Overview
ShanghaiTech Automation and Robotics Lab - STAR Lab is dedicated to research on intelligent and novel algorithms, software and also hardware for various robotic applications. It was found in August 2014 by Prof. Sören Schwertfeger of the School of Information Science and Technology of ShanghaiTech University. The lab is dedicated to excellence in research and teaching in robotics and is part of the STAR Center. Additionally Prof. Schwertfeger and the STAR Lab are part of the Shanghai Institute of Fog Computing Technology (SHIFT). If you are interested in joining or visiting the lab, please refer to the respective advertisement on the openings page.
News
IROS 2017 Workshop Introspective Methods for Reliable Autonomy
The IROS 2017 Workshop Introspective Methods for Reliable Autonomy is calling for papers that deal with the question:
How to assess the quality of internal models, methods and sensor data, used by robots and how to alter their behavior upon this information?
Prof. Sören Schwertfeger is a co-organizor of this workshop. Please see the Call for Papers for submission instructions: http://aass.oru.se/Agora/IROS2017_Introspection/cfp.html
SSRR 2017 Call for Papers
The 15th IEEE International Symposium on Safety, Security, and Rescue Robotics 2017 (SSRR 2017) will be held at ShanghaiTech University between October 11 and 13 2017. Please see the conference website http://www.ssrr-conference.org/2017 for the Call for Papers - late breaking reports can still be submitted till Mid August!
Good Success at ROS Summer School Robot Games
The ROS Summer School 2017 was held at the East China Normal University again this year. The graduate students to join the STAR Lab in September 2017 Xiaoling Long 龙肖灵, Hongyu Chen 陈宏宇 and Haofei Kuang 旷皓飞 attended the summer school as well as the ROS Robot Games held at the same time. The students were very successfull, winning the first place of the competition.
Incoming STAR Lab students with the ROS games organizer
STAR Standard Test Methods Lab opened
In July, with the help of a carpenter and the students and staff of the STAR Lab, the new STAR Standard Test Methods Lab was opened. It features standard test methods for response robots developed by NIST (US National Institute of Standards and Technology). The test methods deployed in the STAR Lab are at the 60cm level, so they are designed for robot with a small footprint. More details can be found here.
The test methods are used to test the performance of mobile robots in a repeatable, reproducable and standard way. We will utilize these test for research on test methods and to measure and test the performance of the robots developed at ShanghaiTech University. Very similar tests are also used at RoboCup Rescue competitions, so our team can do experiments in the actual competition environment.
In October 2017 the 15th IEEE International Symposium on Safety, Security, and Rescue Robotics 2017 (SSRR 2017) will be held at ShanghaiTech University, organized by Prof. Sören Schwertfeger. During this conference a small competition will be held using the test methods of the STAR Standard Test Methods Lab.
STAR Lab Dinner & KTV
On July 6 all members of the STAR Lab (including Mia ;) celebrated a successfull semester by enjoying a wonderful dinner followed by KTV with sining and games. :)
High School students visit the STAR Lab
During the SIST open days high school students from throughout China visited the School of Information Science and Technology to learn about the different topics that the School is teaching and researching. On several days the STAR Lab hosted the students, showcasing our research and let them play with our robots.
New York Times article about Prof. Schwertfeger
Photo session with NYTimes photographer, Prof. Schwertfeger and robot
On May 28, the New York Times published an article titled “Is China Outsmarting America in A.I.?”. It discusses how research on Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) is being promoted in China while the US is cutting back on research funding. As an example for the Chinese A.I. research Prof. Sören Schwertfeger and his research lab were prominently covered in the article, highlighting the superb research conditions at ShanghaiTech University.
Prof. Schwertfeger joined the School of Information Science and Technology (SIST) as an Assistant Professor in August 2014 and is doing research on intelligent functions for mobile robots, also in the area of search and rescue robotics. He is also the general chair of the 15th IEEE International Symposium on Safety, Security, and Rescue Robotics 2017 (SSRR 2017) to be held in October at ShanghaiTech University.
STAR Lab co-founded SHIFT
On January 16, following the election results of the Board of Directors of the OpenFog Consortium, ShanghaiTech Distinguished Professor-in-Residence Yang Yang was appointed Director of the OpenFog Consortium Greater China Region (GCR) Committee.
STAR Rescue @ RoboCup China 2017
Between March 31st and April 4th 2017 the STAR Rescue Team participated at RoboCup Resce China 2017 in Rizhao, Shandong. We went there with our very early prototype of a very small and cheap rescuerobot that is controlled via a smartphone. We achieved all our goals: Learn about RoboCup Rescue, test our robot, score more than 0 points and have fun. We worked very hard and made very nice progress. See some impressions below:
Lab engineer Tian Dong joins the STAR Lab
In April Dong Tian 董添 joined ShanghaiTech University as a Lab Engineer working on robotics software for the STAR Lab. Tian studied in France and has experience working on robotics projects in industry. He is a great addition to our team and we warmly welcome him to the group.