2022 Research Highlights
December 20, 2022
From tools to track the origin and spread of COVID-19, to making homes safer in earthquakes, to using smartphones as diagnostic tools, researchers at the Jacobs School of Engineering pioneered important work in 2022. A few highlights of our outstanding research this year are here. Full Story
A new era for robotics at UC San Diego
November 21, 2022
The Contextual Robotics Institute at UC San Diego hosted its 7th annual forum on Nov. 16, highlighting not only the robotics work underway across campus, but also efforts to capitalize on the broader San Diego region’s strengths and expertise. Full Story
IROS 2022: Bioinspired Robots, Better Algorithms for Self-driving Cars, and More
October 10, 2022
From robots inspired by animals and even amoeba, to better algorithms for self-driving cars and robotic surgery, researchers at the University of California San Diego will be presenting a wide range of papers at IROS 2022, which returns in a hybrid format Oct. 23 to 27, 2022. Full Story
New algorithms help four-legged robots run in the wild
October 4, 2022
A new system of algorithms developed by UC San Diego engineers enables four-legged robots to walk and run on challenging terrain while avoiding both static and moving obstacles. The work brings researchers a step closer to building robots that can perform search and rescue missions or collect information in places that are too dangerous or difficult for humans. Full Story
Franklin Antonio Hall opens its doors
September 29, 2022
The UC San Diego campus community turned out in big numbers last Friday to celebrate the opening of the sleek and soaring Franklin Antonio Hall. The 186,000 square foot building is not only innovative in its architecture, it’s also ground-breaking in how research teams are organized within the building. Full Story
Tiny swimming robots treat deadly pneumonia in mice
September 22, 2022
UC San Diego nanoengineers have developed microscopic robots, called microrobots, that can swim around in the lungs, deliver medication and be used to clear up life-threatening cases of bacterial pneumonia. In mice, the microrobots safely eliminated pneumonia-causing bacteria in the lungs and resulted in 100% survival. By contrast, untreated mice all died within three days after infection. Full Story
San Diego Union-Tribune previews opening of Franklin Antonio Hall
September 9, 2022
Just weeks before the grand opening on Sept. 23, the San Diego Union-Tribune published an extensive story about Franklin Antonio Hall, the latest building at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering. The sleek and soaring structure is located across the street from to Atkinson Hall, near the campus’ Warren College neighborhood. Full Story
The physics of walking is simpler than we thought
September 5, 2022
The physics of walking for multi-legged animals and robots is simpler than previously thought. That is the finding described by a team of roboticists, physicists and biologists in the Sept. 5 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, in a paper titled “Walking is like slithering: a unifying, data-driven view of locomotion.” Full Story
UC San Diego engineers receive 2 out of 10 prestigious national young investigators awards
July 22, 2022
UC San Diego faculty members brought home two of the 10 Beckman Young Investigator awards bestowed nationwide this year by the Beckman Foundation. What’s more, both faculty members, Lisa Poulikakos and Tania Morimoto, are part of the UC San Diego Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. It’s the first time the award goes to two researchers from the same department at the same institution. Full Story
ICRA 2022 preview: from robots inspired by insects to helping robots navigate and interact
April 11, 2022
From algorithms that help robots better navigate and interact with the world and humans, to robots inspired by insects, researchers at the University of California San Diego are making significant contributions to the field of robotics at the 2022 International Conference on Robotics and Automation taking place from May 23 to 27, 2022 in Philadelphia. Full Story
Renowned controls researcher receives new award for transformational contributions to the field
March 14, 2022
Professor Miroslav Krstic at the University of California San Diego is the inaugural recipient of the A.V. “Bal” Balakrishnan Research Award for Scientific Excellence in Research in the Mathematics of Systems. Full Story
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Cars, Start Your Engines!
