lighter-than-air robotics

Mason's new MARC focuses on autonomy, robotics, and responsible AI

Nathan Kahl — Tue, 16 Apr 2024 14:30:37 +0000

Mason's new MARC focuses on autonomy, robotics, and responsible AI Nathan Kahl Tue, 04/16/2024 - 10:30

Industry executives, campus leaders, faculty, donors and alumni attended the official opening of ��AV’s College of Engineering and Computing’s Mason Autonomy and Robotics Center (MARC), but the star of the show was a Boston Dynamics quadruped. As the bright yellow doglike robot held one end of the green ribbon, ��AV President Gregory Washington, MARC co-directors Professors Missy Cummings and Jesse Kirkpatrick cut. Afterward, the quadruped roamed the event, opening doors for attendees and demonstrating its capabilities.

The event showcased Mason’s strength in important, emerging fields. In his welcoming remarks, Dean Ken Ball said, “MARC is the focal point for our research in autonomy, robotics, and AI. Mason truly is a pace-setter in these areas.”

Attendees explored the new facility in Mason’s Research Hall on the Fairfax Campus. The space includes a 1,649-square-foot, two-story aviary for testing drones, areas for lab experiments, faculty offices, collaboration and study areas, and a student lounge.

Mason President Gregory Washington and MARC co-directors Missy Cummings and Jesse Kirkpatrick are aided by a Boston Dynamics "dog" in cutting the ribbon to open the center officially. Photo by John Boal Photography.

During her remarks, Cummings addressed the evolving role of robots in society. “People don’t want autonomy to do their creative jobs,” she said. “They want to do their art, they want to write their stories…what they want is the robot maid. Once we hit world peak population in 55 years, we won’t have enough people to do the jobs we need. The dull, dirty, dangerous jobs are a great place for robots.”

Both Ball and Washington noted that in addition to being a leader in artificial intelligence (AI), the university is focusing on responsible AI, with a graduate certificate in that field launching in fall 2024.

“We’ve been at the forefront of a whole host of outcomes and technologies that have benefited this state and this region," said Washington. "Right here in engineering, we established the first-in-the-country cybersecurity engineering program, so there’s a real lineage of innovation here. Mason will be the only Virginia university to join more than 200 of the nation’s leading AI stakeholders to participate in the Department of Commerce’s initiative to support the development of trustworthy and safe AI.”

“We do autonomy, we robotics, we do AI…but we do it responsibly and that’s in our core,” said Kirkpatrick. “It’s in our principles, policies, practice, and people. It’s across the research enterprise, and it’s in our teaching. The leaders of today, tomorrow, and the day after have to get this right because it’s so absolutely critical.”

Students demonstrate their claw game-like device, named Skygripper, to be used in the upcoming Defend the Republic competition. Photo by John Boal Photography.

Attendees explored the facility and talked to students about projects. Filling the MARC aviary for the event were student-designed “blimps.” These lighter-than-air creations will soon compete in Defend the Republic, an annual event in EagleBank Arena where the autonomous flying devices compete in a Harry Potter quidditch-like game to move a ball into a target hanging from the ceiling.

"Not just for engineering, MARC will be used by numerous colleges and departments across the university for many multidisciplinary projects. This is a collaborative space for our students to work,” said Ball. “And it’s really important they have the opportunity to work in close proximity to our faculty.”

MARC’s opening is another demonstration of Mason’s strength in STEM, which attracts numerous corporate partners. Venkat Potapragada of 22nd Century Technologies attended the event and said, “I’m here because this is a strategic relationship for us and a key component of our overall growth strategy. We depend on talent, and Mason will help us achieve our growth goals. In the D.C. region, Mason is a name to be reckoned with.”

Enroll in the Certificate for Responsible AI

Learn More About the MARC

Patriot Profile: Dinesh Karri

Colleen Rich — Mon, 24 Apr 2023 15:02:32 +0000

Patriot Profile: Dinesh Karri Colleen Rich Mon, 04/24/2023 - 11:02

Mason PhD student Dinesh Karri has been working with the student teams competing in the annual Defend the Republic LTA robotics competition, held this year at EagleBank Arena. Photo by DeRon Rockingham/Creative Services

Dinesh Karri
Year: PhD Student
Major: Electrical and Computer Engineering, Controls and Robotics
Hometown: Hyderabad, India

Many people dream of flying through the sky in a Quidditch game straight out of the world of Harry Potter. While Mason PhD student Dinesh Karri, MS Electrical Engineering ’19, isn’t personally reaching new heights in a Quidditch match, his team’s technology is.

