News

Autonomous corn robot monitors and samples crops that humans can’t reach
2024-10-09

Imagine you’re a farmer who has to monitor miles of corn rows. Not only is it repetitive and time-intensive, but the rows are too narrow to walk in. Perfect job for an autonomous robot! Purdue University researchers have created a small autonomous robot to help farmers monitor crops and regularly collect physical samples, saving them time and effort.

Internet-of-Things for Precision Agriculture (IoT4Ag), an NSF engineering research center, was launched in 2020 with five participating universities: Purdue University, University of Pennsylvania, University of California Merced, University of Florida, and Arizona State University. Purdue’s Agronomy Center for Research and Education (ACRE) is one of three real-world testbeds, and the only one that focuses on row crops such as corn and sorghum plants. Aarya Deb, PhD student in mechanical engineering at Purdue said, “IoT4Ag’s mission is to utilize internet-of-things technologies to digitize the agriculture industry in order to meet the growing demand for food, energy, and water security as the population grows.”

Deb works alongside Kitae Kim, another PhD student in mechanical engineering, at Purdue’s Herrick Labs. They both work under the supervision of David Cappelleri, professor of mechanical engineering and assistant vice president for research innovation. Together, they’ve developed an agricultural robot dubbed the Purdue AgBot (P-AgBot) that can be used for in-row and under-canopy crop monitoring and physical sampling. More info here.

 

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World’s Smallest Drum: GUINNESS WORLD RECORD!
2024-07-18

Boilermakers everywhere know that Purdue University is home of the World’s Largest Drum. But have you heard about the world’s smallest drum? David Cappelleri, professor of mechanical engineering, came up with the idea to test out the Nanoscribe Photonic Professional GT2 3D printer, which he uses to fabricate microrobots. At 47 microns across (half the width of a human hair), this drum now holds a Guinness World Record for the “smallest 3D-printed sculpture of a percussion instrument.”

 

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MSRAL @ MARSS 2024
2024-07-04

MSRAL members presented their work on the following papers as part of the IEEE International Conference on Manipulation, Automation and Robotics at Small Scales (MARSS): 

• Mobile Microrobot Grippers for Cell Spheroid Micromanipulation
• Design, Fabrication, and Characterization of a Helical Multi-Material MicroRobot with a Detachable Payload (HMMR-DP)
• Micromanipulation System for Microscale Magnetic Component Alignment and Assembly
• Micro-Force Sensing Mobile Microrobots

David Cappelleri elected Fellow of ASME
2024-06-12

David Cappelleri, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, has been elected a Fellow of ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers).

In addition to serving as professor in the School of Mechanical Engineering (with a courtesy appointment in the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering), Cappelleri was recently appointed Assistant Vice President for Research Innovationin the Office of Research. He also serves as the Purdue site director for the National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center’s Internet of Things for Precision Agriculture (IoT4Ag), and was the faculty council co-chair of the Purdue engineering initiative Autonomous and Connected Systems from 2019 to 2024.  More info here.

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MSRAL @ ICRA 2024
2024-05-15

MSRAL members presented their work on the following papers as part of the 2024 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA): 

• Magnetic Mobile Micro-Gripping MicroRobots (MMμGRs) with Two Independent Magnetic Actuation Modes
• Sim-Suction: Learning a Suction Grasp Policy for Cluttered Environments
  Using a Synthetic Benchmark

NASA Looking to Use Purdue Robots on Moon, Mars
2024-05-13

As we humans expand our reach into space, robots may be doing a lot of the day-to-day work beyond earth’s orbit—tasks like turning screws and opening drawers. Extraterrestrial habitats are part of NASA’s roadmap toward the moon, Mars and beyond; and when these space stations are unmanned, robots will need to handle the maintenance.

With that in mind, a group of scientists are building a system to help robots identify the things around them and attach the tools they need to pick them up or manipulate them.

Researchers at Purdue University have been developing a machine-learning solution that can identify equipment such as a screwdriver, electrical panel or switch—and then manipulate each item with the proper tools.

The Purdue system uses a combination of computer vision, onboard machine learning and QR codes to help the robots conduct work, autonomously or with astronauts.  More info here.

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Congrats to the MSRAL May 2024 graduates!
2024-05-12

Congrats to the MSRAL May 2024 graduates!

• Liyuan (Leo) Tan, Ph.D.
• Juncheng Li, Ph.D.
• Aayush Mathur, M.S.

Cappelleri named AVP for research innovation
2024-04-18

Karen Plaut, executive vice president for research, announced today (April 18) that David Cappelleri has been appointed assistant vice president for research innovation in the Office of Research, effective May 1.  More info here.

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Aayush Mathur defends MS thesis!
2024-04-17

Aayush Mathur successfully defended his MS thesis: “Automated Centrifugal Band Extraction”.  Congrats Aayush!

Juncheng Li defends PhD dissertation!
2024-04-09

Juncheng Li successfully defended his Ph.D. dissertation: “Learning Grasp Policies for Modular End-Effectors of Mobile Manipulation Platforms in Cluttered Environments”.  Congrats Juncheng!

NASA Tech Briefs: Autonomous grasping robots will help future astronauts maintain space habitats
2024-02-08

NASA Tech Briefs published a story on how our autonomous grasping robots can help future astronauts maintain space habitats.  Check it out here.

 

Aaron Davis completes PhD preliminary proposal exam!
2023-12-14

Aaron Davis successfully completed his preliminary PhD proposal exam based on his work: Advancements Towards Active Mobile Microrobots for Drug Delivery, Micromanipulation, and Cellular Measurement”.  Congrats Aaron!

Liyuan Tan defends PhD dissertation!
2023-12-13

Liyuan (Leo) Tan successfully defended his Ph.D. dissertation: “Modeling, Design, and Fabrication, of Magnetic Hydrogel Microrobots for Advanced Functionalities”.  Congrats Leo!

Prof. Cappelleri delivers IEEE RAS Technical Committee on Micro/Nano Robotics and Automation webinar
2023-11-29

The IEEE Robotics & Automation Society (RAS) Technical Committee on Micro/Nano Robotics and Automation organizes regular online webinars.  Prof. Cappelleri presented a recent webinar titled “From MANiACs to Micro-Force Sensing Microrobots: Microrobots for Biomedical Applications” on November 29th 2023.

 

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Autonomous grasping robots will help future astronauts maintain space habitats
2023-11-28

Purdue University researchers are using machine learning to train a robot to recognize a jumbled pile of items, locate the one item it needs, and retrieve it in the most efficient way. It’s one small step to creating resilient and versatile robots that can assist astronauts in maintaining future extraterrestrial habitats on the Moon, on Mars, or in deep space.

 

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Autonomous and Connected Systems (ACS) Purdue Engineering Initiative
2023-10-26

Autonomous and Connected Systems (ACS) is a Purdue Engineering initiative that creates a community of scholars to advance the science and engineering of #autonomy, #robotics and the Internet of Things (#IoT).

ACS interdisciplinary teams of researchers explore innovative research ideas in these areas and promote technology transfer with IP, educational and outreach activities. ACS members integrate their research into educational programs at the K-12, undergraduate and graduate levels where students gain classroom, real world and international experiences, as well as access to expert mentors. ACS faculty partner with external academic partners, corporations and international organizations to promote and advance the current state-of-the-art in autonomy, robotics and IoT engineering and Escience. For more information: https://engineering.purdue.edu/Initiatives/AutoSystems

 

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World’s Smallest Drum: New 3D printing technology is expanding horizons for microrobotics research on Purdue’s campus
2023-09-05

Boilermakers everywhere already know that Purdue is home of the World’s Largest Drum.  

But have you heard about the world’s smallest drum? It’s probably not going to get rolled out onto the field at Ross-Ade Stadium for any football games. Even if it were, you wouldn’t be able to see it.  

That’s because small means small — about the width of a human hair. 

David Cappelleri, professor of mechanical engineering and biomedical engineering (by courtesy), came up with the idea for the world’s smallest drum to test out the Nanoscribe Photonic Professional GT2 3D printer, which streamlines the production of microscopic materials while pioneering new potential applications in medical treatments. Housed at Birck Nanotechnology Center in Discovery Park District at Purdue, the printer is the first of its kind in operation in Indiana and was acquired with a financial award from the US National Science Foundation.

