UC Berkeley's Automation Sciences Lab, directed by Professor Ken Goldberg of IEOR, EECS, School of Information, and Art Practice, is a center for research in robotics and automation, with current projects in Cloud Robotics, Computer Assisted Surgery, Automated Manufacturing, and New Media Artforms.
- Cloud Robotics What if robots and automation systems were not limited by onboard computation, memory, or software? Advances in wireless networking and rapidly expanding Internet resources can reduce these limitations. In 2010, James Kuffner at Google introduced the term “Cloud Robotics" to describe a new approach to robotics that takes advantage of the Internet as a resource for massively parallel computation and real time sharing of vast data resources. We are working with Google and other collaborators on several Cloud Robotics research projects.
- Computer Assisted Surgery To improve patient care and more accurately target treatment within the human body, we're developing new geometric models and algorithms for surgical training, planning, and analysis, including fast FEM models of medical intervention in soft tissues, new methods for dose planning, brachytherapy, new image registration techniques, and new planning algorithms for steering flexible needles.
- Automated Manufacturing To produce the high quality, rapidly evolving products of the future, we're establishing a science base for automated assembly by analyzing its basic components. We develop efficient geometric algorithms for feeding, fixturing, and grasping industrial parts.
- New Media Artforms To discover what can be expressed with new technologies such as networks, robots, digital cameras, and sensors that could not previously be expressed, we're designing art installations that explore issues related to privacy, play, embodiment, and "telepistemology": what is knowable at a distance?
Contact:
Ken Goldberg - goldberg@berkeley.edu
Berkeley Automation Sciences Lab
1169 Etcheverry Hall, 510-643-2030
UC Berkeley
Recent Projects
RAVEN Surgical Robotic System
A robot assisted tele-surgery for tele-health using "apprenticeship learning."
California Report Card
An online platform which explores how smartphones and networks can enhance communication between the public and California's government leaders.
The Rashomon Project
An open-source toolkit for assembling and analyzing multiperspective video timelines, in order to gain a better understand of contested events.
Opinion Space
A new social media interface used to encourage public dialogue and participatory democracy.
Steering Flexible Needles through Soft Tissue
Needles are used in many forms of medical diagnosis and treatment, from tissue biopsies to placement of radioactive seeds for cancer treatment.-
CONE Welder
Take part in a massive effort to investigate migration changes and possible global warming ties. Snap photos of stunning birds, chat with fellow birdwatchers, and earn birder fame in the process. 
Donation Dashboard
We extend our collaborative filtering model to recommend a portfolio of donations based on personal ratings of sample non-profit organizations.-
CONE
Investigating the algorithmic foundations for collaborative observation -
ACONE
Automated Collaborative Observatory for Natural Environments assisting the search for the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker. -
Respectful
Cameras
Securing privacy in the age of high-resolution digital video cameras. -
SNARES
Integrating the readings from multiple sensors to provide better information than using each reading separately. -
Biomechanical
Simulation and Planning
An interactive simulation of needle insertion and radioactive seed implantation. -
Memento
Mori
On April 4, San Francisco Ballet's Muriel Maffre danced to sounds and lighting that were triggered by live seismic data. -
Demonstrate
For six weeks, online participants shared control of a robotic webcamera set over UC Berkeley's Sproul Plaza. 
Other Art Projects