Education |

Bowie State University conducts rescue robot demonstration with Defense Department funding

A team of computer science students at Bowie State University on Thursday demonstrated one of the robotics projects they’ve been working on with a grant from the Department of Defense.

The ultimate goal is for the robots to be used for rescue missions or reconnaissance, said Anthony Herron, 30, a doctoral student from Upper Marlboro. “Right now, they’re [the robots] just trying to maintain distance on their way to a specific point.”

Herron is part of a six-member team: three undergraduate students and three master’s and doctoral students. Darsana Josyula, a computer science professor at Bowie State since 2006, oversees the project is and is available for support as the students do the work themselves.

Bowie State is part of a consortium of universities, led by Howard University, that serves as a University Affiliated Research Center, or UARC. Howard was named the 15th UARC last January. Each consortium conducts research with DOD funding.

Howard received a UARC grant last year worth $90 million over five years, said Jonathan Saxon, a spokesperson for Bowie State. The other member institutions of the consortium are Jackson State University, Tuskegee University, Hampton University, Norfolk State University, Delaware State University, Florida Memorial University, and Tougaloo College. Howard is the lead institution for the grant.

During Thursday’s demonstration, students used computer code they had written to make the robots do simple tasks like maintaining equal distance between each other and traveling to a specific point.

One robot is about 18 inches long and about 8 inches deep. The other was about 2 feet long and about 18 inches deep thanks toits oversized off-road tires. The robots come equipped with PlayStation 4 controllers for manual use.

During the demonstration, the smaller one used a LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) sensor system to see where it was going while in operation and the larger one used a sonar attachment that allowed it to detect sound. The next step for the team is to use the data they’ve collected during the demonstration and eventually prepare the robots to avoid obstacles.

Herron‘s older brother, Andre Herron, 33, who’s working on his master’s in computer science, said the hardest part about working with the robots is the constant debugging and adapting they have to do to achieve the desired result. . The elder Herron anticipates continuing his work with artificial intelligence and computer science for the Department of Defense after he completes his degree.

The other students on the team present for the demonstration were Hubert Kyeremateng-Boateng, 41, originally from Ghana but now living in Severn. He’s a seven-year part-time doctoral student currently doing cyber security work as a Department of Defense contractor. The undergraduates included Oluwabukunmi Jaiyeola, 18, a sophomore ROTC officer. Jaiyelo is the youngest student on the team. He was raised in Nigeria and is a computer science major focused on cyber security.

Josyula said it’s great for the student body to see her students working with the robots because it can entice to explore computer science.

“It’s really exciting because this gives an opportunity to attract more people to this area,” she said.  “Sometimes people get excited when they see what other students are doing. It makes computer science world more tangible for them.”