Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) researcher Markus Nemitz is the recipient of a $599,815 CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation to develop an innovative architecture for low-cost custom robots capable of traversing challenging terrains by swimming, crawling, climbing, and diving through hostile and confined spaces as part of search-and-rescue operations.
Nemitz, an assistant professor in WPI’s Department of Robotics Engineering, will focus on developing small and flexible 3D-printed robots with integrated fluidic circuits that can be rapidly fabricated for specific disasters.
His five-year project will involve testing these robots in a miniaturized model that will be built at WPI and replicate parts of the Tham Luang cave in Thailand where flooding trapped 12 members of a youth soccer team and their coach in 2018. [Read more…] about WPI researcher receives $600,000 grant to develop 3D printable robots for search-and-rescue operations