Feb 21 2011
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has presented the CAREER Award to Dr. Michael M. Zavlanos for his achievements and potential in the field of mobile robot networks.
Dr. Michael M. Zavlanos holds the position of Assistant Professor in the department of Mechanical Engineering at the Stevens Institute of Technology. This award will offer financial support for his research activities over a period five years.
Dr. Zavlanos' research activities are aimed at addressing vital factors that influence network management and mobility control of networked robot systems such as power management, robot dynamics, and environmental interference. This research develops formal methods for exercising control in both the physical domains and communication domains of the mobile networked robots.
The algorithms proposed by Dr. Zavlanos and his team intend to provide a better understanding of mobile robot communication. This research could also be utilized to study the impact on various networked systems such as power networks, transportation networks, biomolecular networks, and social networks.
The innovative wireless network design developed by Dr. Zavlanos and his team for mobility control varies from the current methods. This original network design has been explained on the basis of the graph theory and proximity relations. Dr. Zavlanos' research focuses on performance metrics that show how well the robots are communicating with each other and with a fixed infrastructure.
The great advantage of his research is that he utilizes realistic models of robot networks. Moreover, his research findings are less complex due to various factors such as graphical representation of spectral properties and ease of implementation using methods of distributed control and optimization.
Source: http://www.nsf.gov/