Robotics research focuses on understanding and designing intelligent robotic systems through rigorous analysis, system development, and field deployment.

Hopkins researchers develop techniques and tools for kinematics, dynamics, control, estimation, and motion planning for deterministic and stochastic systems. Novel design principles are developed using modular self reconfigurable robots, self-replicating robots, and hyper-redundant manipulators.

Navigation and interaction of robots in extreme environments – e.g. deep sea, space, and the human body – is a major focus, including applications in underwater vehicles, autonomous aerial vehicles and spacecraft, and surgical robotics.

Also important to our mission is the development of robotic systems inspired by principles of biomechanics and neural control of animal movement. Closely related application areas include medicine, environmental assessment, and molecular biology.

Many of our faculty are affiliated with The Laboratory for Computational Sensing and Robotics (LCSR), one of the top robotics research sites in the world, particularly in the area of medical robotics.

Specialties

  • Robotics in Extreme Environments
  • Haptics and Medical Robotics
  • Bio-Robotics
  • Autonomous Systems, Control, and Optimization
  • Human-Machine Collaborative Systems

Faculty

Affiliated Faculty

Affiliated Groups, Centers, and Institutes

Next-Gen Robotics

At the forefront of robotics research

Animal and Robot Locomotion in Complex Terrains - In the Terradynamics Laboratory led by Chen Li, researchers study the movement of cockroaches and snakes to teach robots to navigate complex terrains like building rubble and forest floors.

Get a Grip - Through neuroimaging, Jeremy Brown’s team discovers that prosthetics that provide haptic sensory feedback lessen the mental energy users expend when using the device.  

Remote Control for COVID-19 Patient Ventilators - Axel Krieger and team have built a robotic system that will give medical staff the ability to remotely operate ventilators and other bedside machines from outside intensive care rooms of patients with infectious diseases like COVID-19.

Autonomous Underwater Vehicles - Louis Whitcomb’s lab has participated in the development of underwater vehicles for oceanographic science missions, including the Nereid Under-Ice (NUI) hybrid underwater vehicle deployed under Arctic sea ice in 1014, 2016, and 2019.

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