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MSRAL welcomes new PhD student Yang (Helen) Yang!
2023-08-15

MSRAL welcomes new Mechanical Engineering PhD student Yang (Helen) Yang!  Helen will be conducting research in mobile microrobotics.

Swimming microrobots achieve record speeds, thanks to microscale 3D printing
2023-05-02

A robot traveling at 2 millimeters per second doesn’t sound particularly fast. But when that robot is the width of a human hair, it becomes record-breaking! Purdue University researchers created the speedy swimming robots using microscale 3D printing, enabling multi-material microrobots to be fabricated with hydrogel tails that adapt to their environment.

 

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Juncheng Li completes PhD preliminary proposal exam!
2023-04-20

Juncheng Li successfully completed his preliminary PhD proposal exam based on his work: Learning Grasp Policies for Modular End-Effectors of Mobile Manipulation Platforms in Cluttered Environments.  Congrats Juncheng!

Congrats to the MSRAL December 2022 graduates!
2022-12-18

Congrats to the MSRAL December 2022 graduates!

• Max Beckemeier, M.S. Mechanical Engineering

Tackling inflammatory bowel disease with tumbling microrobots
2022-09-05

Precisely targeted drug delivery is the dream of biomedical engineers, and Purdue researchers will soon be using microrobots to deliver the goods. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) have awarded Purdue a $1.11 million grant to investigate targeted drug delivery in a live colon using tumbling magnetic microrobots.

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Congrats to the MSRAL August 2022 graduates!
2022-08-15

Congrats to MSRAL August 2022 graduates!

• Georges Adam, Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering

Georges Adam defends PhD dissertation!
2022-08-08

Georges Adam successfully defended his Ph.D. dissertation: “Advanced Force Sensing and Novel Microrobotic Mechanisms for Biomedical Applications”.  Congrats Georges!

Congrats to the MSRAL May 2022 graduates!
2022-05-15

Congrats to the MSRAL May 2022 graduates!

• Jarod Throckmorton, M.S. Mechanical Engineering
• Jongkwang Park, M.S. Mechanical Engineering

Georges Adam starts Chateaubriand Fellowship in France!
2022-01-24
MSRAL PhD student Georges Adam won a Chateaubriand Fellowship to study at FEMTO-ST in Besancon, France for the Spring semester.  He will be working on a microrobotics project with MSRAL collaborator Cedric Clevy and others on the Micro and Nano Robotics Team.
Best of luck in France!    

Congrats to MSRAL December 2021 Graduates!
2021-12-18
Congrats to the MSRAL December 2021 graduates!

• Zilin Li, M.S. Mechanical Engineering

Two patents issued for MSRAL developed technology
2021-10-26
Two US patents were recently awarded based on technology developed by MSRAL members:

• Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Capable of Environmental Interaction, Patent No. US 11,091,256, Issued August 17, 2021.

• Light Responsive Polymer Magnetic Microrobots, Patent No. US 11,159,105, Issued: October 26, 2021.

MSRAL @ IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) 2021
2021-09-30
MSRAL members presented recent work on “Modeling of Bilayer Hydrogel Springs for Microrobots with Adaptive Locomotion” at the 2021 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS).

Biomedical Picture of the Day: Destined to Deliver
2021-09-15
MSRAL’s MANiAC (magnetically aligned nanorods in alginate capsules) microrobots featured as the Biomedical Picture of the Day!

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MSRAL @ ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conferences (IDETC) 2021
2021-08-17
MSRAL members presented their work on the following papers as part of the Mechanisms and Robotics Conference at the 2021 ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conferences (IDETC):

• Comparison of Neural Network-Based Pose Estimation Approaches for Mobile Manipulation
• AgBug: Agricultural Robotic Platform for In-row and Under Canopy Crop Monitoring and Assessment

MSRAL welcomes new PhD students Kitae Kim and Aarya Deb!
2021-08-15
MSRAL welcomes new PhD students Kitae Kim and Aarya Deb!  Kitae and Aarya will be working on research projects that are part of the NSF Engineering Research Center on the Internet of Things for Precision Agriculture (IoT4Ag).

Soft microrobots demonstrate potential for targeted drug delivery
2021-08-11
MSRAL creates tiny tumbling soft robots that can be controlled with rotating magnetic fields. In a newly-published study, the robots showed that they can climb slopes, tumble upstream against fluid flow, and deposit substances at precise locations in neural tissue. These robots are called “magnetically aligned nanorods in alginate capsules” (MANiACs), and in the future they may be part of an advanced arsenal of drug delivery technologies at doctors’ disposal. A new study in open-access journal Frontiers in Robotics and AI is the first to investigate how such tiny robots might perform as drug delivery vehicles in neural tissue. The study finds that when controlled using a magnetic field, the tiny tumbling soft robots can move against fluid flow, climb slopes and move about neural tissues, such as the spinal cord, and deposit substances at precise locations. This story has been picked up by many additional news outlets, such as:

• Frontiers Science News: Tiny `maniac’ robots could deliver drugs directly to central nervous system
• MSN.com: MANiACs robot could deliver drugs in targeted places in humans
• New Atlas: MANiAC microbots may one deliver drugs within the nervous system
• Gizmag Emerging Technology Magazine: MANiAC microbots may one deliver drugs within
• the nervous system
• The Medical News: Tiny tumbling soft robots could precisely deliver drugs to central nervous system
• Tech Explore: Tiny ‘maniac’ robots could deliver drugs directly to central nervous system

 

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Congrats to MSRAL PhD graduates Benji Johnson and Arindam Chowdhury!
2021-08-07
Congrats to Drs. Benjamin Johnson and Arindam Chowdhury!

Arindam successfully defended his PhD dissertation “Advanced Perception for Robotics and Automation Applications” in the Spring 2021.  He now works for KLA Tencor but returned to campus in August to participate in the commencement ceremonies.

Benji successfully defended his PhD dissertation in April 2020 on “Local Magnetic Field System Design and Control for Independent Control of Multiple Mobile Microrobots”.  He has been an MSRAL post-doc since then but did not have a chance to participate in graduation until now due to the pandemic.  He is starting work at ASML in September.  

Best of luck to you both in your new positions!!  

Georges Adam completes PhD preliminary proposal exam!
2021-07-14
Georges Adam successfully competed his preliminary PhD proposal exam based on his work on advanced force sensing and novel microrobotic mechanisms for biomedical applications. Congrats Georges!

MSRAL’s Aggy Tharun: First-Time Undergraduate Researcher
2021-06-04

Aggy Tharun developed a component for a modular end-effector system that would be compatible with robots designed to autonomously repair and maintain extraterrestrial habitats.  
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Congrats to the MSRAL May 2021 Graduates!
2021-05-15
Congrats to the MSRAL May 2021 Graduates!

• Abby Grillo, B.S. Mechanical Engineering
• Amanda Mudd, B.S. Mechanical Engineering
• Nachiket Vatkar, B.S. Mechanical Engineering
• Arindam Chowdhury, Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering

   

Prof. Cappelleri gives invited talk at the International Conference on Micromachines and Applications
2021-04-20
Prof. Cappelleri gave an invited talk entitled “A Tumbling Magnetic Microrobot System for Biomedical Applications” at the inaugural International Conference on Micromachines and Applications (ICMA 2021).
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7 cool NSF-funded robots that are advancing science and helping society
2021-04-07
MSRAL’s Micro Back Flipping Robot highlighted by the US National Science Foundation as a cool robot advancing science and helping society!

Whether microscopic or human-sized, inspired by tree-dwelling mammals or pasta, the family of U.S. National Science Foundation-funded robots captures the incredible innovation possible with cross-disciplinary collaboration across STEM fields. The critical research NSF supports enables advances in the physical aspects of robotic systems and how they “think” and understand the world around them. Scientists and engineers are training robots to support the workforce; training the workforce that will use them; and studying how the world understands and interacts with these autonomous systems. The following are seven projects featuring amazing new robots and highlighting the exciting ways in which robots could benefit individuals, industry and society.
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Prof. Cappelleri delivers invited seminar at the Birck Nanotechnology Center on Microrobotics
2021-03-04
Prof. Cappelleri delivered an invited seminar on microrobotics at the Birck Nanotechnolgy Center Faculty Seminar Series at Purdue.
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Congrats to the MSRAL December 2020 Graduates!
2020-12-18
Congrats to the MSRAL December 2020 graduates!

