RoMeLa

Dr. Dennis Hong, founder of Virgina Tech's Robotics & Mechanisms Laboratory (RoMeLa), has been awarded $400,000 over 5 years by the National Science Foundation to further his research on bio-inspired robotic locomotion. The research on Whole Skin Locomotion is based on the motion exhibited by the unicellular amoeba. Dr. Hong wants to use artificial muscle rather than conventional motors to drive his robots which he says could be used for search and rescue or, in a miniaturized form, to probe through the vessels of the human body. It's great to see such a grant being extended to a researcher in robotics!

RoMeLa was also awarded the Darpa $1m grant to enter it's robotic vehicle, Odin, into this year's much anticipated Urban Challenge.