environment to produce a useful behavior.

College of Engineering research centers and institutes