• Fagun Patel, B.S. Mechanical Engineering
• Michael Shanks, B.S. Mechanical Engineering

Benjamin Abruzzo defends PhD dissertation!
2020-12-15
Benjamin Abruzzo successfully defended his PhD dissertation: “Autonomy and Perception of Robotic Teams and Agents for Cooperative Localization and Threat Discrimination”.  Congrats Ben!

Prof. Cappelleri gives invited virtual seminar at the University of Delaware
2020-11-13
Prof. Cappelleri gave an invited talk as part of the Department of Mechanical Engineering seminar series at the University of Delaware in Newark, DE.  

Farm to every table via precision agriculture
2020-11-11
It’s estimated that the global population will grow by about one-fourth, to nearly 10 billion people, by 2050, requiring a large increase in the food supply. We aim to meet that need through precision agriculture — the use of technology to measure and analyze data from the field in order to manage energy, water and agrochemical inputs, as well as to enhance crop yield and farm profitability.
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Prof. Cappelleri gives invited virtual seminar at Illinois Institute of Technology-Chicago
2020-10-21
Prof. Cappelleri gave an invited talk as part of the Department of Mechanical, Materials, and Aerospace Engineering seminar series at the Illinois Institute of Technology – Chicago, in Chicago, IL.    

Two patents issued on MSRAL robotic discectomy system technology
2020-10-20
Two US patents were recently issued on MSRAL’s robotic lumbar discectomy system technology!

• Patent No. US 10,709,324 B2, Issued: July 14, 2020.
• Patent No. US 10,806489 B2, Issued: October 20, 2020.

All-terrain microrobot flips through a live colon
2020-10-15

A rectangular robot as tiny as a few human hairs can travel throughout a colon by doing back flips, MSRAL researchers have demonstrated in live animal models. Why the back flips? Because the goal is to use these robots to transport drugs in humans, whose colons and other organs have rough terrain. Side flips work, too. Why a back-flipping robot to transport drugs? Getting a drug directly to its target site could remove side effects, such as hair loss or stomach bleeding, that the drug may otherwise cause by interacting with other organs along the way.  The study, published in the journal Micromachines, is the first demonstration of a microrobot tumbling through a biological system in vivo.

This work has been picked up by a number of news outlets, such as:

• ScienceAlert: Scientists Have Piloted a Tumbling Microbot Inside an Animal Colon For The First Time
• National Science Foundation: All-terrain microrobot flips through a live colon (News Story); All-terrain microrobot flips through a live colon (Video)
• IEEE Spectrum Online: Video Friday: Your weekly selection of awesome robot videos
• Medgadget: Tiny Robots Walk Through Colon to Deliver Drugs, Sample Tissue
• ScienceDaily: All-terrain microrobot flips through a live colon
• Tectales: Microrobot flips through a live colon
• IFL Science: Tiny Microrobots Backip Through The Colon To Deliver Drugs

 

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The Future of Robotics and Healthcare
2020-10-07
As part of the Purdue College of Engineering Rising to the Challenge Webinar Series, Prof. Cappelleri moderated a discussion on the Future of Robotics and Healthcare. The 2020 pandemic has challenged our healthcare systems but it has also opened the door to a greater acceptance of robots and automation.

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MSRAL @ ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conferences (IDETC) 2020
2020-08-17
MSRAL members presented recent work on “Design of a Miniaturized Actuation System for Robotic Lumbar Discectomy Tools” as part of the Mechanisms and Robotics Conference at the 2020 ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conferences (IDETC).
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Purdue ME students fill their lockdown summer with real-world research
2020-08-12
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused chaos for many students, removing any chance they had to gain work experience over the summer. The School of Mechanical Engineering saw this need and created the Summer Projects program, giving students the chance to perform meaningful research, and get some financial assistance along the way.  MSRAL hosted 8 undergraduate students working on a variety of projects.

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Purdue University to collaborate in NSF-funded Engineering Research Center to develop the Internet of Things for precision agriculture
2020-08-07
 
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MSRAL@ 2020 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)
2020-05-31
MSRAL members presented recent work on “Pose-Estimate-Based Target Tracking for Human Guided Remote Sensor Mounting with a UAV” at the 2020 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA).
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Congrats to the MSRAL May 2020 Graduates!
2020-05-15
Congrats to all the MSRAL May 2020 Graduates!

• Ryan Craker, B.S. Mechanical Engineering
• Ryan Drager, B.S. Mechanical Engineering
• Naveed Riaziat, B.S. Mechanical Engineering
• Josiah Rudge, B.S. Mechanical Engineering
• Benjamin Johsnon, Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering

Benjamin Johnson defends PhD dissertation!
2020-04-17
Benjamin Johnson successfully defended his PhD dissertation: “Local Magnetic Field System Design and Control for Independent Control of Multiple Mobile Microrobots”.  He will begin a post-doctoral researcher position in the MSRAL in May 2020.  Congrats Benji!  

Microrobots show their true colors
2020-04-13
MSRAL’s color-expressing Microrobots! Using a micro-3D-printing technique, MSRAL researchers were able to print detailed robotic parts that are smaller than the diameter of a human hair and display color-expressing features for microrobot tracking and identification. Multiple news outlets produced stories on this work, such as:

• Advanced Science News:  Microrobots show their true colors
• 3D Print.com:  Purdue University Researchers 3D Printing Microrobots with Integrated Color
• 3D Printing Industry: Purdue University research yields distinguishable 3D printed microrobots
• Pioneering Minds:  3D Printing Microrobots With Integrated Color
• News Break:  Purdue University investigation yields distinguishable 3D printed microrobots

MSRAL welcomes new PhD student!
2020-01-08
Juncheng Li has joined the MSRAL as a PhD student this Spring.  Juncheng will working on robotics for resilient extra-terrestrial habitats.  Welcome to the MSRAL!

Congrats to MSRAL December 2019 graduates!
2019-12-15
Congratulations to the MSRAL December 2019 Graduates!

• Ze An, M.S. Mechanical Engineering
• Chenghao Bi, M.S. Mechanical Engineering

Chenghao Bi defends MS thesis!
2019-11-15
Chenghao Bi successfully defended his MS thesis: “Design of Magnetic Tumbling Micorobots for Complex Environments and Biomedical Applications”.  Chenghao will be joining Medtronic in January 2020.  Congrats Chenghao!

Arindam Chowdhury completes PhD preliminary proposal exam!
2019-11-13
Arindam Chowdhury successfully competed his preliminary PhD proposal exam based on his work on advanced perception for robotics and automation applications.  Congrats Arindam!

MSRAL@ ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conferences (IDETC) 2019
2019-08-21
MSRAL members presented their work on the following papers as part of the Mechanisms and Robotics Conference at the 2019 ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conferences (IDETC):

• A Collaborative Visual Localization Scheme for a Low-Cost Heterogeneous Robotic Team with Non-overlapping Perspectives, https://doi.org/10.1115/DETC2019-97377.
• Design of a Robotic Cannula for Robotic Lumbar Discectomy, https://doi.org/10.1115/DETC2019-97365.
• Towards Dynamic Simulation Guided Optimal Design of Tumbling Microrobots, https://doi.org/10.1115/DETC2019-97306.
• Modeling, Control, and Planning for Multiple Mobile Microrobots, https://doi.org/10.1115/DETC2019-98392.

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MSRAL welcomes two new PhD students!
2019-08-15
Two new PhD students have joined the MSRAL this Fall – Liyuan Tan and Aaron Davis.  They will be working in the area of mobile microrobotics.  Welcome to the MSRAL!

Congrats to all the MSRAL Spring/Summer 2019 Graduates!
2019-08-02
Congratulations to all the MSRAL Spring/Summer 2019 Graduates!

