News Category
Akshith and Abigale present their NSF funded projects at the NSF S&CC PI Meeting!
Mar. 12, 2024—Akshiths poster discusses the AR Project and Abigale’s poster discusses the driving simulator and ongoing deployment across the country. You can find Abigale’s poster here: Abigale’s Poster
RASL Director, Dr. Nilanjan Sarkar, receives prestigious NSF CIVIC Stage 2 Award
Sep. 25, 2023—RASL’s very own Dr. Sarkar, in collaboration with Dr. Keivan Stassun from the Frist Center for Autism and Innovation and Mary Baker-Ericzen from San Diego State University, has received the CIVIC Innovation Challenge Award of $1 Million from the National Science Foundation. The award will go towards exploring an integrated AI and behavioral science-based driving...
PhD Defense of Alexandra Watkins
Jun. 26, 2023—Alexandra successfully defended her PhD Dissertation! Congratulations Dr. Watkins!
Miroslava presents on four NSF funded projects at the Regional Innovation Showcase!
May. 1, 2023—Her poster presented four ongoing projects in the Robotics and Autonomous Systems Lab (RASL) that aim to address societal challenges with use-inspired technologies. See the poster here!
Successful Deployment of SARConnect in Ohio!
Mar. 23, 2023—Ritam and Nibraas visited our collaborators at The Ohio State University last month to successfully deploy SARConnect at two nursing homes in the Columbus area! Learn more about the SARConnect project here!
PhD Defense of Ashwaq Amat
Feb. 24, 2023—Ashwaq successfully defended her PhD Dissertation! Congratulations Dr. Amat!
RASL Director Nilanjan Sarkar receives nearly $2.7 million in NSF and NIH funding to explore how augmented reality can ease loneliness in older adults
Sep. 13, 2022—“The lack of social connections in older adults can lead to serious health consequences, including cardiovascular disease, cognitive decline, depression, and suicide,” said Sarkar, an expert in human-machine interaction. “Three-dimensional interactive technologies offer real promise when it comes to enhancing a person’s perception that their friends and loved ones are physically present.” The new research...
RASL’s Socially Assistive Robotics Project which Compares the Benefits of Animatronics Compared with Humanoids was Highlighted in Fortune
Aug. 24, 2022—“Isolation during the pandemic highlighted how harmful loneliness can be. This sped up development of tech solutions, says Nilanjan Sarkar, an engineering professor at Vanderbilt University. One area of rapid advancement has been artificial intelligence for companion robots. Today’s A.I.-enhanced robots have improved stereo vision to sense the shape and location of objects, and they...
NSF Funding Received to Study Precursors of Problem Behaviors in Children with Autism
Aug. 24, 2022—The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a Smart and Connected Health Grant* to VKC researchers Nilanjan Sarkar, Ph.D., (Principal Investigator), Amy Weitlauf, Ph.D., (Co-PI, TRIAD associate director of Research) and John Staubitz, M.Ed., BCBA (TRIAD associate director of Behavior Analysis) to develop and study the use of wearable technology to identify precursors of challenging behaviors in individuals with disabilities,...