Research

The field of robotics is undergoing revolutionary change, which will impact all aspects of our society. These advances, driven by highly collaborative and interdisciplinary research, will allow robots to perform tasks not suited for humans, to work safely in close proximity and in collaboration with humans, and to operate safely and effectively in natural human environments.

Michigan Robotics pursues fundamental research across core areas of sensing, reasoning, acting, and interacting with humans. Roboticists work on robot learning and foundational models, perception and computer vision, manipulation and grasping, and motion planning and control. Faculty also study human-robot interaction and teaming, the design and soft robotics that give machines their physical form, and the safe autonomy that keeps these systems reliable in the real world.

Some researchers focus on specific capabilities or full systems for application areas such as autonomous vehicles and intelligent transportation, legged robotics, rehabilitation robotics and wearables, manufacturing robotics, multi-robot systems and swarms, and medical robotics.