• Nathan Esantsi, B.S. Mechanical Engineering
• Matthew Lyng, B.S. Mechanical Engineering
• Zhangian Ouyang, B.S./M.S. Mechanical Engineering
• Brody Schwartz, B.S. Mechanical Engineering
• Che Kun Law, M.S. Mechanical Engineering
• Yang Ding, M.S. Mechanical Engineering
• Bo Ji, M.S. Mechanical Engineering
• Daniel McArthur, Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering

Technology could improve back surgery outcomes, reduce pain, advance skills of surgeons
2019-07-18
The majority of adults in the United States experience lower back pain at some point in their life. Thousands undergo surgery to help fix their backs – but the procedures can be expensive and not always effective because the spinal area is small, is intricate and presents space challenges for surgeons. Now, a Purdue University-affiliated startup and MSRAL spin-off has developed new technology to help make the surgeries more effective and less painful.  

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MSRAL @ MARSS 2019
2019-07-05
MSRAL traveled to Helsinki, Finland to present three papers at the 2019 International Conference on Manipulation, Automation, and Robotics at Small Scales (MARSS).

• Tumbling Magnetic Microrobots for Biomedical Applications*; C. Bi, E. Niedert, G. Adam, E. Lambert, L. Solorio, C. Goergen, D. Cappelleri; *Best Application Paper Finalist
• Design of a 3D Vision-based Micro-Force Sensing Probe; G. Adam, D. Cappelleri
• Microrobot Design for Micromanipulation with Orientation Control using Local Magnetic Fields; B. Johnson, D. Cappelleri

     

Daniel McArthur defends PhD dissertation!
2019-06-28
Daniel McArthur successfully defended his PhD dissertation: “Design of an Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicle for Physical Interaction with the Environment”.  He will start working in the robotics group at Sandia National Labs in August 2019.  Congrats Daniel!

Bo Ji defends MS thesis!
2019-06-27
Bo Ji successfully defended his MS thesis: “Design and Control of a Low-cost Micromanipulator”.  Congrats Bo!

Yang Ding defends MS thesis!
2019-06-18
Yang Ding successfully defended his MS thesis entitled “Design of a Robotic Cannula for Robotic Lumbar Discectomy”.  He will begin working at Tiger Technology in Shanghai, China in August 2019.  Congrats Yang!

Four startups advance through investments totaling $80,000 from Elevate Purdue Foundry Fund
2019-06-05
Elevate Purdue Foundry Fund has announced that it has awarded a total of $80,000 in investment funding to four Purdue University-affiliated startups.  One company receiving a “Black Award” is C2 Medical Robotics.  This is a spin-off company from MSRAL working on developing low-cost, articulated, disposable, robotic spinal surgical tools and devices for lumbar discectomy.  
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MSRAL @ ICRA 2019
2019-05-23
Prof. Cappelleri presented some recent MSRAL work on “Designing Local Magnetic Fields and Path Planning for Micro-factories” as part of the Workshop on Progress Toward Automated Micro-Bio-Nano Factories Through Robotic Manipulation at the  2019 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) in Montreal, Canada.

MSRAL’s Soft Matter Tumbling Robots make cover of Micromachines!
2019-05-06

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NASA selects Purdue to host institute on space habitats
2019-04-10
NASA has selected Purdue to host the Resilient ExtraTerrestrial Habitats institute, dedicated to designing and operating habitats on the Moon, Mars, and deep space. Shirley Dyke, professor of mechanical engineering, will lead the $15 million institute. As part of this project, MSRAL will perform research on autonomous robotics as a way of identifying, diagnosing and fixing structural and systematic issues when they occur.
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Prof. Cappelleri gives invited talk at West Virginia University
2019-03-05
Prof. Cappelleri gave an invited talk as part of the Robotics Seminar series at West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia.

MSRAL hosts Girl Scout Troop 1264!
2019-02-21
MSRAL hosted Girl Scout Troop 1264 consisting of 4th and 5th graders from Burnett Creek Elementary School.  The girls got a chance to control some mobile microrobots the size of a few diameters of human hair, teleoperate some our TurtleBot mobile robot platforms, and operate a light following robot.

Benjamin Johnson completes PhD preliminary proposal exam!
2018-11-16
Benjamin Johnson successfully competed his preliminary PhD proposal exam based on his work on mobile microrobotic swarms.  Congrats Benji!

Invited seminar at Rice University
2018-11-05
Prof. Cappelleri presented an invited seminar in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Rice University in Houston Texas.

Prof. Cappelleri delivers invited seminar at FEMTO-ST Institute in Besancon, France
2018-10-05
Prof. Cappelleri presented an invited seminar on “Micromanipulation & Mobile Microrobotics” at FEMTO-ST Institute in Besancon, France. The FEMOT-ST Micro Nano Sciences and Systems Department conducts multidisciplinary research in the fields of microsystems, nanosciences and nanotechnologies while the research in the Automatic Control Department is firmly grounded within the disciplines of robotics, mechatronics, automatic control and artificial intelligence.

MSRAL hosts Team 323A Apex middle school robotics team
2018-09-18
Team 323A Apex, a part of Cornerstone Robotics located in Hancock County, Indiana, is a second year VEX IQ Robotics team, competing in the Next Level Challenge. They visited the MSRAL to learn about our cool robots.    

Congrats to the MSRAL Spring/Summer Graduates!
2018-08-09
Congratulations to all the MSRAL Spring/Summer 2018 graduates!

• Cara Koepele, B.S. Mechanical Engineering with Honors
• Jianxiong Wang, B.S. Mechanical Engineering / B.S. Computer Science
• Ganesh Ram Ramanujam Karthikeyan, M.S. Mechanical Engineering
• Vinoth Venkatesan, M.S. Mechanical Engineering
• Zekun Gong, M.S. Mechanical Engineering
• Tianqi Ye, M.S. Mechanical Engineering

 

Tumbling Microrobots for Future Medicine
2018-07-09
The July-August edition of the American Scientist magazine features an article on the MSRAL uTUMs!

Robots smaller than a grain of sand could move through the body by tumbling end over end, opening up the possibility of intriguing biomedical applications.
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Daniel McArthur completes preliminary PhD proposal exam!
2018-06-12
PhD student Daniel McArthur successfully passed his preliminary PhD proposal exam based on his work with the Interacting-BoomCopter UAV.  He will be graduating next year.  Congrats Daniel!

Vinoth Venkatesan defends MS Thesis!
2018-05-09
Congratulations to Vinoth Venkatesan for successfully defending his MS Thesis titled “Flexible automation for meso and micro-scale manipulation and assembly”!  Vinoth will start working at The MathWorks, Inc. in June 2018.  

Maria Guix Noguera wins Postdoctoral Trainee Mentoring Award!
2018-05-07
Congratulations to Maria Guix Noguera for winning the Purdue University Postdoctoral Trainee Mentoring Award! She was presented the award at the Graduate School Awards Banquet on May 7, 2018 at the Purdue Memorial Union.
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There’s a Microscopic Robot On This Penny That’s Built to Go Inside You?
2018-04-13
Microscopic robots, called microscale magnetic tumbling robots, or microTUMs, could explore your digestive system. These 4 to 800 micron long tiny bots are designed to deliver a specific drug to a specific place in your body. When you take a normal pill, the medication dissipates throughout your body, hopefully hitting the prescribed target, but certain areas are harder to find. For example, a 1 centimeter peptic ulcer in a 10 meter gastrointestinal tract becomes a needle in the haystack for a pill. These robots are designed to navigate your gastrointestinal haystack.

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Cara Koepele wins 2nd Place in Purdue Undergraduate Research Conference Poster Competition!
2018-04-10
Congratulations to Cara Koepele for winning 2nd Place in the Purdue Undergraduate Research Conference Poster Competition!  Cara’s poster was titled:  3D Printed Microswimmers with Nanostructures for Real-Time Color Tracking.  

Deaf Kids Code joins forces with Purdue ME
2018-03-21
Deaf Kids Code is an organization that brings STEM-focused workshops to kids who are deaf or hard-of-hearing, at no cost. David Cappelleri, professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University, collaborated with Deaf Kids Code founder Shireen Hafeez on a do-it-yourself robot kit specifically for deaf and hard-of-hearing students, which uses light to control the robot.

