Skip to content. Skip to main navigation.

 
Winter 2014
Archive

Inquiry Magazine Archive

  • Spring 2016

    Spring 2016: Premium Blend

    Found in everything from space shuttles to dental fillings, composite materials have thoroughly infiltrated modern society. But their potential is still greatly untapped, offering researchers ample opportunity for discovery.

  • Fall 2015

    Fall 2015: Collision Course

    Within the particle showers created at the Large Hadron Collider, answers to some of the universe’s mysteries are waiting.

  • Spring 2015

    Spring 2015: Almost Human

    Model systems like pigeons can help illuminate our own evolutionary and genomic history.

  • Fall 2014

    Fall 2014: Small Wonder

    UT Arlington's tiny windmills are bringing renewable energy to a whole new scale.

  • Winter 2014

    Winter 2014: Overdue for an Overhaul

    The stability of our highways, pipelines, and even manholes is reaching a breaking point.

  • 2012

    2012: Mystery solved?

    Scientists believe they have discovered a subatomic particle that is crucial to understanding the universe.

  • 2011

    2011: Boosting brain power

    UT Arlington researchers unlock clues to the human body’s most mysterious and complex organ.

  • 2010

    2010: Powered by genetics

    UT Arlington researchers probe the hidden world of microbes in search of renewable energy sources.

  • 2009

    2009: Winning the battle against pain

    Wounded soldiers are benefiting from Robert Gatchel’s program that combines physical rehabilitation with treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.

  • 2009

    2007: Sensing a solution

    Tiny sensors implanted in the body show promise in combating acid reflux disease, pain and other health problems.

  • 2006

    2006:Semiconductors: The next generation

    Nanotechnology researchers pursue hybrid silicon chips with life-saving potential.

  • 2005

    2005: Imaging is everything

    Biomedical engineers combat diseases with procedures that are painless to patients.

×
 
 
 
 
R2D2

Robot, M.D.

UTARI launches new Assistive Robotics Lab aimed at designing robots for health care, first-responder, and other life-enhancing applications  

Robot, M.D.

In the Living Laboratory,UTARI's robots are programmed to perform household tasks.

Someday soon, a robot may save your life.

That’s the driving focus behind the new Assistive Robotics Lab at the UT Arlington Research Institute (UTARI). Launched in December 2012, the lab is aimed at advancing robotics for health care, first-responder, and other applications.

“If you think about our nation and our world, we have an aging population,” says retired Army Gen. Rick Lynch, executive director of UTARI. “People in assisted living facilities and wounded warriors, what they ask for is independence. What they want is to not have to be reliant on others.”

At its opening, the lab received robots from RE2 Inc. and QinetiQ North America that researchers hope will someday aid in that task. These included a mobile, manipulative robotic nursing assistant that, among other things, can be used for physically intensive tasks, such as helping a patient sit up or transfer to a gurney.

UTARI also recently debuted its Living Laboratory, which allows researchers to focus on projects that center on enabling robotic platforms to assist people with common household activities.

“We’re only limited by our imaginations,” says RE2 president Jorgen Pedersen. “Everyone wants Rosie from The Jetsons. That will come, but if you take baby steps and provide tools for people to use, we will eventually see that technology in the home.”

Explore
More articles from this issue

 
Inquiry
 
UT Arlington - Office of Research