October 21, 2021
Engineering and data science students from UC San Diego will participate in the inaugural Indy Autonomous Challenge on Oct. 23. The competition, which offers a $1.5 million prize pool, is designed to inspire the next generation of STEM talent and challenges university students from around the world to develop autonomous vehicle software. Full Story
Students make it to finals of first autonomous EV GrandPrix race
September 30, 2021
A group of UC San Diego engineering and data science students was one of three teams to make it to the final round of the inaugural autonomous EV GrandPrix go-kart race hosted by Purdue University in Indianapolis on Sept. 17. Full Story
IROS 2021 preview: robotic mapping and manipulation
September 22, 2021
Researchers at the UC San Diego Contextual Robotics Institute will present three papers at the IROS 2021 conference, which takes place Sept. 27 to Oct. 1, 2021, both online and in person in Prague. Full Story
Researchers develop first steerable catheter for brain surgery
August 18, 2021
A team of engineers and physicians has developed a steerable catheter that for the first time will give neurosurgeons the ability to steer the device in any direction they want while navigating the brain’s arteries and blood vessels. The device was inspired by nature, specifically insect legs and flagella--tail-like structures that allow microscopic organisms such as bacteria to swim. Full Story
NSF Invests $20M in UC San Diego-headquartered Artificial Intelligence (AI) Research Institute
July 29, 2021
Robotics researchers at UC San Diego are a key part of new NSF AI Institute. AI-driven optimization will allow robots to better perceive their environment and interact with them in a robust manner. Full Story
Improved maps for self-driving vehicles win Research Expo 2021
May 25, 2021
From monitoring the structural integrity of airplane wings, to improving lithographic 3D printing processes, to creating better maps for self-driving cars, this year’s Research Expo symposium showcased the depth and breadth of work done by graduate engineering and computer science students at the University of California San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering. Full Story
This system helps robots better navigate emergency rooms
May 10, 2021
Computer scientists at the University of California San Diego have developed a more accurate navigation system that will allow robots to better negotiate busy clinical environments in general and emergency departments more specifically. The researchers have also developed a dataset of open source videos to help train robotic navigation systems in the future. Full Story
CAREER awards for three researchers at UC San Diego Contextual Robotics Institute
April 29, 2021
Three researchers at the Contextual Robotics Institute at UC San Diego have received CAREER awards from the National Science Foundation in 2021. Their work ranges from robot mapping, to invertebrate locomotion, to autonomous robotic surgery. Full Story
From self-driving cars, to drones, to healthcare robotics: UC San Diego at ICRA 2021 preview
April 26, 2021
A record number of papers from robotics faculty at the University of California San Diego were accepted to the 2021 International Conference on Robotics and Automation taking place in Xi’an.China, May 30 to June 5. Full Story
Robot, heal thyself
March 26, 2021
Living tissue can heal itself from many injuries, but giving similar abilities to artificial systems, such as robots, has been extremely challenging. Now, researchers at the University of California San Diego reporting in Nano Letters have developed small, swimming robots that can magnetically heal themselves on-the-fly after breaking into two or three pieces. The strategy could someday be used to make hardier devices for environmental or industrial clean up, the researchers say. Full Story
Human-centered mobility and transportation options for disadvantaged communities is the goal of new partnership
February 24, 2021
The University of California San Diego is teaming up with several community-based organizations and the San Diego Association of Governments to improve access to transportation for the county’s low-income and underserved neighborhoods. The team is adopting a human-centered design approach to their work to try and repair the harm done by car-oriented transportation policies of the past. Full Story
This robot doesn't need any electronics
February 17, 2021
Engineers at the University of California San Diego have created a four-legged soft robot that doesn’t need any electronics to work. The robot only needs a constant source of pressurized air for all its functions, including its controls and locomotion systems. The team, led by Michael T. Tolley, a professor of mechanical engineering at the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego, details its findings in the Feb. 17, 2021 issue of the journal Science Robotics. Full Story
IROS 2020: Autonomous mail delivery, robots practicing bartending, and more
November 5, 2020
From autonomous vehicles to robots practicing bartending and insect-like robots, engineers at the University of California San Diego are showcasing a broad range of pacers at IROS 2020, which is being held virtually from Oct. 25 to Nov. 25. Full Story
This 'squidbot' jets around and takes pics of coral and fish
October 5, 2020
Engineers at the University of California San Diego have built a squid-like robot that can swim untethered, propelling itself by generating jets of water. The robot carries its own power source inside its body. It can also carry a sensor, such as a camera, for underwater exploration. Full Story
Roboticist coaches middle school team to victory
September 23, 2020
Team Inspiration makes history at Robosub competition. Full Story
