Awards & Honors

Robonaut 2 Receives National Federal Laboratory Consortium Award for Technology Transfer

NASA was honored for its technology transfer achievements by the Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC). The team members of the partnership from the NASA Johnson Space Center and from General Motors were recognized for the design of the humanoid robot, Robonaut 2,  for aerospace applications and automotive manufacturing.

Robonaut 2 Team Receives the General Motors R&D Charles L. McCuen Special Achievement Innovation Award

This distinction was granted  for extraordinary technical accomplishments in the design and development of the GM-NASA world’s most dexterous, anthropomorphic robot, Robonaut 2 (R2).

Robonaut 2 Team Receives the NASA Johnson Space Center’s Exceptional Software Award

This recognition was granted for exceptional software efforts and outstanding dedication in the discipline of software development and engineering which contribute to the success of the JSC mission.

Dr. Barajas Receives the 2010 IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Early Career Award

IEEE RAS Award winners Dr. Leandro Barajas (center) receives the 2010 IEEE Robotics & Automation Society Early Career Award. Khatib, Bacjsy, Zelinsky, Siciliano, Sun, Barajas, Lee, Ikeuchi Receive RAS Society Awards

Patents

Yuan, Barajas et al., US Patent 7,996,113 Granted

United States Patent 7,996,113 Yuan, Barajas, et al. August 9, 2011 Methods of integrating real and virtual world using virtual sensor/actuator.

Kadambe, Barajas et al., US Patent 7,899,761 Granted

United States Patent 7,899,761 Kadambe, Barajas, et al. March 1, 2011 System and method for signal prediction.

Xiao, Barajas, et al. US Patent 7,672,811 Granted

United States Patent 7,672,811 Xiao, Barajas, et al. March 2, 2010 System and method for production system performance prediction.

Srinivasa & Barajas, US Patent 7,526,461 Granted

United States Patent 7,526,461 Srinivasa & Barajas April 28, 2009 System and method for temporal data mining.

Papers

3D Visual Perception System for Bin Picking in Automotive Sub-Assembly Automation

S. Lee, J. Kim, M. Lee, K. Yoo, L. G. Barajas, and R. Menassa, “3D Visual Perception System for Bin Picking in Automotive Sub-Assembly Automation,” submitted to the International Conference on Robotics & Automation (ICRA 2012), Saint Paul, MN, 2012.

Estimating Object Grasp Sliding via Pressure Array Sensing

J. A. Alcazar and L. G. Barajas, “Estimating Object Grasp Sliding via Pressure Array Sensing,” submitted to the International Conference on Robotics & Automation (ICRA 2012) Saint Paul, MN, 2012.

Local Recurrence Based Performance Prediction and Prognostics in the Nonlinear and Nonstationary Systems

H. Yang, S. T. S. Bukkapatnam, L. G. Barajas, “Local Recurrence Based Performance Prediction and Prognostics in the Nonlinear and Nonstationary Systems,” Pattern Recognition, vol. 44, pp. 1834-1840, 2011

Dexterous Robotic Hand Grasping Method for Automotive Parts

J. A. Alcazar and L. G. Barajas, “Dexterous Robotic Hand Grasping Method for Automotive Parts,” presented at the IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots, Nashville, TN, December 6, 2010

Mars Desert Research Station

Mars Desert Research Station – Crew 109 Summary Report

The MDRS rotation for our Crew (CIX) has come to an end, and it is time for all to move on and to look for other planets! The table below summarizes the Extra-Vehicular Activities (EVA) performed during the 2 week stay over the 2011 Christmas period (Dec 17-Dec 31).  And yes, we had almost 54 [...]

Crew 109 Journalist Report Day 13

Written by: Aster Stein. Here it is, my final report as crew 109 journalist. This was our last full day at the hab, the two past weeks have gone by so fast. Everyone here is happy to go back home, but there is of course a tiny part of sadness that we have to leave [...]

MDRS EVA 22 Report: Skyline Rim

Today, David, Karon, and I did our final EVA by hiking  8Km to Skyline Rim and back. The three of us also did our first EVA together about 2 weeks ago.

MDRS EVA 20 Report: North Pinto Hills

Today, Nicky and Aster stayed at the HAB all day performing scientific experiments. Victoria and I headed to the highest point on the North Pinto Hills. In the afternoon I tested the improved controls and the micro-camera of our Mini Mars Rover.

Crew 109 Journalist Report Day 12

Written by: Aster Stein. The am-EVA team made an interesting discovery today. After a short drive, an innocent hike to a high peak in the North Pinto Hills. It went very well, but near the top of the hill they found a bone sticking out from the ground. It must have been there for a while [...]

MDRS EVA 19 Report: Copernicus Highway

Today,  Aster, Victoria and I traversed Mars Copernicus Highway. Our entire crew was also quite busy with experiments in the HAB ranging from water testing and time-lapse photography to soil cultures.

Crew 109 Journalist Report Day 11

Written by: Aster Stein. The final stretch of crew 109′s stay at the MDRS is well under way. The biology team has finished their research on bacteria growth and tomorrow David will collect his last sample for his geology work. Nicky has spotted the first small green leaves in his plant growing project. Engineer Leandro has [...]

MDRS EVA 16 Report: Up North

Today, Karon, Vicky and I headed up North towards the Martian Sheep Knolls. Back on the HAB I got to have some robotics manipulation practice time on my Mini-Mars Rover.

MDRS EVA 15 Report: Martian landscapes around Olympus Mons

Today we had a great EVA with beautiful views of the Martian landscape. At times like this, the “Analog” simulation becomes very real, you feel in another planet.

Crew 109 Journalist Report Day 10

Written by: Aster Stein. A very strange thing happened this morning… We must have gotten hit hard by the cosmic rays of a giant solar storm, because all of our alarm clocks proved ineffective at waking us up. We compensated by having a quicker breakfast. The weather was very nice, clear sky and all, but [...]

In the News…

IEEE-USA Today’s Engineer

IEEE Members Mentor Students Participating in FIRST Robotics Competition By Abby Vogel Mentor Profiles Check out profiles of some of the teams mentored by IEEE members. [ view ] When more than 10,000 students gathered in Atlanta’s Georgia Dome in April to compete in a robotics championship, the stands were filled with cheering teachers, parents, [...]

IEEE-USA Today’s Engineer

FIRST Robotics Competition: Mentor Profiles Photographs by Jeffrey Robinson* via IEEE-USA Today’s Engineer. feature       06.09  FIRST Robotics Competition: Mentor Profiles Photographs by Jeffrey Robinson* Team 201 Team 234 Team 2915 Mentor: Leandro Giovanni BarajasIEEE Senior MemberStaff Researcher, General MotorsTroy, MI What is your favorite part about this competition? “Helping this group of tremendously motivated [...]

Closing the Loop: Georgia Tech Researchers Develop New Data-driven Closed-loop control for stencil printers

In electronics assembly, 60 to 70 percent of final defects occur during the stencil printing process (SPP), a stage of surface-mount technology for printed circuit board assembly. Researchers at Georgia Tech’s Center for Board Assembly Research (CBAR) have developed a new data-driven, closed-loop control technology that adjusts electronics assembly equipment parameters in real-time, resulting in [...]