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Robotics

Designs for what the future can be
View of white garments hanging at the Designs for Different Futures exhibit, with a white shirt on a stand and a futuristic wheelchair and mechanical upright walking device on display.

Designs for what the future can be

The Philadelphia Museum of Art’s “Designs for Different Futures” exhibition includes contributions and installations from several Penn faculty and alumni who seek to answer questions about what the not-so-distant future may look like.

Robots to the rescue
a legged robot walks down a mine past a dummy wearing a yellow vest and a red backpack that is hanging from a metal fence nearby

Robots to the rescue

Penn researchers created a fleet of robots to navigate unknown underground environments as part of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Subterranean Challenge.

Erica K. Brockmeier

The brain in the machine
robot arm holding a cup of coffee

The brain in the machine

Insights into how computers learn, the current challenges of artificial intelligence research, and what the future holds for how machines might shape society in the future.

Erica K. Brockmeier

GRASP Lab’s high-flying robots
david saldana behind a table of his modular flying robots in front of a white board of equations and a TV screen

GRASP Lab’s high-flying robots

Postdoctoral researcher David Saldaña is working on algorithms and designs for autonomous airborne robots which can link together, break apart, and work together to complete tasks.

Gina Vitale , Erica K. Brockmeier

Bipedal robot navigates the future
two people working on a set of robotic legs

Bipedal robot navigates the future

Thanks to Cassie, a cutting-edge two-legged robot, engineer Michael Posa has an ideal platform for tackling the challenges of locomotion.

Gwyneth K. Shaw

Philadelphia: The new city of science
a large group of people in front of the Franklin Institute building with a science demonstration (with smoke and the aftermath of an explosion that caused colored balls to fly into the air) in the foreground

The Philadelphia Science Festival, happening from April 26th until May 4th, brings together hundreds of institutions from the Greater Philadelphia area and culminates in the grand finale Science Carnival along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway (Photo credit: Philadelphia Science Festival). 

Philadelphia: The new city of science

Penn researchers will be involved in a weeklong series of interactive activities and events across the city as part of the Philadelphia Science Festival.

Erica K. Brockmeier

An army of microrobots can wipe out dental plaque
Time lapse photo of green circle shows a progressively larger cleared off area where a robot has removed a biofilm

With a precise, controlled movement, microrobots clear a glass plate of a biofilm in this time-lapse sequence.

(Image: Geelsu Hwang and Edward Steager)

An army of microrobots can wipe out dental plaque

A swarm of microrobots, directed by magnets, can break apart and remove dental biofilm, or plaque, from a tooth, thanks to a partnership led by Dental Medicine’s Hyun (Michel) Koo and Engineering’s Edward Steager.

Katherine Unger Baillie

The Power of Penn at the Met
view of Amy Gutmann on stage from the audience at the Power of Penn event with a large video screen behind her showing a video

The Power of Penn at the Met

One year into the Power of Penn campaign, President Amy Gutmann hosted a panel discussion with three professors to usher in another year of inclusion, innovation, and impact on a local and global scale.