Past Events

Title: Challenges and Trends in Autonomous Electric Vehicles and Propulsion Systems

Abstract: Autonomous electric vehicles (AEVs) are at the forefront of modern transportation, merging automation with sustainability to enhance efficiency, safety, and reduce environmental impact. However, these vehicles face significant challenges in balancing the energy demands of autonomous compute systems with propulsion efficiency and vehicle range. The sensors, LiDAR, cameras, and AI inference hardware required for Level 4 autonomy draw significant continuous compute power — entirely separate from propulsion. This presentation explores that compute energy load, examines how it scales across projected global AV fleets, and compares it with the energy consumption and CO₂ emissions of global data centers. It also discusses the critical role of the energy source—coal, natural gas, grid average, or solar/wind—in total emissions. The presentation concludes with current challenges and future trends in key enabling technologies for AV propulsion systems, including batteries, power electronics, and electric machines.

Speaker: Dr. Kaushik Rajashekara (Fellow, IEEE) received the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India. He held various lead technical and managerial positions at Delphi/General Motors (1989–2006), serving as Technical Fellow and Chief Scientist for propulsion and power electronics systems for electric, hybrid, and fuel cell vehicles. From 2006 to 2012, he was Chief Technologist for electric systems at Rolls-Royce Corporation. He is currently the Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Distinguished University Professor at the University of Houston. He has authored over 300 papers, holds 37 US and 15 foreign patents, written one book, and delivered over 250 invited presentations worldwide. His honors include the Global Energy Prize, the IEEE Medal for Environmental and Safety Technologies, and the IEEE Richard Harold Kaufmann Award. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, and an International Fellow of the Indian, Chinese, Canadian, and Japanese Academies of Engineering. His research interests include power conversion, transportation electrification, renewable energy, and microgrid systems. 

Title: Embodied Intelligence for Smart Poultry Processing

Abstract: Precision agriculture has traditionally focused on production, where sensing, artificial intelligence, and robotics support farm and field operations. Poultry and other postharvest processing systems present different challenges, requiring physical interaction, continuous sensing, and consistent decision-making when handling biological products. Variations in shape, appearance, texture, and composition make conventional industrial automation difficult to apply.

This seminar will examine poultry processing as an emerging area of precision agrifood manufacturing and a compelling domain for embodied intelligence. Research examples will illustrate how multimodal sensing, machine learning, and robotics can support scene understanding, automated handling, and food safety and quality assessment across the poultry supply chain. The seminar will also discuss research opportunities that arise from integrating perception, intelligent decision-making, and robotic interaction in complex food-processing environments.

Speaker: Dr. Dongyi Wang is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering at the University of Arkansas and Director of the Smart Agriculture and Food Engineering (SAFE) Lab. His research develops and applies artificial intelligence, robotics, and machine vision technologies to advance modern agrifood manufacturing and protect the quality, safety, and welfare of crops, animals, food products, and workers. Dr. Wang has authored more than 60 peer-reviewed publications and holds six U.S. patents. He is an active member of ASABE, IEEE, and ASME. Dr. Wang is also a recipient of the NSF CAREER Award and Co-Director of the USDA-funded Center for Scalable and Intelligent Automation in Poultry Processing.

Title: Contact: What to Sense and Why for Reliable Robot Manipulation

Abstract: We have little insight into the role of tactile sensing in robot manipulation, despite decades of research. Studies show that grasping reliability improves with tactile sensors, but recent AI-based systems can perform complex tasks like laundry folding and dishwasher loading without touch sensors. We address the question of which sensors are needed and why through a model that captures the dominant mechanics of the grasping process. This model applies to precision fingertip grasps that are limited by friction at the gripper-object contact; this describes roughly half of human grasps. Combining physical equilibrium with a no-slip condition reveals which parameters determine grasp stability. To address each of these key parameters, there are three choices: directly sense them with sensors on the gripper's contact surfaces; indirectly sense them, for example using vision to estimate contact locations; or use grasping and manipulation strategies that minimize dependence on the parameters. Finally, this raises the question of how to gauge the value of direct contact sensors, given that such sensors are expensive and fragile and alternative indirect sensing methods are available. We therefore assess a framework for evaluating the costs and benefits of various forms of contact parameter estimation when designing real-world manipulation systems. One implication is that the absence of contact sensors places additional burdens on the rest of the manipulation system to select and execute control strategies that work reliably. 

Speaker: Robert D. Howe is the Abbott and James Lawrence Professor of Engineering at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and Founding Co-Director of the Harvard MS/MBA Degree Program. Dr. Howe started the Harvard BioRobotics Laboratory in 1990, which investigates the roles of sensing, mechanical design, and motor control in both humans and robots. His research interests focus on manipulation, the sense of touch, and human-machine interfaces. Biomedical applications of this work include of robotic and image-guided surgery. Dr. Howe earned a bachelor's degree in physics from Reed College, then worked as a design engineer in Silicon Valley's electronics industry. He received a doctoral degree in mechanical engineering from Stanford University in 1990, and then joined the faculty at Harvard. Dr. Howe is a Fellow of the IEEE and the AIMBE, and has received Best Paper Awards at mechanical engineering, robotics, and surgery conferences.  Lab website: http://biorobotics.harvard.edu/ 

Title: “Machine Learning at Milwaukee Tool”

Speaker: Jackson Hellmers

Topic: Advances in Surgical Robotics 

Abstract: Surgical Robots have seen widespread adoption, registering one of the fastest adoption rates of a novel technology in the history of medicine.  Some long-standing challenges in surgery are now open to more quantitative methods that promise novel solutions: the prevalence of fatal errors, accessing currently inoperable anatomy,  or prohibitive delays in treating emergency cases far from treatment centers.  This talk will survey some past and ongoing projects that may have opportunities to get involved.  

