A learning hub for Department of Aerospace Engineering and Mechanicsstudents interested in high-altitude ballooning, high-power rocketry, and more.
In the Small Satellite Research Lab, equipped with a cleanroom, undergrads are building and testing two CubeSats headed to the International Space Station.
Our History of Science, Technology, and Medicineprogram is also located here.
Human-centered computing and natural language processing (NLP) are two main topics studied here.
The Minnesota NLP group is collaborating with Grammarly to improve AI-based text editing and refine it for more complex tasks.
Researchers in the GroupLens Lab—a global leader in personalization systems across various platforms for 30+ years—is leading a $2 million NSF project to build shared infrastructure for a news recommender system. This work will help scientists nationwide experiment with AI-personalized news and study its effect on user reading patterns.
3rd Floor
The flagship space for visual computing— researchers are creating multisensory experiences in virtual, augmented, and mixed reality to tackle challenges ranging from loneliness to climate change.
In the Interactive Visualization Lab, projections onto three walls and the floor uniquely pair art and computing to expand the limits of experimentation.
You’ll find the Robotics: Perception and Manipulation Lab here, too. Faculty and students are studying how machines can perceive objects and reason like humans.
2nd Floor
There’s a honeycomb of glass-walled labs, conference rooms, and open areas for spontaneous brainstorming on this floor and the one below—both completed in 2018 and collectively called the Gemini-Huntley Robotics Research Laboratory.
Studies include solar-powered “transformer” drone that can both fly like an airplane and hover like a helicopter—to better survey agricultural lands—in the Center for Distributed Robotics.
1st Floor
A hub for robotics innovation, this level sees a mix of researchers working on topics ranging from autism in children to marine debris.
A two-story Drone Lab enables year-round flight testing, while the Patrick J. Starr Solar Vehicle Project Laboratory supports one of the world’s top undergraduate solar racing teams.
The Minnesota Robotics Institute anchors the space—connecting students, faculty, and industry partners through education, collaboration, and experiential learning.
