Skaar’s Activities Support Ongoing Faculty Exchange Program

Steven B. Skaar, professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering, spent his sabbatical – the spring 2005 semester at Notre Dame – teaching an undergraduate course, Mechanical Vibrations, and a graduate course, Advanced Robotics, at the Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí (UASLP) in Mexico. The educational exchange focused on Skaar’s expertise in robotics and vision control. In addition to teaching classes, he collaborated with two UASLP faculty members who are also Notre Dame alumni —  Antonio Cárdenas Galindo (M.S., AME ’00; Ph.D., AME ’03) and Emilio González Galván (M.S., AME ’95; Ph.D., AME ’96) — on research projects featuring vision-based robotics. González Galván, who also serves as president of Mexico’s Robotics Research Society, spent a year as a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering.

During his time at the university, Skaar participated in a news conference with Mario García Valdez, the president of the UASLP, and Arnoldo Gonzalez Ortiz, dean of the UASLP engineering faculty, discussing the educational exchange program and the current state of robotics in the world. “The concept of being able to build and deploy robots in dangerous situations instead of humans, such as the handling hazardous materials,” says Skaar, “is not new. What we find, however, is that robotics is a field where expectations do not match reality.” While robots can be built stronger and faster than humans, it is difficult to build a device with the dexterity or visual comprehension of humans. “Working with the students at UASLP and with my faculty collaborators, I believe we are making progress. A lot of competence exists, but we require time to perfect the process.” 

Skaar’s visit and the research Cárdenas Galindo and González Galván are conducting are part of a grant from CONTACyT, Mexico’s National Science Foundation, whereby UASLP and the University of Guanajuato will develop
a faculty exchange program with the University of Notre Dame focusing
on robotics and mechanical systems. The grant will also assist in the advancement of the research Cárdenas Galindo, González Galván, and
Skaar are conducting. One project is directed toward the use of robots to handle hazardous materials from a distance. Another focuses on commanding and controlling robots via the Internet. In fact, the team hopes to have completed a successful demonstration of this Internet-based deployment by the end of the summer, whereby robots in Mexico would be directed by user on the Notre Dame campus.

The groundwork for this collaboration was laid in 2000 when Mihir Sen, professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering, received an NSF grant for sponsorship of the first Pan-American Advanced Studies Institute: Modern Trends in Heat Transfer. The one-week seminar course, now called Summer School in Heat Transfer, has been held at UASLP since that time, most recently in June 2005. Sen is a member of the organizing committee. Notre Dame alumni Ricardo Romero Méndez (Ph.D., AME ’98) and Arturo Pacheco-Vega (Ph.D., AME ’02) are the UASLP faculty summer school organizers. Romero Méndez is a professor of mechanical engineering; Pacheco-Vega is a professor of chemical engineering. The summer school
is sponsored by UASLP and the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). A faculty member since 1986, Sen taught for 10 years at the UNAM in Mexico City prior to coming to Notre Dame.

Copyright 2005. University of Notre Dame.