Carnegie Mellon Robotics Lab

In this talk

1. 0:55

   Robots for minimally invasive surgery

   David describes HeartLander, a cable-driven robot that uses vacuum suction to move across the heart after insertion through a small incision. Tests on pig hearts showed it could crawl successfully, and its motion relative to the beating heart stays nearly still. He also presents Micron, a handheld device that senses a surgeon’s tremor and moves its tip in the opposite direction; a demonstration reduced an 80-micron motion to about 40 microns.

2. 9:25

   Robotics as a tool for education

   Tom Lauers explains how the lab uses robots to teach broader skills, including teamwork and confidence with technology, alongside mechanics and programming. A museum rover exhibit let visitors choose a rock and direct the robot, while onboard sensing helped it correct its approach. The rover exhibit drew about 200,000 users in its first two months.

3. 23:39

   Studying movement and manipulation

   Robbie presents a hemisphere robot that can move by rocking and rolling, even though its legs never touch the ground. Other projects include a desktop robot that moves paper and pencils, and a system that folds paper into shapes such as an envelope. The researchers also study how wheel torque and active suspension can help a vehicle climb out of a ditch without slipping.

4. 39:35

   Segway robots play soccer with people

   Christina and Brenna Argall describe a Segway-based soccer robot fitted with cameras, a ball catcher, and a CO₂-powered kicker. Its software tracks the ball and can search when it loses sight of it, while the team works on navigation and coordination between human and robot teammates. Their goal is for people and robots to contribute as equals, and RoboCup’s stated ambition is for robot champions to face human World Cup champions by 2050.