ENG WINS $8.8M MASSTECH GRANT TO BUILD ROBOTICS LAB: RASTIC, A NEW ROBOTICS AND AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS FACILITY

The Boston University Robotics and Autonomous Systems Technology and Innovation Center (BU RASTIC) is a new convergent entity that focuses on the development of advanced robotics and autonomous systems. BU RASTIC will facilitate hands-on training for our students specializing in robotics, autonomous vehicles, computer vision, machine learning, control systems, and other related fields.

The center will provide a platform for researchers, students, and industry professionals to collaborate on cutting-edge technologies in robotics and autonomous systems. It will also offer advanced state-of-the-art labs, testing platforms, and equipment to support research and development experience in these areas.

Funding for RASTIC includes $4.4M from the Innovation Institute at the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MassTech) and $4.4M matching funds from Boston University with the goal of developing the next-generation workforce in robotics and autonomous systems.

FACULTY FEATURE- FRANCESCO ORABONA

“Francesco Orabona, ENG Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering [an affiliate of Systems Engineering], bridges the mathematical foundations of learning theory and data science with applications to scientific, societal, and real-world engineering problems. His efforts have led to the development of autonomous online learning algorithms that require minimal human supervision—first-of-its-kind work that is now part of Microsoft’s machine learning tool kit. The past recipient of a Google Research Award, he is a Data Science Faculty Research Fellow at BU’s Hariri Institute and a founding faculty member of the Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences. Last year, he served as senior area chair at the Association for Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) Conference on Artificial Intelligence. He has published five book chapters and more than 60 peer-reviewed journal articles.”

“I am working on several projects with a main theme ‘control for multiagent systems with Spatio-temporal specifications’. In these projects, I often use control, machine learning, and formal methods tools that I learned in classes.

The first project focuses on controlling multiple robots to get from an initial point to a final point and achieve prespecified spatial configurations. This project was a collaboration with a colleague from the lab and a Professor from TU Wien.

Another project (and this is my personal favorite) is a collaboration between MIT, BU, and Georgia Tech. The project aims at creating a framework for ‘Simulationbased Organoid Synthesis’. Simply put, we want to find out a way to determine ideal parameters to create organoids (small organs) in a lab setting.”

-Excerpt from BU Today

- Suhail Alsalehi