Spring 2024 Updates from the Director

We hope that everybody is doing well in this new semester and is having a great year. With six new students joining the MS program in Robotics in 2024, we are very happy to report that the program now has more than 95 students, with an average GPA of 3.56. These students are doing great research in a variety of laboratories and companies. 

This wonderful news, however, creates a new challenge. We need faculty and researchers to supervise the theses and capstone projects of these students. It’s a formidable task, but essential for our program’s success. We are grateful to all of you who are already supervising as many as six of these projects per year, and are looking for ways to help you and to fairly distribute the load. Please talk to us if you have suggestions on how to reduce the load and help you create an engaging research environment.

Turning to robotics itself, I’d like to focus this month on the use of robotics in logistics. We recently had the chance to study several Twin Cities logistics facilities that utilize mind-boggling automation. From mobile robots to robotic arms, we saw a wide array of systems executing diverse tasks in areas such as automated storage and retrieval systems, order fulfilment, last-mile delivery, palletizing, de-palletizing, and packaging and labeling. These systems are quickly becoming more effective through rapid advancements in sensing, algorithms, and hardware. In the past, mobile robots in warehouses needed guides or markers to navigate, and collisions with humans were common. New developments in planning, computer vision, and embedded systems have allowed these robots to navigate safely in indoor environments while avoiding obstacles without the need for markers. 

One lesser-known type of robotic systems used in logistics is the Automated Storage and Retrieval System (ASRS), which consists of racks, shelves, control software, computational platforms, and robotic cranes with arms and grippers. ASRS is used to store and move large volumes of products with speed and accuracy, and allows more products to be stored in the same space.

These new automation systems come with challenges. Since all of these robots need to interact with humans and other objects of interest in their operating environments, safety is a key concern. The lack of a robotics regulatory body, both in the US and overseas, creates additional problems. One example of the issues associated with safety and regulatory concerns is last-mile delivery systems. Initial excitement about these systems was very high, but issues such as the safe navigation of public spaces near pedestrians, legal barriers for autonomous operation, vandalism, and all-weather operation and ruggedness have slowed their deployment. Cost is also a challenge in using robotics in logistics. Business entities look for return-on-investment, and downtime and expensive repairs can become major impediments. Finally, perceived job losses dampen the public’s enthusiasm for and acceptance of these systems. This, however, is a larger topic, deserving of an entire column on its own. 

Stay safe and well,

Nikos Papanikolopoulos