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TV Interview with Global News Canada
2018-03-19
Prof. Cappelleri was interviewed on Global News Canada about the changing landscape of medical robots.  See the interview here:

• Medical robotics changing health care

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Radio Interview, W Radio Columbia: This is how robots work that could heal humans from within
2018-03-03
Prof. Cappelleri was interviewed on W Radio Columbia about the medical potential of the uTUMs for targeted drug delivery. Listen to the interview using the following link: Así funcionan los robots que podrían curar humanos desde su interior  
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Radio Interview, WVXU NRP Cincinnati: All-Terrain Tiny Robot Designed To Deliver Drugs
2018-02-19
Smaller than the head of a pin, the microTUM tumbles end over end through bumpy, steep and wet topography to reach its final destination. Purdue University researchers hope the microscale magnetic tumbling robot they’ve designed will eventually be able to deliver drugs to a specific location in the human body.
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All-terrain microbot moves by tumbling over complex topography
2018-02-13
A new type of all-terrain microbot that moves by tumbling could help usher in tiny machines for various applications. The “microscale magnetic tumbling robot,” or μTUM (microTUM), is about 400 by 800 microns, or millionths of a meter, smaller than the head of a pin. A continuously rotating magnetic field propels the microbot in an end-over-end or sideways tumbling motion, which helps the microbot traverse uneven surfaces such as bumps and trenches, a difficult feat for other forms of motion.

 

News story picked up by more that 50 news outlets, such as:

• Purdue News:  All-terrain microbot moves by tumbling over complex topography
• Gizmodo: Freaky Flea-Like Robots Could One Day Flip and Tumble Inside Your Body
• Yahoo! News: Purdue’s microbots are designed to wander around inside your body
• Science Daily: All-terrain microbot moves by tumbling over complex topography
• The Engineer:  Tumbling magnetic microbots have drug delivery potential
• Digital Trends:  Purdue’s microbots are designed to wander around inside your body
• Nanowerk:  All-terrain microbot moves by tumbling over complex topography
• New Atlas:  Magnetic microbot flip-flops through tricky terrain in the body
• Rockets Are Cool:  Purdue University Engineers Design Tumbling Microbot

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Low cost microrobotic tool helps with spinal surgery
2017-10-20
More than 300,000 lumbar discectomies are performed in the US every year — with rigid tools, in a tiny, difficult workspace. MSRAL has developed a flexible, 3D-printed micro-robotic tool that can help surgeons perform the procedure more safely and effectively — even from thousands of miles away!
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MSRAL hosts the Northview Middle School Robotics Club
2017-10-19
The MSRAL hosted and coordinated robotics labs tours for members of the Northview Middle School Robotics Club at Purdue on October 19, 2017.  The students toured MSRAL’s facilities at the Ray W. Herrick Labs Building to see the lab’s latest work in the area of mobile ground robots and drones.  The students interacted with an autonomous ground robot that was programmed to follow them at a certain distance.  They also a had blast in controlling another robot with hand gestures. “The kids had a great time, and my daughter couldn’t stop talking about controlling a robot with her hand,” said parent and Northview teacher Jeff Maze. At their stop at MSRAL@Spira, the kids learned about the labs microrobotics work and were able to remotely robots less than 1 mm in size using a joystick. Thanks to all the MSRAL members who contributed to making this event a success. “The trip today was amazing and far exceeded our expectations,” Maze concluded. “It will be a trip not soon forgotten by the middle schoolers you impacted today.”      

   

         

Prof. Cappelleri Delivers Invited Talk at Dawn or Doom 2017
2017-09-26
Prof. Cappelleri delivered an invited talk at the Purdue University Dawn or Doom 2017 conference.  The title of the talk was: “The Fantastic Voyage: Microrobots and the Human Body”.    

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SURF Awards for Cara Koepele and Maria Guix Noguera!
2017-08-04
Congratulations to Cara Koepele and Maria Guix Noguera for the awards they received at the Purdue University Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship Program (SURF) Research Symposium Banquet! Cara received an Excellence Award for her Oral Presentation on her summer project entitled:  “3D-Printed Microswimmers with Nanostructures for Color Tracking”. Maria’s award was for being a top Undergraduate Student Research Mentor for SURF 2017.  Great job!

3D printer custom builds tools for spinal surgery
2017-06-06
What if you could 3D-print custom surgical tools to fit the needs of individual patients? That’s the idea behind David Cappelleri’s flexible micro-robotic tools, being developed for minimally invasive spinal surgery. Thanks to Stratasys 3D printers, Cappelleri can print super-small precise tools — simultaneously with multiple materials, both rigid and flexible.
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Boomcopter is a Drone That Can Open Doors
2017-05-30

      Consumer drones can hover and take photos, but they can’t physically interact with their environment. The Boomcopter changes that. It’s a tri-rotor, with an extra arm and propeller that allows it to move laterally, while performing a task with its arm. It can open doors, flip switches, and attach sensors onto walls — all autonomously, using an array of sensors and cameras. In dangerous or inaccessible environments, the Boomcopter can perform tasks that would be too risky for humans.
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New Micro 3D Printer Installed @ MSRAL
2017-05-16
The Microlight 3D printer was recently installed in MSRAL@Spira.  It uses two-photon polymerization to create 3D structures at the micro-scale.  Check out the company tweet showing off a test print during the system installation.  It’s the world’s smallest Boilermaker!

With the new 3D-microprinting machine acquired by @Purdue University, you can print a boilermakers logo thiner than a hair ! (<0.1 mm !) pic.twitter.com/RmTSDYSbuH

— Microlight 3D (@Microlight3D) May 16, 2017

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Prof. Cappelleri promoted to Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering!
2017-04-21
Purdue University’s Board of Trustees on Friday approved faculty promotions.  Prof. Cappelleri was promoted with tenure to Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering.  The promotions are effective with the 2017-18 academic year.
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Invited seminar @ the University of Washington
2017-04-11
Prof. Cappelleri presented a ME Graduate Seminar at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington.
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Prof. Cappelleri gives talk on Microbots @ TEDx Purdue U
2017-03-25

    The microevolution is among us! Dr. Cappelleri, Assistant Professor in Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University, discusses exciting cutting edge technology that has ground breaking applications in healthcare including potential cancer treatment! His research in micro-robots, which can barely be seen on the American dime, may be the new frontier in medical practice.
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Purdue Hosts First Ever Intercollegiate Drone Races
2017-01-19

  The Purdue Drone Club hosted the first ever intercollegiate indoor drone races in January 2017, with Ohio State and Illinois. Each race is an exhilarating 2 minutes, as the small quadcopters can fly at nearly 80 miles per hour. Pilots maneuver the drones while wearing goggles, receiving live wireless video from the drone’s point of view — so both pilots and spectators alike can feel like they are in the cockpit of the drone, dodging the obstacles of the course. The Purdue Drone Club is the largest collegiate drone club in the country. Students of any background and experience level are welcome to join and learn about this exciting field, and even try out drone racing for themselves!
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Several Purdue faculty involved in new manufacturing robotics hub
2017-01-13
Researchers from three Purdue University colleges have joined governments, universities and nonprofit organizations in establishing a new independent robotics institute for the U.S. Department of Defense’s Manufacturing USA. The new Advanced Robotics Manufacturing (ARM) Institute Hub will conduct research and development, developing education and workforce training and providing access to shared capabilities through its regional collaborations. ARM focuses on key industrial sectors—aerospace, automotive, electronics, and textiles—defined by its partners.
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MSRAL participates in DOE Science of Safety Robotics Demo at Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant
2016-09-20

 

DOE decided to conduct a robotic demonstrations at Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon, Ohio, which is the site of our next major decommissioning effort. DOE had the full participation of United Steelworkers members, and the full support of Fluor-BWXT|Portsmouth, our decommissioning contractor. Two of DOE’s premier national labs – Savannah River and Sandia – provide technical leadership and coordination in addition to demonstrating some of their technologies. Two other world-class federal labs provided their technologies – NASA and JHU-APL, which is a university affiliated research center for the Department of Navy. Two non-profit organizations also, SwRI and OSRF demonstrated their technologies, and five universities provided their robotic technologies. Over a 4-day period, from August 22 through 25, they demonstrated 24 individual robotic technologies that were operated by about 30 USW/FBP workers. After the demos, 9 technologies were determined by the USW members to be near-ready for deployment with a few minor tweaks and a follow-up round of field demonstrations.  The Purdue and MSRAL demos start at the 4:50 minute mark in the above video.

