MAST project

I am currently working as a GSR under Professor Shankar Sastry on the Micro Autonomous Systems and Technology (MAST) project.

Interests

• Mobile Wireless Sensor Networks
  • Network-centric navigation
  • Automatic sensor positioning
  • Human interaction with roboitc swarms

Sensor networks are poised to change the way we perceive and interact with the world. We are about to be awash in data generated by smart sensors, and extremely valuable applications are already emerging that are taking advantage of this new, cheap information. But, there are a couple problems that are holding the full promise of wireless sensor networks back. First, sensor networks are difficult to maintain. Second, it is not always apparent where to place sensors to sample the desired data.

Partially or fully mobile wireless sensor networks can solve these problems, and will help realize the full potential of sensor networks. When sensors are in need of maintenance or power, current systems require humans to service them, which is not easy when there are hundreds of thousands of sensors or when the sensors are in difficult-to-reach locations. A more robust sensor network of the future will either have service robots that can locate and service sensors, or the individual sensors will move themselves towards a service station. I am interested in understanding how this system will operate and how to design this sort of system. How will small, cheap mobile sensors be able to navigate complicated environments? Navigation typically requires large, expensive sensors and circuits so the device can know where it is and what is in the surrounding environment. To keep mobile sensors small and cheap, I am interested in exploring just what can be done without precise navigation tools, but with a large group of interconnected mobile sensors. In addition, when the location of interesting data isn't known, how will the sensors seek out interesting data and position themselves appropriately? Typically, this problem requires precise location information, but I believe that a reasonable system can get by without this information.

In short: make them small, make them cheap, make them useful.

• New Media
  • The role of automata in performance and art
  • Human relationships with technology

There's much less separating engineering and art than people imagine. Both disciplines require tremendous creativity, and both have an incredibly important impact on society. There are not many who would argue that technological innovation doesn't impact society given the proliferation of personal computers, cell-phones, smart-phones, etc. But art has an equally important effect, which is to get people to think about and engage with issues or subject matter. Art serves a societal purpose in that it allows us to digest societal change.

At the present, I notice a general public fear of technology, despite our willingness to use it. Pop culture continually depicts technology as humanity's desctruction, and only very rarely as its salvation. Through interactive installations and performances, I hope to explore this fear, and I hope to illustrate a different side of electronic technology. I hope to get people to see electronics more like I do, with awe and wonder, and with a healthy mix of whimsy.

I also see robotics and sensor networks as emerging artistic mediums in their own right, and offer artists avenues of expression that are simply not possible in more traditional disciplines. Specifically, these technologies can be used to explore interaction and interactivity spaces, and the experience that emerges from different forms of interaction.

Publications

• A. Godbehere, N. Ward. "Wearable Interfaces for Cyberphysical Musical Expression" Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME 08), Genoa, Italy, June, 2008.
• E. P. Gilson, M. Chung, R. C. Davidson, M. Dorf, P. C. Efthimion, A. B. Godbehere, R. Majeski, "Recent advances in the physics of collective excitations and transverse compression dynamics in the Paul trap simulator experiment" Proceedings of the 17th International Symposium on Heavy Ion Inertial Fusion, Tokyo, Japan, August, 2008. Preprint