Editor’s Note: Over the next two years, we’ll be hosting a series of GoFly Master Lectures where industry experts share advice, insights, and answer questions from anyone interested in participating in the GoFly Prize.
For the latest in our series of “Master Lectures,” we welcome Drs. Mark Yim, Bruce Kothmann, and Vijay Kuma, members of the University of Pennsylvania’s Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics.
Dr. Mark Yim is a Professor in the Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics Department at the University of Pennsylvania. His group designs and builds small flying robots, self-assembling structures, modular self-reconfigurable robots. Recently, his work has followed a theme of simplicity and low cost. His other research interests include product design, reactive art and architecture, origami, snake locomotion, urban search and rescue and mobile manipulation.
Dr. Bruce Kothmann is a Senior Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Engineering and Applied Science. He received the 2012 Provost’s Award for Teaching Excellence. He is an avid user of laboratory and interactive teaching spaces.
Dr. Vijay Kumar is the Nemirovsky Family Dean of Penn Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania’s Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, Computer and Information Science, and Electrical and Systems Engineering. His group works on creating autonomous ground and aerial robots, designing bio-inspired algorithms for collective behaviors, and on robot swarms. Kumar is a fellow of ASME and IEEE and a member of the National Academy of Engineering.
In this Master Lecture, the three discuss ways to think outside the box in regards to novel rotor/vehicle technologies, control for near-hover configurations and handling qualities, and the role of autonomy in human controlled flight.
If you have follow-up questions, check out current discussions on the GoFly forum or start your own thread!