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Invited Seminar @ the University of Notre Dame
2016-08-30
Prof. Cappelleri presented the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Seminar at the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, IN.
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ASME IDETC Micro- and Nano Systems Conference Best Paper Award Winners!
2016-08-23
Joseph Seymour and Prof. Cappelleri were awarded the Best Paper Award at the 10th International Conference on Micro- and Nano Systems at the 2016 ASME International Design Engineering Conferences for the paper: “Automated Sequence Planning with Sub-Assemblies”  

New Project to help bring widespread use of micro-robotics
2016-08-03
Micro-robotic manipulators with the ability to move in increments far smaller than the width of a human hair might be enlisted for a range of applications in research, manufacturing, medicine and homeland security. However, a critical obstacle must first be solved: Researchers don’t yet fully understand how to best operate the micro-manipulator bots because of various forces unique to the micro- and nano-scale.
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Prof. Cappelleri interviewed on RTV6 ABC News about drone use for search and rescue
2016-06-23
Prof. David Cappelleri was featured on RTV6 (WRTV – Indianapolis) last night as an expert in micro aerial vehicles (also called drones). Police used a drone to locate missing Lafayette teacher Krista Perdue.
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Micro-Robots Have a Soft Touch
2016-06-08
The possibilities seem to be endless for microrobots (robots smaller than a millimeter), from medicine to manufacturing. But there are also plenty of challenges. Dave Cappelleri and his team at Purdue have already tackled one of these challenges — how do you get something to move that is too small for a motor or a battery? Now they are tackling another: how can a microrobot use just the right amount of force to manipulate an individual cell? The answer lies in tracking them visually.
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Controlling microbots
2016-05-16
Until now it was only possible to control groups of microbots to move generally in unison, says David Cappelleri, assistant professor of mechanical engineering. “The reason we want independent movement of each robot is so they can do cooperative manipulation tasks,” he says. “Think of ants. They can independently move, yet all work together to perform tasks such as lifting and moving things. We want to be able to control them individually so we can have some robots here doing one thing, and some robots there doing something else at the same time.”
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Discovery Channel News: Mini Force Field Steers Swarms of Microbots
2016-01-13
Good news for unemployed tiny robots this week: Researchers at Purdue University have come up with a way to both power and control super-miniaturized individual robots — each about the size of a dust mite — by using magnetic force fields.
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Microbots individually controlled using ‘mini force fields’
2016-01-12
Researchers are using a technology likened to “mini force fields” to independently control individual microrobots operating within groups, an advance aimed at using the tiny machines in areas including manufacturing and medicine.
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Benjamin Johnson graduates with MSME degree!
2015-12-20
Benjamin Johnson graduated with his MSME degree today for his thesis work:  “Design of a Surgical Manipulator System for Lumbar Discectomy Procedures”.  He will start the PhD program in Mechanical Engineering here at Purdue in the Spring.  Congrats Benji!  

Sagar Chowdhury receives Best Dissertation Award!
2015-08-10
MSRAL Post-doc Dr. Sagar Chowdhury received the 2015 Best Dissertation Award from the ASME Computers and Information in Engineering Division!  He was presented the award at the 2015 ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conferences (IDETC) & Computers and Information in Engineering Conference held from August 2-5 in Boston, MA.  The dissertation was on “Planning For Automated Micromanipulation of Biological Cells”.  Congrats Sagar!!
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MSRAL @ ASME IDETC/CIE 2015
2015-08-07
Prof. Cappelleri and Dr. Sagar Chowdhury traveled to Boston, MA from August 2-5, 2015 to attend the ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conferences (IDETC) & Computer and Information in Engineering Conference (CIE).  Prof. Cappelleri organized the Workshops and Tutorials at the event.  Dr. Chowdhury presented his paper titled “Path Planning and Control for Autonomous Navigation of Single and Multiple Magnetic Mobile Microrobots”.  The paper is co-authored by Dr. Wuming Jing, Peter Jaron, and Prof. Cappelleri.  Prof. Cappelleri also presented a poster as part of the ASME Additive Manufacturing + 3D Printing Conference & Expo (AM3D) that was co-located with ASME IDETC/CIE.  The poster was called “3D Printed Surgical Manipulator for Minimally Invasive Lumbar Discectomy Surgery” and presented the work of Benjamin Johnson and collaborator Dr. Brian Cole, MD.      
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Prof. Cappelleri talks about the Mobile Microrobotics Challenge on IEEE.tv
2015-06-27

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Outreach: MSRAL presents talk and performs robot demos for PREFACE students as part of the Purdue Minority Engineering Program
2015-06-26
Prof. Cappelleri, Daniel McArthur, and Mark Schmidt participated in invited lecture and demo as part of the PREFACE Summer Engineering Workshop series of the Purdue Minority Engineering Program.  Prof. Cappelleri gave a talk entitled:  The Robotics Wave:  Advancements in Robotics, Past, Present, and Future.  Mark and Daniel demonstrated two TurtleBot2 mobile robot platforms for the students.  One robot followed the students around a pre-defined distance while the other robot was remote controlled using hand gestures using a special RGB-D camera.
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Prof. Cappelleri to Chair Workshops and Tutorials at ASME IDETC/CIE 2015
2015-06-18
Prof. Cappelleri is the Workshop and Tutorial Chair for the ASME 2015 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences & Computers and Information in Engineering Conference (IDETC/CIE 2015) that will take place during August 2–5, 2015 in Boston, Massachusetts.  In 2015, IDETC/CIE 2015 will co-locate with the new 2015 ASME Additive Manufacturing + 3D Printing Conference (AM3D). Workshop/tutorial attendance is free to all registered AM3D/IDETC/CIE 2015 participants. As there is limited seating, attendees must pre-register. All workshops and tutorials will be held on Sunday, August 2, 2015, at the Hynes Convention Center.
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Prof. Cappelleri named Associated Editor for IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters
2015-06-01
Prof. Cappelleri has been named an Associate Editor for the new IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L).  The first issue is planned for January 2016. The scope of this journal is to publish peer-reviewed articles that provide a timely and concise account of innovative research ideas and application results, reporting significant theoretical findings and application case studies in areas of robotics and automation. The primary goal of RA-L is to better serve the RAS membership and the robotics and automation community at large, which has strongly increased in number and productivity, by providing more capacity for high quality, fully reviewed journal papers. Additional goals of RA-L are to provide a publication process that is complementary to the existing evolutionary process from RAS conferences into journal papers and to improve the efficiency of the peer-review process.
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MSRAL participates in 2015 Mobile Microrobotics Challenge at IEEE ICRA
2015-06-01
The MSRAL Mobile Microrobotics team qualified for and participated in the 2015 IEEE RAS Micro/Nano Robotics & Automaton (MNRA) Technical Committee Mobile Microrobotics Challenge held at IEEE ICRA 2105 from May 26-30, 2015. The 2015 Mobile Microrobotics Challenge is a series of events in which microrobots on the order of the diameter of a human hair face off in tests of autonomy, accuracy, and assembly. Teams can participate in up to three events:

1. Autonomous Mobility & Accuracy Challenge: Microrobots must track a predefined micro-scale trajectory (rectangle, circle, triangle, etc.) multiple times. The team with the most accurate traversal of the all the trajectories is the winner.
2. Microassembly Challenge: Microrobots must assemble multiple microscale components inside a narrow channel in a fixed amount of time. This task simulates anticipated applications of microassembly, including manipulation within a human blood vessel and the assembly of components in nanomanufacturing.
3. MMC Showcase & Poster Session: Each team has an opportunity to showcase and demonstrate any advanced capabilities and/or functionality of their microrobot system. Each participating team will get one vote to determine the Best in Show winner.