It’s a…Shark Blimp: A lighter-than-air (LTA) robotic shark blimp, to be exact. Three years ago, Karri started working with his academic advisor, Mason engineering professor Cameron Nowzari, on an LTA project funded by the Office of Naval Research (ONR). The goal is to develop a minimally viable swarm of robots that can safely maneuver and achieve their mission in a unique environment. ONR supports this project at universities across the country, and teams all meet up at the biannual Defend the Republic game to test their new technology, learn from each other, and compete in a Quidditch-like tournament. “It’s a great chance to see what other people came up with. It’s always different than what your team thought of,” said Karri.

Back to Basics: To create minimally viable robots, Karri says it’s best to keep it simple and stick to the basics. “At one of the Defend the Republic matches, I learned about how a team uses basic timers in a clever way to achieve the objective. It was so interesting,” said Karri. It may seem counterintuitive to have dumb robots, but in the case of Karri and his LTA shark blimp team, the simpler, the better.

The Best Advice? Fail Fast: Nowzari gave Karri some of the best advice that he employs both inside and outside the research lab. “Learn first, test fast, fail fast, and get better,” says Karri. “I’m not sure if he meant it to be such impactful advice, but for me, it is.” In research, things rarely go as planned the first time around. But if you keep waiting for everything to be perfect, or you’re afraid to even try, you won’t be able to learn. “You can’t know what’s wrong until you test your work,” Karri said. Even if a test fails, he believes he is still that much closer to the solution.

Doing His Homework: Karri came to the United States from India in 2017 to attend graduate school. He said he applied to Mason because it offered robotics and was in the Washington, D.C., area., but his research did not stop there. “I reached out to a lot of alumni to get information on the educational prospects, and I got a very positive response, which pushed me toward choosing Mason.”

The Quality of the Question: Karri admits that his PhD has been a rollercoaster ride, and sometimes the lows outweigh the highs. However, through it all, his mentors have taught him that even when the ride seems to be going off track, you’re still learning. “You’re always learning how to ask quality questions and find new ways to answer them,” he said. “When I started my research, my professors let me ask some dumb questions, but they never saw them that way. They always gave me a chance to learn.”

Try Anything…Once: Karri thinks everyone should take the opportunity to try new things, and with the large number of student organizations available at Mason, he’s found a few of his hobbies by simply saying yes. Dancing, ping-pong, chess, and cricket are a few of his passions. “Try new things and stick with what you like,” he said.

Watch to learn more about how Dinesh Karri and the Mason team did at the Defend the Republic Game hosted this year by Mason.

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lighter-than-air robotics

Blimps set to battle at EagleBank Arena

Martha Bushong — Mon, 17 Apr 2023 13:00:24 +0000

Blimps set to battle at EagleBank Arena Martha Bushong Mon, 04/17/2023 - 09:00

Learn About the Robots

In the News

Patriot Profile: Dinesh Karri
April 24, 2023
Mason Engineering students and faculty compete at 99 Luftballoons competition
January 8, 2021

In This Story

Cameron Nowzari

Ningshi Yao

Daigo Shishika

��AV is hosting a competition of lighter than air (LTA) robotic agents—“blimps,” colloquially—squaring off in the heights of EagleBank Arena on Friday, April 28, from noon to 2 p.m.

The “Defend the Republic” competition features teams from six universities competing in a series of events where aerial robots attempt to move balls through hoops suspended from the ceiling, while other robots try to thwart them. The purpose of the game and the research behind it is to develop the ability of LTAs to respond quickly in various situations where such a vehicle, with its ability to stay aloft for much longer than traditional aerial devices, is ideal – disaster recovery, reconnaissance, delivering aid, and more.

At the Friday session, as many as 50 robots will be simultaneously in the air, with students and faculty available to answer questions about their robots and research.

Faculty members Cameron Nowzari, Ningshi Yao, and Daigo Shishika serve as principal investigators and lead the group.