New center to improve robot dexterity selected to receive up to $52 million

PITTSBURGH – Carnegie Mellon University will be a core partner in a new multi-institutional collaboration that has received $26 million from the National Science Foundation to launch an Engineering Research Center (ERC) dedicated to revolutionizing the ability of robots to amplify human labor.

Nine Carnegie Mellon University faculty members, with expertise ranging from Softbotics, engineering, and computer science to psychology, and diversity and inclusion, will help to develop highly dexterous robotic hands, user-friendly interfaces, and accessible training materials to empower diverse workforces to implement robotic solutions quickly and reliably.

The NSF grant will fund the new center across five years, with the ability to renew for another $26 million for an additional five years. It marks the first ERC led by Northwestern. Core partners include Carnegie Mellon University, Florida A&M and Texas A&M with additional faculty support from Syracuse University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Called Human AugmentatioN via Dexterity (HAND), the new ERC will build robot hands with the ability to assist humans with manufacturing, caregiving, handling precious or dangerous materials, and more. The center aims to build technological tools that are versatile and easy-to-integrate, creating robots capable of intelligent and versatile grasping, fine motor skills, and hand-eye coordination.

An expert in Softbotics, Carmel Majidi, professor of mechanical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, will lead the research thrust focused on developing robust, mass-manufacturable robot hands that achieve breakthrough capability via soft-yet-durable sensing skins, advanced actuators, and novel designs optimized for versatility and robustness.

“It’s an exciting time for Softbotics,” said Majidi. “We will be solving major challenges to build the artificial muscles, responsive skin-like material, and motor-powered tendons needed for user-friendly robots with dexterous capabilities to empower tomorrow’s workforce.”

This research is an extension of his 2020 moonshot project, Intelligent Symbiotic Systems, which pioneered new classes of intelligent programmable matter for transformative impacts on robotics and human-machine interactions. 

“Our moonshot project was all about creating a new paradigm in bio-inspired engineering in which autonomous robotic functionality—with integrated sensing, actuation, learning, decision making, self-repair, and energy storage—is intrinsically achieved at the materials level with limited dependency on traditional motors or electronic hardware. These novel materials are critical to the development of lightweight yet mechanically robust and versatile robot hands,” said Majidi.

Other CMU collaborators include Alaine Allen and Gary Fedder from The College of Engineering; Roberta Klatzky from the Department of Psychology and Human Computer Interaction Institute; Nancy Pollard, Oliver Kroemer, and Melisa Orta Martinez from the Robotics Institute; and Katharine Needham from the School of Computer Science.

The interdisciplinary team will work to ensure new robotic hands are inexpensive, easy to operate without expertise, robust, durable, and mass-manufacturable. They will help to develop and prepare a diverse workforce for an entirely new field of study focused on dexterous robots and foster a culture that nourishes inclusivity and ensures equitable access to new technologies. Potential outcomes will include increased worker productivity, improved job opportunities, reshoring of manufacturing, reduced supply chain vulnerability, enhanced food safety, improved quality of life and democratization of the benefits of robotics.

Since its founding in 1985, the ERC program has supported convergent research, education, and technology translation at U.S. universities. Each ERC unites members from academia, industry, and government to produce transformational engineered systems along with engineering graduates who are adept at innovation and primed for leadership in the global economy.

“NSF’s Engineering Research Centers ask big questions in order to catalyze solutions with far-reaching impacts,” said NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan. “NSF Engineering Research Centers are powerhouses of discovery and innovation, bringing America’s great engineering minds to bear on our toughest challenges. By collaborating with industry and training the workforce of the future, ERCs create an innovation ecosystem that can accelerate engineering innovations, producing tremendous economic and societal benefits for the nation.”

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About the College of Engineering: The College of Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University is a top-ranked, engineering college that is known for our intentional focus on cross-disciplinary collaboration in research. The College is well known for working on problems of both scientific and practical importance. Our acclaimed faculty have a focus on innovation management and engineering to yield transformative results that will drive the intellectual and economic vitality of our community, nation and world. The College offers graduate and undergraduate degree programs in biomedical engineering, chemical engineering, civil and environmental engineering, electrical and computer engineering, engineering and public policy, information networking, materials science and engineering and mechanical engineering. Our “maker” culture is ingrained in all that we do, leading to novel approaches and transformative results.