These flexible feet help robots walk faster
June 1, 2020
Roboticists at the University of California San Diego have developed flexible feet that can help robots walk up to 40 percent faster on uneven terrain such as pebbles and wood chips. The work has applications for search-and-rescue missions as well as space exploration. Full Story
Engineers develop low-cost, high-accuracy GPS-like system for flexible medical robots
May 18, 2020
Roboticists at the University of California San Diego have developed an affordable, easy to use system to track the location of flexible surgical robots inside the human body. The system performs as well as current state of the art methods, but is much less expensive. Many current methods also require exposure to radiation, while this system does not. The system was developed by Tania Morimoto, a professor of mechanical engineering at the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego, and mechanical engineering Ph.D. student Connor Watson. Their findings are published in the April 2020 issue of IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters. Full Story
Thanks to 'flexoskeletons,' these insect-inspired robots are faster and cheaper to make
April 8, 2020
Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a new method that doesn’t require any special equipment and works in just minutes to create soft, flexible, 3D-printed robots. The structures were inspired by insect exoskeletons, which have both soft and rigid parts--the researchers called their creations “flexoskeletons.” Full Story
How Robots Can Help Combat COVID-19: Science Robotics Editorial
March 20, 2020
Can robots be effective tools in combating the COVID-19 pandemic? A group of leaders in the field of robotics, including Henrik Christensen, director of UC San Diego’s Contextual Robotics Institute, say yes, and outline a number of examples in an editorial in the March 25 issue of Science Robotics. They say robots can be used for clinical care such as telemedicine and decontamination; logistics such as delivery and handling of contaminated waste; and reconnaissance such as monitoring compliance with voluntary quarantines. Full Story
Thermodynamics could be the future of computing, researchers say
November 18, 2019
As Moore’s Law reaches its limits, thermodynamic computing might prove to be the future of the field, says a new report from an international team of 38 researchers led by UC San Diego professor of practice Todd Hylton, released this month. Full Story
UC San Diego Alumni Power San Diego Robotics Ecosystem
November 14, 2019
From companies worth billions of dollars to startups employing a small number of people, UC San Diego engineering alumni are at the core of the robotics ecosystem here in San Diego County.This was clearly evident at the sixth annual robotics forum organized by the UC San Diego Contextual Robotics Institute Nov. 7. The forum focused exclusively on local companies this year and was dubbed the San Diego Robotics Forum for the occasion. The goal was to showcase the breadth and depth of the region’s robotics strengths, and solidify San Diego’s reputation as Robot Beach. Full Story
Self-Driving Mail Delivery Begins on Campus
November 12, 2019
Harry Potter had his magical owl, Hedwig, to bring him mail. UC San Diego has driverless cars. If you’ve seen carts that look like they’re driving themselves on the road around Warren and Sixth College this quarter, you have not been imagining things. Two self-driving vehicles have been delivering mail to the two colleges since September. Full Story
The Race to Stay Ahead of Wildfires
November 7, 2019
As if to keep up with the growing frequency and intensity of wildfires throughout California, a network of wildfire-spotting cameras grew from 35 stations last year to more than 300 as of late October. The ALERTWildfire system co-developed by UC San Diego is one of several products created by the university that are improving the technological capability of western states to deal with wildfires now that the once-rare catastrophic events are becoming commonplace. Jacobs School researchers are also working on this effort, developing drones to spot wildfires before they get out of control. Full Story
Researchers receive $2.3M in NSF grants to investigate how robots can be used to provide personalized healthcare
November 6, 2019
Computer science professor Laurel Riek is the lead researcher on $2.3 million in new grants from the National Science Foundation to investigate how intelligent, personalized robots can be used to support neurorehabilitation for adults with mild cognitive impairment and adults recuperating from a stroke. Full Story
UC San Diego Scientists Awarded Nearly $5 Million to Study Triggers of Deadly, Toxic Algal Blooms
October 29, 2019
Researchers from the University of California San Diego want to know what causes an oceanic algal bloom to turn deadly. To find out, researchers are gearing up to hunt for blooms along California’s coast using a suite of technologies that can target and sample ocean microbes and sift through genetic code in real time. All of this is made possible by a new $4.9 million grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The multidimensional effort will build upon recent discoveries about these temperamental microscopic algae under a project funded by NOAA’s Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms (ECOHAB), a nationally competitive research funding program. Full Story
Robotics Forum will showcase San Diego region's expertise
October 28, 2019
The UC San Diego Contextual Robotics Institute is organizing its sixth annual robotics forum on Thursday, November 7, showcasing the breadth and depth of the San Diego region’s expertise in robotics. Full Story