The MSRAL microrobotics team consists of Peter Jaron, Sagar Chowdhury, Wuming Jing, and Archit Aggarwal.  Prof. Cappelleri advised the team and was also one of the organizers of the competition.  Peter Jaron and Sagar Chowdhury traveled to Seattle, Washington where the team participated in all three events and tied for 4th place in the Microassembly Challenge.  Great job!      
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Invited Talk @ ICRA Workshop on “Hyper Bio Assembler for 3D Cellular Innovation”
2015-05-30
The main purpose of this workshop is to discuss a new and innovative methodology: Bio Assembler. This methodology is intended for creating 3D cellular systems such as functional tissue in vitro environments, in which active functional cells selected from a living organism are used to create the 3D cellular system. This new methodology will bring innovation to the next generation of tissue engineering and will become the world’s first creation of 3D cellular system in vitro environments. This innovation will be achieved by developing a methodology of hyper micro-nano measurement and control. The outcome of this innovation will bring great technological advancements to both engineering and life science field. Prof. Cappelleri spoke about the MSRAL work on “Micro Force Sensing Mobile Microrobots for Mechanotransduction and Automated Biomanipulation”.  
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MSRAL @ SPIE DSS Sensing Technology + Application Conference, Sensors for Next-Generation Robotics
2015-04-22
Wuming Jing presented his paper “Micro-force Sensing Mobile Microrobots” at the 2015 SPIE Sensing Technology + Application Conference in the Sensors for Next-Generation Robotics track.
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Prof. Cappelleri attends the 2015 German-American Frontiers of Engineering Symposium
2015-04-16

The 2015 German-American Frontiers of Engineering Symposium was held April 16-18 at the Steigenberger Hotel in Potsdam, Germany. About 60 outstanding engineers under the age of 45 met for an intensive 2-1/2 day symposium to discuss cutting-edge developments in four areas: Nano-to-Micro Robotics, Synthetic Membranes and their Applications, Particle Accelerators and their Applications, and Protecting User Privacy in the Age Big Data. The event facilitated international and cross-disciplinary research collaboration, promotes the transfer of new techniques and approaches across disparate engineering fields, and encourages the creation of a transatlantic network of world-class engineers.  The program was carried out in cooperation between the US National Academy of Engineering and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.  Prof. Cappelleri conducted an invited poster presentation on the MSRAL’s microrobotics research.

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Daniel McArthur awarded NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
2015-04-01
Daniel McArthur was awarded the prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship.  The fellowship provides a very generous stipend and covers all graduate school tuition and fees.  Daniel’s research is in the area of the design and control of novel micro aerial vehicle platforms.  Congrats Daniel!
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Invited seminar @ Washington University, St. Louis
2015-03-26
Prof. Cappelleri presented the Department of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science Seminar at Washington University in St. Louis, MO.

Outreach: MSRAL visits Arsenal Technical High School in Indianapolis
2015-02-26
Prof. Cappelleri and Mark Schmidt visited Arsenal Technical High School in Indianapolis, IN as part of the Purdue Science Bound Program.  Prof. Cappelleri gave a talk entitled:  “The Robotics Wave:  Advancements in Robotics – Past, Present, and Future”.  Mark demonstrated some of the MSRAL TurtleBot ground robots and advanced robotic sensors for the interested students.  The students had the opportunity to interact with the TurtleBots as they followed them around the classroom.

Prof. Cappelleri joins Steering Committee for the International Conference on Robotics, Manipulation, and Automation at Small Scales (MARSS)
2015-02-17
MARSS, the annual International Conference on Robotics, Manipulation, and Automation at Small Scales, will be held for the first time from 18 to 22 July, 2016 in Paris, France. This new conference has the ambition to provide the major forum for cross-disciplinary R&D communities to discuss current activities and new results in all areas related to manipulation and automation at micro and nano scales, and in all kinds of small scale robots and their applications.  Please visit the conference webpage for more details.
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Microrobots armed with new force-sensing system to probe cells
2014-10-14
Inexpensive microrobots capable of probing and manipulating individual cells and tissue for biological research and medical applications are closer to reality with the design of a system that senses the minute forces exerted by a robot’s tiny probe. More info…

New MSRAL website launched!
2014-10-10

MSRAL welcomes new post-doctoral researcher Dr. Sagar Chowdhury
2014-09-24
MSRAL welcomes new post-doctoral researcher Dr. Sagar Chowdhury.

Poster presentation in Micro-Nano Robotic Swarms for Biomedical Applications Workshop
2014-09-24
MSRAL @ IEEE/RSJ IROS 2014: Poster presentation in Micro-Nano Robotic Swarms for Biomedical Applications Workshop; Technical paper: “Incorporating In-situ Force Sensing Capabilities in a Magnetic Microrobot”; Invited talk in Towards Horizon 2020: Trends and Challenges in Micro/Nanorobotics workshop. More info…

MSRAL welcomes new graduate students Peter Jaron, Daniel McArthur, and Joseph Seymour
2014-08-24
MSRAL welcomes new graduate students Peter Jaron, Daniel McArthur, and Joseph Seymour.

Prof. Cappelleri co-organizes the Workshop/Tutorial track at the 2014 ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conferences
2014-08-14
MSRAL presents a paper (“A Novel Micro Aerial Vehicle Design: The Evolution of the Omnicopter MAV”) and technical brief (“Automated Microassembly with Caging Micromanipulation”) at the conference. More info…

Prof. Cappelleri co-organizes the 2014 Mobile Microrobotics Challenge at IEEE ICRA 2014
2014-06-24
Prof. Cappelleri co-organizes the 2014 Mobile Microrobotics Challenge at IEEE ICRA 2014.

MSRAL publishes journal paper
2014-04-24
W. Jing, D. Cappelleri, “A Magnetic Microrobot with In-situ Force Sensing Capabilities”, Special Issue: The Frontiers of Micro and Nanorobotic Systems, Robotics , Vol. 3, Issue 2, pp. 106-119, 2014.

Yangbo Long defends his Ph.D. dissertation entitled “Design, Modeling, and Control of an Overactuated Micro Aerial Vehicle”
2014-04-14
Yangbo Long defends his Ph.D. dissertation entitled “Design, Modeling, and Control of an Overactuated Micro Aerial Vehicle”.

MSRAL Vicon motion capture system installed in the Perception Based Engineering Lab at the Herrick Labs
2014-03-24
MSRAL Vicon motion capture system installed in the Perception Based Engineering Lab at the Herrick Labs.

MSRAL publishes journal paper
2014-02-24
Y. Long, D. Cappelleri, “Global Trajectory Tracking Control Design and Control Allocation for the Omnicopter MAV”, Advanced Robotics, Vol. 28, Issue 4, pp. 145-155, February 2014.

New MS student Benjamin Johnson joins MSRAL
2014-01-24
New MS student Benjamin Johnson joins MSRAL.

Andreas Gelardos defends his MS thesis on “MAV Platform Design, Analysis, and Control”
2013-12-10
Andreas Gelardos defends his MS thesis on “MAV Platform Design, Analysis, and Control”.

MSRAL presents a paper at IEEE/RSJ IROS 2013
2013-11-12
“Complete Dynamic Modeling, Control and Optimization for an Over-Actuated MAV”; Prof. Cappelleri co-organizers workshop on Caging and Its Applications in Grasping/Multiagent Cooperation. More info…

Prof. Cappelleri receives John J. Gallen Memorial Award
2013-09-10
David Cappelleri has received the John J. Gallen Memorial Award from the Villanova University Engineering Alumni Society. More info…

Prof. Cappelleri joins School of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University
2013-08-04
MSRAL moves to Purdue, Dr. Wuming Jing joins Purdue as post-doctoral researcher. More info…

Prof. Cappelleri is the Program Chair for the 37th Mechanisms and Robotics Conference
2013-08-03
Prof. Cappelleri is the Program Chair for the 37th Mechanisms and Robotics Conference at the 2013 ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conferences. More info…

MSRAL receives NSF grant for Collaborative Research: Mobile Microrobot Platform for Advanced Manufacturing Applications
2013-08-02
MSRAL receives NSF grant on controlling teams of mobile microrobots for advanced manufacturing applications. More info…

Wuming Jing defends his Ph.D. dissertation entitled “Towards Functional Magnetic Microbotics”
2013-07-13
Wuming Jing defends his Ph.D. dissertation entitled “Towards Functional Magnetic Microbotics”.

