A series of events will help launch the Department of Computer Science's new robotics laboratory, human-computer interaction laboratory and cluster computer Friday, Feb. 23.
The celebration kicks off at 3 p.m. with student robot demos in Olin Atrium, followed by a talk at 4 p.m. with Colin Angle, CEO and co-founder of iRobot Corporation in the Olin Auditorium. The activities conclude with a reception and the official unveiling of the new work space in the Olin Auditorium Lobby.
The events are free and open to the public.
“These labs make it possible for us to expand our offerings for low-level non-majors as well as computer science majors,” said Valerie B. Barr, professor and chair of the computer science department. “Next semester we're adding a sophomore level research seminar in HCI in addition to an upper-level elective.”
Funding for the HCI lab was provided in part through a private gift and a grant awarded to Assistant Professors Aaron G. Cass and Chris S.T. Fernandes from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The robotics lab was remodeled and equipped with a grant from the Hewlett Foundation. Funding for the cluster computer was donated by General Electric.
The cluster computer features 25 dual-cpu nodes, each with 2GB of memory. Its primary function will be for parallel computing as it can process large computations in less time than could be done with a single processor.
Angle is a pioneer in the field of mobile robots. He designed the behavior-controlled rovers for NASA that led to the Sojourner exploring Mars in 1997.
He holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and a master's degree in computer science, both from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.