IEEE Robotics and Automation Society
		     Central New England Chapter


		       Tuesday, March 13, 2007
			  Door open: 6:00 PM
			Presentation: 6:30 PM
			  Lab tour: 7:15 PM

				Where:
		    Note - new standard location:
			   Academic Center
		     Olin College of Engineering
			Olin Way, Needham, MA


	    ROBOTS THAT CONTROL THEIR MECHANICAL IMPEDANCE


			     Presented by

			 Gill A. Pratt, Ph.D.
	   Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
	       Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering
		     E-mail: gill.pratt@olin.edu


Note: 
This will be our first meeting in our new regular location.

Abstract:

Almost all robots have been designed to have the highest possible
mechanical impedance, i.e. to be as stiff as possible, and thus reject
position or velocity disturbances to the maximum extent possible. In
EE terms, this stiffness is equivalent to driving loads with pure
voltage sources. But just as there has been increased interest in EE
circuits that control current, there is a growing movement in the
robotics field in systems that have lower mechanical impedance,
i.e. that are softer. This is important, because animals (including
humans) generally have low mechanical impedance as they interact with
a high mechanical impedance world.
 
This talk will review the history of high and low mechanical impedance
robots, introduce actuators that make lower impedance robots possible,
and discuss the capability and advantages for future robots that
actively modulate their mechanical impedance. Along the way, we will
look at electric motors as bidirectional transducers, and show how
this view is used at Olin in our early engineering education program.


SPEAKER'S BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Gill Pratt joined Olin College in 2001, and was previously a
member of MIT's Electrical Engineering and Computer Science faculty
and director of the MIT Leg Laboratory. He holds S.B., S.M., and
Ph.D. degrees from MIT's department of Electrical Engineering and
Computer Science, which he earned in 1979, 1987, and 1990,
respectively. His honors include the Frederick C. Hennie III award for
excellence in teaching and an NSF Faculty Early Career Development
Award. Dr. Pratt's research primarily focuses on the mechanics and
control of low-impedance, biomimetic walking robots and walking aids
for the disabled. He has also been an active designer of coupled
phase-locked loop circuits for high performance computing and of high
efficiency power electronic circuits for electric vehicles. He holds
14 patents, with 2 pending.


MEETING INFORMATION AND DIRECTIONS

The IEEE Robotics and Automation Society will meet at its new regular
venue: Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, Olin Way, Needham, MA
02492, http://www.olin.edu/ on Tuesday, March 13, 2007, for an
informal discussion at 6:00 PM, the presentation at 6:30 and a lab
tour at 7:15.

Directions to Olin College: Take Route 95/128 to exit 19B (Highland
Avenue, Needham). Follow Highland Avenue for 1.5 miles to a three-way
intersection with Chapel and May Streets; bear slight right onto
Chapel Street (to the right of the gas station). Take a right at the
first light onto Great Plain Avenue/Rte 135. Proceed on Great Plain
Avenue for 1.5 miles and the Olin College campus will be on the
right. Enter the campus at "Olin Way" and follow the road around to
the left to parking lot A, which provides access to all campus
buildings. From the parking lot take the walkway up to the Academic
Center and follow instructions inside. For more detailed instructions,
please refer to http://www.olin.edu/campus/getting_around.asp and
follow the link to "Olin College Campus Map" in the left navigation
bar.

After the meeting, at approx. 8:00 PM, the group will have a no-host
dinner at Bertucci's, 1257 Highland Ave., Needham, MA 02492, where
more conversations can take place with the guest speaker. Driving
directions from Olin College to Bertucci's: Backtrack the previous
route on Great Plain Avenue, Chapel St. to Highland Avenue. The
restaurant will be located inside a plaza on the left, about 600 ft
past the three-way intersection with Chapel and May Streets.

The meetings are open to the general public, and all are welcome at
the dinner afterwards. For more information on IEEE Robotics and
Automation Society, please contact Chapter Chair Peter Meyer at (781)
334-0052 or chair@robotics-boston.org or visit
http://www.robotics-boston.org/