News about Robot Learning & Foundational Models

Chad Jenkins speaks with attendees at the Distributed Teaching Collaborative Summer Session at the Ford Motor Company Robotics Building.

Chad Jenkins named ACM Fellow

March 11, 2026

The Association for Computing Machinery has named Chad Jenkins a 2025 ACM Fellow for contributions to robot learning and broadening participation in robotics and AI.

3D printed concrete art on display during the 2019 Innovation in Concrete Symposium organized by the University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning and the Civil and Environmental Engineering department.

Using AI to improve 3D printing concrete

February 20, 2026

Professor Yulun Tian is developing an AI-enabled digital twin to monitor and correct robotic 3D concrete printing in real time, backed by a Bold Challenges Initiative award.

Jason Corso sits in the chair representing the professorship, with Robotics Department chair Dawn Tilbury and Dean Karen Thole behind.

Jason Corso named Toyota Professor of Artificial Intelligence

January 30, 2026

Jason Corso is recognized for his contributions to computer vision, multimodal learning, and AI for societal impact with this professorship.

A four-wheel Clearpath Husky robot with a ground penetrating radar attached moves in stark Utah desert.

Improving Mars and Moon rover localization with ground penetrating radar

November 6, 2025

By incorporating ground penetrating radar into a planetary rover's localization system, rovers could traverse planets more accurately in environments where wheels often slip.

A black and white sonar image of a sunken ship.

Sonar shipwreck dataset expands national AI infrastructure

October 3, 2025

A dataset of shipwreck sonar scans collected by University of Michigan and Michigan Technological University researchers has been selected for inclusion in the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) Pilot.

A group holds up water samples from around the country that will be poured into the new water research tank.

New robotics research water tank to enable advanced marine autonomy

May 7, 2025

A new 10,000 gallon water tank at the University of Michigan will help researchers design, build, and test a variety of autonomous underwater systems that could help robots map lakes and oceans and conduct inspections of ships and bridges.

An illustration shows a vehicle roughly the size of a shuttle bus equipped with a chair for examinations and procedures, ceiling lights on adjustable arms, cabinets, screens, a desk, and other furnishings similar to a doctor's office.

Bridging gaps in rural health care with AI-powered mobile clinics

February 12, 2025

General practitioners with AI help could make diagnoses, run and interpret tests, and perform procedures like specialists.

Two researchers on a boat, as one of them points to the sonar data they are collecting on a screen.

Katherine Skinner awarded NSF CAREER grant

June 14, 2024

Katie Skinner was awarded the National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) grant for a project “to provide new capabilities for marine robotic systems to map, visualize, and navigate underwater sites autonomously.