It is an incredible time to be in robotics, and even more so to be in robotics at JHU! I recently returned to JHU as the Director of the Laboratory for Computational Sensing and Robotics. The first thing I had to do was to meet and learn about the talented and diverse cohort of new faculty who have joined in just the past two years. As part of a larger effort to hire 80 faculty in AI over five years, LCSR has benefited from many talented new members interested in work at the intersection of robotics and AI. At the same time, we have expanded our footprint in aerial and space robotics and look forward to the opening of the new Stieff Robotorium Annex which will feature a large indoor lab for drones and airplanes as well as a full motion capture system.

We have also completed a five-year strategic plan which articulates our vision to pioneer advanced robots and other embodied systems that profoundly improve health, well-being, and economic prosperity for all. Our mission is to create new knowledge in robotics, to transfer that knowledge to the next generation of roboticists, and to enable translation of this knowledge to enhance human health, probe the furthest reaches of our natural world, and shape the future of society.

To achieve our mission, we articulated several goals which include:

  • A new Robotics PhD and undergraduate major
  • Expansion in Embodied AI and Interactive and Multi-agent Systems with applications in areas such as humanoid robotics
  • A renewed emphasis on growing strategic partnerships with industry across medicine and manufacturing as well as emerging areas in science and society

Our vision aligns with our broader perspective of where we see the field of robotics evolving in the future. In particular, while AI has the potential to offer many new and unique capabilities for robotics, we also recognize that highly capable and flexible robotic systems will still require advances throughout the entire robotics technology ecosystem. Many of these advances will be use-inspired and require application-driven systems thinking. Here at JHU, we have a rich assemblage of world-class scientists and engineers with whom we can collaborate to tackle the most challenging problems in science, healthcare and society. I cannot imagine a better environment to pioneer advanced robotics research, education, and application.

Sincerely,

Gregory D. Hager
Interim Director, LCSR