Dennis Hong has developed a tiny army of robots in the Robotics & Mechanisms Laboratory (RoMeLa), which is a research laboratory situated at Virginia Tech. Hong has created around 20 robots, in the shape of spiders, snakes, and humans.
CHARLI and DARwIn are two robotic creations designed by Hong. The robots created by Hong vary in size. Some robots measure about five-feet in length and others are less than a foot long.
RoMeLa Robot
Though Hong’s robots are research models, they serve practical applications. An air pressure-driven robotic hand, RAPHaEL, can initiate the development of cost-effective prostheses. Several of Hong’s robots are designed for search-and-rescue operations like the amoeba-like WSL robot, and IMPASS, a slug robot built with spoke-like legs. MARS, a hexapedal robot, can function in zero-gravity and is suitable for repairing space structures or spacecrafts.
Hong hopes that DARwIn-OP will be used to conduct research activities in the field of linguistics and sound recognition, human-robot interaction, robot vision, and artificial intelligence. RoMeLa’s humanoid robots have become popular, as they have unique crowd-pleasing capabilities. Hong’s robots have been designed to perform martial arts, play soccer, introduce themselves, and wave.
Researchers, hobbyists, and students can perform innovations using the DARwIn-OP, which will serve as an open-source platform. The DARwIn-OP is an economical, easy-to-assemble robot that stands around 18” tall. RoMeLa is developing the 35 DARwIn-OP’s in collaboration with ROBOTIS, a company producing robot parts, and supplying them to 15 schools without charge. This project is supported by a $1.2 million National Science Foundation grant.