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Robotics experts from UMass Lowell, Carnegie Mellon University, Brigham Young University and Tufts University are working together to give humanoid robots and other autonomous systems the ability to assess themselves in terms of how well they can perform a given task.

UMass Lowell, home to one of the most advanced robotics-testing centers in the nation, will be a partner in a $250 million robotics institute -- with the goal of producing new technologies and opportunities for workers in advanced manufacturing.

Thanks to a $1.5 million grant from the Department of Energy, a team of robotics experts is studying ways in which a humanoid robot can help clean up America’s decommissioned nuclear production facilities.

Three teams of UMass Lowell researchers — led by Prof. Holly Yanco and Assoc. Prof. Yu Cao, both from the Department of Computer Science, and Asst. Prof. Seongkyu Yoon from Chemical Engineering — are among the recipients of $834,000 in grants from this year’s UMass President Science & Technology Initiatives Fund.

Val — short for Valkyrie — is a 6-foot, 2-inch, 300-pound mass of metal, wires and plastic that was delivered to UMass Lowell, along with a squad of NASA engineers, who put together the robot piece by piece.

A state-of-the-art NASA robot prototype will soon be taking up residence at the university’s robotics testing lab to study how this human-like machine can assist astronauts in future space exploration. 

Computer Science Prof. Holly Yanco has been named University Professor, the highest distinction bestowed on faculty members.

UMass Lowell is trying to improve the way first-responders communicate with each other and robots during such emergencies.

Computer science Prof. Holly Yanco was recently awarded four robotics technology-related grants totaling more than $1 million.

Students display ingenuity and intellectual prowess in competitions held across the country and the region.

A team of UMass Lowell robotics undergraduate and graduate students, called the “Rover Hawks,” takes home the top prize in a nationwide engineering contest sponsored by NASA and organized by the National Institute of Aerospace.

Holly Yanco, who runs UMass Lowell's New England Robotics Validation and Experimentation Center, talks about the advances being made at the NERVE Center.

The New England Robotics Validation and Experimentation (NERVE) Center, which was inaugurated Feb. 12, will serve as “proving ground” for robots — a place where these complex machines will undergo rigorous testing to prove their strength, durability, design and functionality — and, in the process, help accelerate robotics research and development across the region.

UMass Lowell's New England Robotics Validation and Experimentation Center at 1001 Pawtucket Blvd. is being hailed as the nation's most advanced facility for robotics testing to date.

The Mass Technology Leadership Council plans to release its report in conjunction with the opening of the 10,000-square-foot New England Robotics Validation and Experimentation Center at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. The facility is part of the school’s $80 million Emerging Technologies and Innovation Center, which opened in October.

A team of researchers from several universities including UMass Lowell aims to control a robot by simply speaking to it or sending it a text message.

UMass Lowell’s Engaging Computing Group (ECG), in collaboration with the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) Greater Boston Chapter and the Advanced Math and Science Academy, recently organized the three-day CS4HS workshop and conference on campus, which attracted 40 teachers from across the region.

Two teams of UMass Lowell researchers — led by Prof. Holly Yanco of Computer Science and Prof. Robert Giles of Physics and Applied Physics — are among the recipients of nearly $750,000 in grants from this year’s UMass President’s Science & Technology Initiatives Fund.

UMass Lowell alum Ken Steinberg, owner and CEO of Cambridge Research and Development in Nashua, talks about the product he is launching — a haptics interface — that allows users to feel the touch and pressure applied by a robot while it works.

UMass Lowell's Robotics Lab develops robotic arms to assist people with physical disabilities in opening and closing doors as well as picking up objects on a table or shelf.