This week in Professor Kapila’s Mechatronics and Controls lab, we have narrowed the scope of our projects related to CAESAR, the humanoid robot.

Habib is currently working on a connection between the android device (via the app) and an Arduino board hosting a WiFly Shield. The Arduino serves as an embedded controller for the motors of the robotic arm.

Jigar has chosen Raspberry Pi as the embedded processor because it is more applicable and accessible to his computer science and robotics courses. He continues to research and work with the Raspberry Pi as the device that will replace the laptop that currently controls CEASAR.

Kelly has the OpenCV library running and has modified the existing code so that CEASAR can learn new faces in a rudimentary way. She is using face recognition algorithms of OpenCV and is beginning to research the current challenges of the area.

Alexa is researching how the anatomical structure of a neck has been used to design previous robotics necks to improve the design of CAESAR’s neck.

All of us met with AMPS/CBSI GK-12 Fellows on Friday and have started developing lesson plans related to our work in the SMARTER RET project.