Robotic Pigeon, MIT

In the summer of 2014, I interned with MIT Professor Russ Tedrake in the Robot Locomotion Group. This lab focuses on developing and applying advanced robotic control theory, working extensively on motion planning for various humanoid, walking, and aerial robots using dynamical system modeling. The lab has also competed in the DARPA Robotics Challenge with the Boston Dynamics Atlas robot.

While I was in the lab, I developed a computer model of a robotic pigeon for integration with the lab’s Drake software suite. This model, based on accurate anatomical measurements taken from live pigeons, simulated all the physical and motion-related parameters of the bird. This project was continued as part of an MIT Master’s thesis project.