The Talk
In the 21st century, we are seeing the influx of robots being used in everyday, real-world, settings. In the manufacturing industry, robots are being used to complete tasks that are often too difficult for humans to accomplish. Robots are being sent into challenging, sometimes hazardous environments, such as in space and in deep, murky, underwater environments. Robotics is even revolutionized the healthcare industry. Robotic surgery is slowly becoming a standardized commodity in hospital settings. Amputees are being provided with newly designed robotic limbs that can respond with similar functions as human limbs. The field of robotics continues to introduce new technological advances into society. In this talk, Dr. Howard provided an overview of robotics and discussed current advances poised at the cutting-edge of this field.
PS : This talk has no video.
Ayanna Howard, Dr
Dr Ayanna Howard is the Director of the Human-Automation Systems (HumAnS) Lab at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Her research focuses on the concept of humanized intelligence, the process of embedding human decision making capabilities into the control path of autonomous/robotic systems. This work has resulted in over 100 peer-reviewed publications in a number of projects – from scientific rover navigation in glacier environments to assistive robots for the home.
To date, her unique accomplishments have been documented in over 12 featured articles – including being named as one of the world’s top young innovators of 2003 by the prestigious MIT Technology Review journal and in TIME magazine’s “Rise of the Machines” article in 2004. Dr. Howard has also worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where she led research efforts on various robotic projects and neural network methodologies. In 2005, she joined the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Georgia Tech, where she is a member of the systems and controls technical interest group and founded the Human-Automation Systems (HumAnS) Laboratory. Dr. Howard is also a member of the Center for Robotics and Intelligent Machines at Georgia Tech and currently serves as the robotics Ph.D. program coordinator.
