Martial Hebert , dean and University Professor of Robotics in the School of Computer Science , said the discoveries that come out of the facility will continue CMU’s long legacy of transformative impact.
"The Robotics Innovation Center offers Carnegie Mellon researchers new opportunities to develop and test robotics, automation and physical AI in the real world," he said. "Scientists from across the university will tackle challenges ranging from agriculture and manufacturing to search and rescue and exploration. A new generation of world-changing research will happen inside the RIC."
The spaces inside the new 150,000-square-foot facility will allow for faculty and students to work side-by-side to pursue those opportunities, said Burcu Akinci , the Dr. William D. and Nancy W. Strecker Dean of the College of Engineering.
"The Robotics Innovation Center will build upon the convergence of our remarkable expertise in robotics to spark bold ideas and drive breakthrough research with meaningful economic impact in the Pittsburgh region and far beyond," she said. "By bringing together engineers and scientists from industry and academia, the Center will foster powerful collaborations that advance transformative technologies and improve lives around the world."
From Steel City to Roboburgh
The new facility reinforces the cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary culture at Carnegie Mellon that allows ideas to manifest into solutions, said Raj Rajkumar , George Westinghouse Professor of electrical and computer engineering in CMU’s College of Engineering."We work seamlessly across departments and colleges, and that cooperation is how you solve problems," he said. "We come up with brilliant ideas and visionary thoughts, but then we take it to reality and, based on those scientific and mathematical foundations, we build systems that work."
Years ago, Rajkumar was the first researcher at Hazelwood Green , testing autonomous vehicles. Now, the RIC will be full of faculty and students in spaces alongside him on the second floor. Meanwhile, his team’s vehicles will be stored on the first floor, designed with enough space in the outdoor running room to test the vehicles and doors on either end to allow cars to drive through, if necessary.
As a CMU student in the 1980s, he remembers the end of the steelmaking era in Pittsburgh, particularly on the site where the RIC now stands. He said he recognizes how he will now be a part of the ecosystem that ushers in the changing identity of the region that influences national technological innovation.
"We as an institution need to build upon the expertise that we have on campus and bring that to the new RIC opening up with lots of people engaging in all kinds of robotics activities," he said. "This building represents the ongoing renaissance from being a steel city to a high tech hub. For robotics, Carnegie Mellon is the place. This is a new chapter in the book I would title, ’Roboburgh.’"
Rajkumar and his team continue to refine the software that may one day allow everyday passenger vehicles to serve as virtual chauffeurs or robotaxis , thanks to research from Carnegie Mellon.
"We are becoming the complete spectrum of robotics, and the RIC is a way to showcase what we are capable of doing at CMU," he said. "The RIC will end up being a stimulus for many more such entrepreneurial activities to happen, and we will continue to build upon our reputation, expertise and experience to become the global robotics hub."
Tackling a range of challenges
The Robotics Innovation Center at Hazelwood Green will advance Carnegie Mellon University’s world-leading collaborative ecosystem for robotics, automation and artificial intelligence research and development. The cutting-edge facility will help solve complex challenges with real-world impact, kick-start a new wave of innovation, and help redevelop Hazelwood Green, a former steel mill, into a nexus for Pittsburgh’s new industrial revolution.The RIC will add 150,000 square feet of advanced robotics research space for CMU faculty, staff and students, expanding the capacity and capabilities for foundational research, integration and commercialization.
Check out an underwater view of Osprey, the TartanAUV team’s underwater robot, as it takes its first dip in the water tank of the Robotics Innovation Center.
In an inaugural test session at the RIC’s 75,000-gallon water tank, members of the TartanAUV student group worked to further develop their autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) called Osprey.
The team, which takes part in the annual RoboSub competition sponsored by the U.S. Office of Naval Research, is comprised primarily of undergraduate engineering and robotics students. With an interest in autonomy and hands-on creativity, they develop practical skills in software engineering, algorithms development, AI, CAD, machining, printed circuit board design and more.
At one corner, group members carefully dropped Osprey into the 10-foot deep water tank. Tending to the wire carrying data from the sub to the team’s laptops, the students watched as the aluminum vehicle shot vertically downward deeper into the water, rocked back and forth, and even did barrel-roll spins, making more progress during their first session than they had anticipated.
"Oh, we’ve got movement!" said lead engineer Cole Herber, a senior studying mechanical engineering and robotics, when he saw the robot’s thrusters react in the water.
Herber said the new tank, which is more than three times the size of the one they previously used, will ultimately enable the team to practice and improve - leading to better contributions to the field.
"A lot of robotics is about being scrappy, solving problems in interesting ways, and the RIC’s space is designed to allow for that," he said.
In addition to underwater applications, researchers will be testing robots in the air and on land thanks to the newly opened facility at Hazelwood Green.
Another student group working in lunar robotics plans to test their systems at the RIC. The Moon Miners, Carnegie Mellon’s first team in the NASA Lunabotics Challenge , will collect data on motion, sensing, excavation and relocation in a test arena filled with powder to mimic the moon’s surface.
More time underwater means better testing
Michael Kaess, associate professor in the Robotics Institute at the School of Computer Science , said the RIC will improve his ability to test autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) for 3D mapping to locate and survey underwater surfaces."I saw it in the planning phases and now looking at it, it’s awesome," he said. "I did not imagine how much potential this would have in the end."
The robots Kaess is developing can greatly reduce human divers’ exposure to dangerous conditions, especially in water with low visibility or extreme cold temperatures and depths.
The AUVs are like drones that hover in water instead of air-holding steady even in moving currents, seeing through turbidity to autonomously build engineering-grade 3D digital twins that give operators instant awareness of asset condition and the data needed for predictive maintenance.
"We do experiments in the tank before we go out in the field and really test these things at a big scale, so the more space we have for that testing, the more we can do in-house," Kaess said.
In addition to its larger size, the new tank’s durable concrete walls will better mimic structures like the bridge pile, absorbing the acoustics used for mapping instead of reflecting it as metal does or leaking when a robot hits the wall.
As with the TartanAUV team, Kaess said increased safety and convenient accessibility at the new water tank, including an automated cleaning system, will allow for more testing to facilitate better discoveries.
He believes the RIC’s presence in Pittsburgh will spur new opportunities for marine robotics, especially with the region’s three major rivers, such that the new facility could attract more researchers to Carnegie Mellon.
"We have 10% of the nation’s locks in the area and there’s important waterways where lots of material is being transported through the rivers here," he said. "It’s a good confluence of possibilities in Pittsburgh."
