Dynamics and control of robotic systems is a difficult problem because of the large rigid body displacements resulting in nonlinear equations. In particular, flexibility in the links and joints have been of interest to us. We have also been working on hyper-redundant systems with a "large" degree of redundancy. These could result in potentially very unusual and useful configurations such as an "artificial" snake. Some of this work has been carried out in collaboration with Dr. Hashem Ashrafiuon. Recently, Villanova has received a large grant from DARPA for an inter-disciplinary project related to micro-miniature devices and their application to micro-robotics.

The following is a list of some of the specific work I have been involved with.

•   Flexibility effects in robotics
•   Hyper-redundant manipulators
•   Mobile Robotics