Co-Principal Investigator David Cappelleri receives NSF grant for Collaborative Research: Controlling Teams of Autonomous Mobile Beamformers
2013-03-24
NSF grant on controlling teams of autonomous mobile beamformers. More info…

NSF Funds Regionally Unique Motion Capture Robotics Lab at Stevens
2012-10-03
Principle Investigator (PI) Dr. David Cappelleri, and co-PI’s Dr. Philippos Mordohai, Dr. Antonio Valdevit, Dr. Michael Zavlanos, and Dr. Mark Blackburn have received a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for a large volume, real-time, high resolution motion capture system to aid in the development of technologies that will help find and rescue people during emergencies, explore dangerous and unpredictable areas for military or scientific purposes, map unknown terrain, conduct detailed 3-D surveillance, enhance athletic performance, and help people walk again. More info…

MSRAL presents 5 papers at ASME IDETC/CIE
2012-08-20
Graduate students Wuming Jing, Yangbo Long, Zhenbo Fu, and Yin Chen along with Prof. Cappelleri attended the ASME 2012 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences (IDETC) and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference (CIE) from August 12-15, 2012 in Chicago, IL. The lab presented 5 papers at the conference in all:

• Y. Long, S. Lyttle, N. Pagano, D. Cappelleri, “Design and Quaternion-based Attitude Control of the Omnicopter MAV using Feedback Linearization”
• Y. Long, S. Lyttle, D. Cappelleri, “Linear Control Techniques Applied to the Omnicopter MAV in Fixed Vertical Ducted Fan Angle Configuration”
• W. Jing, N. Pagano, D. Cappelleri, “A Micro-scale Magnetic Tumbling Microrobot” Y. Chen, D. Cappelleri, “Exploration of Mobility Modes Arising from the Breakdown of a Basic Regular Tetrahedron”
• D. Cappelleri, Z. Fu, “Cooperative Micromanipulators for 3D Micromanipulation and Assembly”

MSRAL Competes in NIST Mobile Microrobotics Challenge at ICRA 2012
2012-05-22
The Mobile Microrobotics team of the MSRAL competed in the final round of the NIST Mobile Microrobotics Challenge held at IEEE ICRA 2012 in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA from May 14 – 18. The team was one of only 9 international teams to qualify for the final round of the challenge. Team MSRAL successfully completed both of the challenge events: 1. Mobility Challenge and 2. Microassembly Event. In the Mobility Challenge, a microrobot must navigate a prescribed course through a planar track in the fastest possible time. The Microassembly event requires a microrobot to assemble multiple micro-scale components in a narrow channel. This event will simulate manipulation challenges found in in vivo medical applications, such as operation inside a human blood vessel, and assembly-based nanomanufacturing. Each competing team must furnish its own microrobots, which must operate wirelessly and fit within a 600-μm-diameter sphere. The MSRAL team was able to navigate the course in Mobility challenge with the fifth best average time while it finished tied for third place in the Microassembly event. The Mobile Microrobot team consists of students: Wuming Jing, Bona Bai, Sean Lyttle, Nick Pagano and Prof. Cappelleri. More info…

Dr. David Cappelleri Receives NSF CAREER Award
2012-03-01
In recognition of the enormous potential of his pioneering research and sustained excellence in teaching, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has honored Dr. David Cappelleri, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology, with the illustrious CAREER Award. As one of the most competitive programs the NSF conducts, the CAREER Award supports early career development of faculty in the sciences who are most likely to become leading researchers and teachers. More info…

Professor Cappelleri Selected for National Academy of Engineering Symposium
2011-11-07
Professor David J. Cappelleri has recently been selected for the National Academy of Engineering’s (NAE) 2011 Frontiers of Engineering Education (FOEE) Symposium, held this year in Irvine, California on November 13-16. Dr. Cappelleri is one of 65 young engineering educators participating in this NAE initiative to encourage cutting edge engineering curricula in the United States and cultivate future leaders in the field. Coming from dozens of leading private and public institutions of higher learning, FOEE 2011 attendees will share their ideas and explore innovative methods that enhance the engineering teaching and learning environment. Participants were nominated by fellow engineers or deans and chosen from a highly selective pool of applicants. More info…

MSRAL paper published in July 2011 edition of IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering (T-ASE)
2011-07-17
Our paper entitled “Automated Assembly for Mesoscale Parts” has been published in the July 2011 edition of the IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering (T-ASE). The abstract is listed below. The full version of the paper can be downloaded on the MSRAL Publications page. Abstract: This paper describes a test-bed for planar micro and mesoscale manipulation tasks and a framework for planning based on quasi-static models of mechanical systems with intermittent frictional contacts. We show how planar peg-in-the-hole assembly tasks can be designed using randomized motion planning techniques with Mason’s models for quasi-static manipulation. Simulation and experimental results are presented in support of our methodology. We develop this further into a systematic approach to incorporating uncertainty into planning manipulation tasks with frictional contacts. We again consider the canonical problem of assembling a peg into a hole at the mesoscale using probes with minimal actuation but with visual feedback from an optical microscope. We consider three sources of uncertainty. First, because of errors in sensing position and orientation of the parts to be assembled, we must consider uncertainty in the sensed configuration of the system. Second, there is uncertainty because of errors in actuation. Third, there are geometric and physical parameters characterizing the environment that are unknown. We discuss the synthesis of robust planning primitives using a single degree-of-freedom probe and the automated generation of plans for mesoscale manipulation. We show simulation and experimental results of our work. More info…

MSRAL presents two papers at IEEE ICRA 2011
2011-05-18
MSRAL presented two research papers at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) in Shanghai, China, May 9-13, 2011. Wuming Jing presented a paper entitled: “A Magnetic Thin Film Microrobot with Two Operating Modes”, while Prof. Cappelleri presented the paper: “Caging Micromanipulation for Automated Microassembly”. More info…

MSRAL Competes in NIST Mobile Microrobotics Challenge at IEEE ICRA 2011 in Shanghai, China
2011-05-18
The Mobile Microrobotics team of the MSRAL competed in the final round of the NIST Mobile Microrobotics Challenge held at IEEE ICRA 2011 in Shanghai, China from May 9 – 13. The team was one of only seven international teams to qualify for the competition. The team successfully completed both of the challenge events: 1. Mobility Challenge and 2. Microassembly Event. In the Mobility Challenge, a microrobot must navigate a prescribed course through a planar track in the fastest possible time. The Microassembly event requires a microrobot to assemble multiple micro-scale components in a narrow channel. This event will simulate manipulation challenges found in in vivo medical applications, such as operation inside a human blood vessel, and assembly-based nanomanufacturing. Each competing team must furnish its own microrobots, which must operate wirelessly and fit within a 600-μm-diameter sphere. The MSRAL team was able to navigate the course in Mobility challenge with the fourth best average time while it finished just one micro-scale assembled component short of first place in the Microassembly event. The Mobile Microrobot team consists of students: Sean Lyttle, Wuming Jing, Shi Bai, Zhenbo Fu, Xi Chen, Guitao Zhang, Jennifer Field and advisors: Prof. Yong Shi and Prof. Dave Cappelleri. More info…

Prof. Cappelleri selected for National Academy of Engineering Symposium
2010-12-28
Prof. Cappelleri was selected to participate in the National Academy of Engineering’s (NAE) Frontiers of Engineering Education (FOEE) Symposium, held this year in Irvine, California on December 13-16, 2010. More info…

Prof. Cappelleri named 2010 Harvey N. Davis Distinguished Teaching Assistant Professor
2010-12-28
Named after the third president of Stevens, the Harvey N. David Distinguished Teaching Assistant Professor award recognizes an assistant professor at Stevens for excellence as an educator. Prof. David J. Cappelleri, Mechanical Engineering Department, was the recipient this year at the 2010 Convocation.