Projects:
I
am interested in taking on dynamic, independent
students (undergraduate, master's and doctoral
students) interested in doing research in mechatronic
and robotic systems. There are many possible research topics for students
to choose from within this general theme of “lifecycle treatment”
of mechatronic and robotic systems – ie. design, modeling/analysis, control, prototyping, and
validation.
This
work will be undertaken at the Automation, Robotics
& Mechatronics (ARM) Laboratory as well
as the New York State Center for Engineering Design and
Industrial Innovation (NYSCEDII).
Please visit these websites for the most recent and up-to-date
description of our research efforts.
I
plan to put a list of possible student projects here sometime in the near
future. For the moment, though, if you see something here that you think is interesting,
and you'd like to find out more about it, then read the guidelines, and background information
for incoming graduate students and then get in
touch with me via e-mail.
Guidelines
In general, I'm happy to meet prospective students who are
interested in doing research in mechatronics and robotics. However, before you
contact me – for pursuing a Project or Thesis under my supervision or
just finding out more about Mechatronics/Robotics – I would encourage you
to read these guidelines.
- I offer
a set of courses in mechanisms, mechatronics and robotics – MAE
412/512, MAE 493/593 and MAE476/576 – and you should consider taking
them (or sitting in). All courses may not be offered in all semesters but
it may be possible to arrange for you to take an independent study if a
course is not offered in a particular year (and if you have successfully
convinced me of your interest). If you've taken one of the
robotics/mechatronics courses offered in MAE (currently MAE493/593 or
MAE476/576), then I probably remember you.
- As a
rule, I'm more interested in "structured" research, such as
independent studies or independent projects. If you're interested in this,
then send me some brief email, describing what you'd like to do. Just
showing up and saying "robots are cool" isn't enough,
unfortunately – see below.
- To try
and get a handle on the sorts of things that we do, then you should do
three things.
- Read about the research that we do on my web
pages http://mechatronics.eng.buffalo.edu.
- Find a student who
has worked with me and talk to them.
- Finally, when you have a rough idea of what
we're about, send me an email to schedule a time to meet.
In this e-mail at the very least, I will expect to see:
(i) A Full CV with all relevant GPA, and
standardized test scores and
(ii) Your specific research interests and why you would like to meet me.
- I prefer
students to have some significant programming experience (usually in
structured high-level language like C, C++, Java) before they get involved
in research. What constitutes "significant"? As a bare minimum,
you should have successfully written a significant computer program
(involving multiple files managed within an integrated development
environment). Please make sure that you include a paragraph or two about
this aspect in all messages.
- Most
aspects of our research involve a fair amount of math. If you're seriously
interested in doing research, then you'll need to have a basic grounding
in one or more of these subjects: linear algebra, mathematical optimization,
kinematics, dynamics, control, probability theory and/or numerical
analysis. Please make sure that you include a paragraph or two about your
exposure to these in all messages.
- Similarly,
some aspects of my research require a variety of practical/implementation
skills. Please make sure that you include a paragraph or two about your
past projects (with links to pictures/reports) in your message.
- If
you've made it this far, then you must still be interested. Don't worry
too much if you don't meet all
of the criteria above. If you meet
at least a subset of them, then send me some email, and we can discuss
things.
Graduate Student Life
Here is a short but
ever-growing list of references to information useful to you. It is recommended
that prospective graduate students read the following to be better informed
about what lies ahead in graduate school.
Links to Other Background
Information