GRASPING OBJECTS AND SURFACES WITH BIO-INSPIRED HANDS AND FEET
MARK CUTKOSKY is the Fletcher Jones II Professor in the Dept. of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University. He joined Stanford in 1985, after working in the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University and as a design engineer at ALCOA, in Pittsburgh, PA. He received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in 1985.
Cutkosky's research activities include robotic manipulation and tactile sensing and the design and fabrication of biologically inspired robots. He has graduated over 40 Ph.D. students and published extensively in these areas. He consults with companies on robotics and human/computer interaction devices and holds several patents on related technologies. His work has been featured in Discover Magazine, The New York Times, National Geographic, Time Magazine and other publications and has appeared on the NOVA, CBS Evening News, Next @CNN and other popular media. Cutkosky’s awards include a Fulbright Faculty Chair (Italy 2002), Fletcher Jones and Charles M. Pigott Chairs at Stanford University and an NSF Presidential Young Investigator award. He is a member of ASME and Sigma Xi and an IEEE fellow.
GRASPING OBJECTS AND SURFACES WITH BIO-INSPIRED HANDS AND FEET
Robot hands for grasping irregular objects and robot feet for climbing and perching on surfaces share common requirements for conforming to surfaces and distributing loads. These requirements motivate the use of multi-material, compliant and under-actuated mechanisms. Drawing examples
from robotic hands, climbing feet and perching mechanisms for flying robots, we will explore common themes -- as well as some important differences -- that govern their design, construction and operation.