Bio: Dr. Kowalewski completed a PhD in electrical engineering at the University of Washington Biorobotics lab on the topic of quantifying surgical skill and served as a research scientist at DARPA’s “Traumapod: Operating Room of the Future” project.  Recognized with a ‘best doctoral candidate award’ at the American College of Surgeons AEI Consortium on SurgicalRobotics and Simulation, he commercialized his PhD work for quantitative skill evaluation and co-pioneered the use of crowdsourcing for high-volume assessment of surgical skills.  Based on this research, he co-founded CSATS Inc. which has enabled surgical skill assessment and improvement throughout the United States (acquired by Johnson & Johnson in April 2018).  He is a recipient of an NSF CAREER award and a McKnight Presidential Fellow and is funded by the NSF, NIH, DOD Army Futures Command, and industry.  He is currently an associate professor in mechanical engineering at the University of Minnesota with adjunct appointments in biomedical engineering and electrical and computer engineering and is an affiliate associate professor in surgical simulation science at the University of Washington, Seattle. He recently co-founded Lightside Surgical in Seattle, WA with Dr. Jeff Berkeley, formerly of Mimic Technologies, to help deliver “critical care anywhere” using simulation science and telerobotics.  

Title: Path Planning for Ground-Air Robot Teams with Energy Sharing

Abstract: The Army is researching path-planning for teams of ground robots and drones in the context of long-endurance autonomous surveillance missions. Unmanned ground and air vehicles have complementary strengths, namely long battery life in the ground vehicles and maneuverability in the air vehicles. Recent subsystem innovations allow the air vehicles to track their own energy levels and autonomously dock and recharge on the ground vehicles. This allows the team to operate for 8+ hours autonomously, but adds complexity to team path planning, which we solve using multiple approaches from greedy solvers to reinforcement learning. In this talk, we will share the problem formulation, simulation, algorithms, and results of recent outdoor experimentation.

 Bio: James Humann is a Mechanical Engineer with the US Army Research Laboratory (ARL). His research is focused on design, simulation, and control of multirobot systems. He received a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Oklahoma, and an MS and PhD from the University of Southern California, with an emphasis in mechanical design and systems engineering. He recently relocated to Minneapolis to collaborate with researchers at the University of Minnesota. His most recent work includes path planning for energy-sharing teams of ground and air robots in a persistent surveillance mission. He oversees academic collaborators’ development of path planning algorithms, and brings their work in-house at ARL by developing simulations and an API for their solvers as a bridge to ARL robotics stack. 

Talk: Building a Robot: A Journey to Production

Abstract: Robots are hard. The journey to create Toro’s Haven robotic lawnmower was no exception. This talk will provide an overview of how Toro developed a robotic lawnmower from conception to production, highlighting key technology differentiators as well as the different product development processes. Learn pitfalls to avoid and what a commercial company looks for in a finished robotic product.

 Alexander Frick, P.E., Sr Engineering Manager, TTC Robotics, The Toro Company

Alex began his career at The Toro Company through the U of MN Mechanical Engineering Co-op in 2005. After earning a BS in Mechanical Engineering in 2006, he worked as a Test Engineer, leading electronics testing and helping create Toro’s hardware-in-the-loop SW test group. In 2012, Alex transitioned to design, launching the Groundsmaster 4000 in 2014. He then joined advanced R&D, where he shifted his focus to hybrid systems and robotics. He completed his MS MOT in 2021, led the launch of Toro’s Haven robotic lawnmower, and now focuses on future robotic technologies for Toro. He holds over ten US patents, with several more pending.

Title: "Biofabrication: The Long and Winding Road"

Abstract: Lab's efforts to create muscle-based tissues with complex geometry using novel wet-spinning and robotics approaches.

Bio: Dr. Angela Panoskaltsis-Mortari is Professor and Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Pediatrics, Division of Blood and Marrow Transplantation & Cell Therapy, and Professor of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary. Allergy Critical Care and Sleep. She was originally trained as an Immunologist with post-doctoral training in Pathology, and is board-certified by the American Board of Medical Laboratory Immunology. She is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical & Biological Engineering (AIMBE). After over 25 years of experience in animal models of stem cell transplant, her research has evolved into the tissue engineering field. Her current research team focuses upon 2 major themes: 1) bioengineering tissues such as lung, trachea and esophagus using 3D bioprinting, robotics, and customized hydrogels and bioreactors; 2) 3D bioprinting of cancer models. Her goal is to realize the potential of regenerative medicine by converging the fields of stem cell biology, mechanical & biomedical engineering, biomaterials, physiology and surgery to bioengineer autologous tissues/organs for transplant using a patient's own cells that would not be rejected by their immune system.

Dr. Panoskaltsis-Mortari established and directs the 3D Bioprinting Facility at the University of Minnesota, and developed the first full-semester course in the country dedicated to 3D Bioprinting and how it interfaces with other fields. She also directs the UMN Cytokine Reference Laboratory (a CLIA-licensed facility). Her lab is federally and philanthropically funded, and she has mentored many faculty, post-docs, MD trainees, graduate students and undergrads in various training programs.