Robotics Institute alumnus Henry Kang used the subject of his Ph.D. research, image-based object recognition, to help create an iPhone app, StyleIt, that gives users advice on how to create stylish outfits.

The Google Lunar XPRIZE announced today that Andy, a four-wheeled lunar rover designed and built by Carnegie Mellon University, is the winner of a Milestone Prize for mobility after judges concluded it is thus far the only robot among the competing teams to meet development benchmarks for flight readiness.

Yong-Lae Park, an assistant professor in the Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute and the founder of the Soft Robotics and Bionics Lab, is among the latest recipients of the Okawa Research Grant, which is awarded by the Okawa Foundation for Information and Telecommunications.

A system of four cameras, called Breathe Cam, now keeps a constant watch on air quality over Pittsburgh, providing citizens with a new interactive tool for monitoring and documenting visual pollution in the air they breathe and even tracing it back to its sources. Funded by The Heinz Endowments as part of its Breathe Project, the camera system was developed and deployed by the CREATE Lab in Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute.

For three years, a group of robots, known as CoBots, has been navigating the corridors of Carnegie Mellon University’s Gates and Hillman centers and Newell-Simon Hall, running errands and guiding visitors without human supervision. On Nov. 18, their collective odometer reached 1,000 kilometers — more than 620 miles — a first-ever accomplishment for indoor autonomous robots.

Carnegie Mellon University today unveiled Andy, a four-wheeled robot designed to scramble up steep slopes and survive the temperature swings and high radiation encountered while exploring the moon’s pits, caves and polar ice.

Carnegie Mellon University will unveil its latest robot and present lunar exploration technologies at a technology fair, “Meet Andy: Technology for the New Moon,” from 10 to 11 a.m. Monday, Nov. 24, in the Planetary Robotics Laboratory, located on the first floor of the Gates and Hillman centers.

Stephen Smith has found a twist to a sticky situation. A systems engineer who is studying in the Master of Science Robotics Systems Development program, he already has started one company and hopes to revolutionize the food industry by making it easier to clean out peanut butter jars and other food containers.

Four inventions that trace their origins to the School of Computer Science and, particularly, the Robotics Institute, have been honored by Popular Science's annual Best of What’s New Awards. This year’s winners, published in the magazine’s December issue now on sale, include the Flex System, a neck surgery tool based on snake robot research; 360fly, a panoramic video camera; and 3D Object Manipulation Software, a photo editing tool.

Martial Hebert, a leading researcher in computer vision and robotics at Carnegie Mellon University since 1984, will become director of the university’s Robotics Institute, effective as of Nov. 15, School of Computer Science Dean Andrew W. Moore announced.