Clingfish biology inspires better suction cup
October 15, 2019
A team of engineers and marine biologists built a better suction cup inspired by the mechanism that allows the clingfish to adhere to both smooth and rough surfaces, such as rocks in the area where the tide comes and goes. Researchers reverse engineered the clingfish’s suction disk and developed devices that cling well to wet and dry objects both in an out of water. The devices can hold up to hundreds of times their own weight. They could be used in a wide range of applications from handling and packaging for produce, to robotic grippers in manufacturing, to the recovery of archaeological artifacts. Full Story
Get up and go bots getting closer, study says
July 15, 2019
Robotics researchers at the University of California San Diego have for the first time used a commercial 3D printer to embed complex sensors inside robotic limbs and grippers. But they found that materials commercially available for 3D printing still need to be improved before the robots can be fully functional. Full Story
ICRA 2019 preview: bots, drones and neural nets
May 13, 2019
From ways to improve long-distance surgery techniques to better ways to get robots to work with humans in manufacturing settings and to a testing platform for UAVs, engineers at the University of California San Diego will make strong showing at the 2019 International Conference on Robotics and Automation May 20 to 24 in Montreal, Canada. Full Story
Robots to the Rhino Rescue
May 2, 2019
Researchers at UC San Diego and San Diego Zoo Global have joined forces to save the critically endangered northern white rhino from extinction. They are developing flexible robotic catheters that could aid in artificial insemination and embryo transfer on rhinos. Full Story
Unearthing Mysteries of the Maya
April 11, 2019
UC San Diego computer science students are venturing into Maya tunnels in Guatemala, and at home in San Diego, to bring these ancient buried sites to virtual life. Part of the Engineers for Exploration (E4E) group, the students are guided by Computer Science and Engineering Professor Ryan Kastner and Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor Curt Schurgers. Full Story
Engineering touch
April 11, 2019
A tool to help the visually impaired navigate crowded spaces; an interface to assist surgeons during a complex procedure; and a display that can change shape when heat is applied. These were all projects developed by students in the first-ever haptic interfaces class to be offered at the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego. Full Story
The robots that dementia caregivers want: robots for joy, robots for sorrow
March 13, 2019
Building robots that can help people with dementia has been a longtime goal for roboticists. Yet until now, no one has sought to survey informal caregivers, such as family members, about what characteristics and roles these robots should have. A team of scientists at the University of California San Diego sought to address this by spending six months co-designing robots with family members, social workers, and other caregivers who care for people with dementia. They are presenting their findings at the Human Robot Interaction conference March 11 to 14 in South Korea. Full Story
Overcoming Delays in Long-Distance Surgery
February 5, 2019
An engineering-surgery team at UC San Diego is working to extend the reach of surgeons by allowing them to operate remotely on patients located across a city, country, or even the globe. They are developing predictive augmented reality systems that could help make telesurgery a reality. Full Story
See, Think, Predict: Engineers build a soft robotics perception system inspired by humans
January 30, 2019
An international team of researchers has developed a perception system for soft robots inspired by the way humans process information about their own bodies in space and in relation to other objects and people. They describe the system, which includes a motion capture system, soft sensors, a neural network, and a soft robotic finger, in the Jan. 30 issue of Science Robotics. Full Story
The Top 10 robotics technologies of 2018, according to Science Robotics
January 16, 2019
Henrik Christensen, director of the Contextual Robotics Institute at the Jacobs School is one of 10 of the world’s foremost robotics researchers to weigh in on the top 10 robotics technologies of 2018 in the Jan. 16 issue of Science Robotics. Full Story
New Robot Can Sense Plankton Optically and Acoustically
January 4, 2019
Oceanographers and engineers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego collaborated to modify a common physical oceanography instrument to be able to image zooplankton as it glides through the ocean. Full Story
The future of healthcare robotics: from home helpers to hospital and surgery assistants
November 16, 2018
By 2050, the number of people over age 60 will double worldwide. By 2100, it will triple. This population shift will generate dramatically increased demand for caregiving and healthcare services--demand that can’t be met by humans only. In addition, five billion people worldwide lack access to adequate healthcare, especially surgery. These are some of the problems that experts in the field of healthcare robotics from industry and academia came together to tackle during the 2018 Contextual Robotics Institute Forum held Nov. 8 at the University of California San Diego. Full Story
Healthcare, Homecare and Robotics: Where to from here?
October 10, 2018
World-renowned experts working at the intersection of robotics and healthcare will convene at UC San Diego on November 8, 2018 for the annual Contextual Robotics Institute Forum, this year focused on Healthcare Robotics. Full Story