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We're working on the Next Generation Microsystems and Robots that are increasingly small, cheap, integrated, and networked.

My Areas of Expertise
- Precision Micro/Nano Robotics and Control
- Micro/nano manufacturing (Assembly, Packaging and 3D Integration).

I am currently an Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington. My research group is called NGS (Next Gen Systems) and is located at the Automation & Robotics Research Institute (ARRI). The labs I work in at ARRI include the Texas Microfactory (TM), the Distributed Intelligence and Autonomy Lab (DIAL), the Wafer-Level Packaging Lab for 3D Integration, the Medical Microdevices Lab (MM) and the Advanced Controls Lab (ACL).

I work on research related to multiscale robots and systems. Robotics is currently undergoing a major evolution away from expensive, bulky, and difficult to use machines, toward inexpensive, small, user-friendly and safe systems. As we witness this remarkable process, many unanswered questions pertaining to how we design, manufacture, and interact with the next generation of robots remain to be addressed. In the coming years, we will be able to answer these questions only if we know how to make increasingly complex MEMS and NEMS devices. My current research in multiscale robotics aims to answer these questions, by looking at the following aspects:

1. The size and precision of sensors, actuators and robots cuts across multiple scales from macro to nano. How do we design our microsystems and the robots that manufacture them in an intelligent way so that we can produce them in large numbers?
2. The number or sensors, actuator and robots that must be aggregated varies between a few and large numbers. How do we network, coordinate, plan, and distribute the action of such collectives?
3. The complexity and cost of microsystems and robots varies from low-complexity and low-cost, to highly integrated and reliable systems. How do we package and integrate sensors, actuators, into small devices and robots in a multifunctional, reliable and cost-effective manner?

About me:

I have a mixed CS/ME and EE background. I received my B.A. and M.S. degrees in 1993 and 1994, respectively, from Dartmouth College. During my M.S. I worked with Sunil Singh on force feedback haptics for spinal tap surgery. I received my Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1998. I worked with John Wen in nonholonomic motion planning for mobile and underactuated robots. Between 1998 and 2004, I was a Research Scientist at the Center for Automation Technologies (CAT) at RPI. During this time I worked on 20+ systems related projects. My principal collaborator during this period was Harry Stephanou (current ARRI director). I joined the University of Texas at Arlington in September 2004, with the Automation & Robotics Research Institute (ARRI) and the Department of Electrical Engineering. My current research focuses micro and nano robotics, 3D wafer level packaging, and the deployment algorithms for robot swarms. I am a member of IEEE, ASME, ACIS, SME, and IMAPS and my publications span across the areas of control systems, robotics and MEMS.