Gizmodo: UC robot will be able to open doors

Gizmodo and other science news outlets featured the work of University of Cincinnati aerospace students who are building an autonomous robot that can open doors and find a wall outlet to recharge without human help.

UC College of Engineering and Applied Science student Yufeng Sun is lead author of a study about his team's successful AI simulation published in October in the journal IEEE Access.

Students are building hardware now to translate their successful simulation to a working robot that can open doors and find a wall outlet to recharge without human assistance.

“Robots can do many things, but if you want one to open a door by itself and go through the doorway, that’s a tremendous challenge,” UC aerospace engineering professor Ou Ma said.

Sun said it could take many months to translate their successful artificial intelligence from a simulation to a functioning robot. But he and UC student Sam King are excited about the possibilities.

“This takes autonomous robots to a whole new level of independence,” King said.

Read the Gizmodo story.

Featured image at top: UC College of Engineering and Applied Science students Sam King, left, and Yufeng Sun pose next to the autonomous robot they are building in UC's Intelligent Robotics and Autonomous Systems Laboratory. Photo/Ravenna Rutledge/UC Creative + Brand