by Esraa Malha | Jun 3, 2015 | NEWS/EVENT
From programing games, to the DRC Robotics Challenge, Giho Jang made a career shift as soon as he knew he wanted to help people and make a difference. Jang is the software and interface engineer for team DRC-Hubo @UNLV and a UNLV postgraduate researcher. Jang participated with the team during a test run earlier this year in South Carolina, and he decided he would like to stay and learn more from professor Paul Oh. “I respect him a lot, he has a different vision and I want to learn from him and see this vision.” Jang said. Jang describes himself as a hard worker who strives toward large goals and is works toward improvements in the world of robotics. However, he is never too busy to enjoy his hobby, which is cooking traditional Korean food. During the South Carolina test runs, he cooked for everyone on the team. It satisfies him when he sees someone enjoying what he cooked, he said. “My dream was to be a cook and my goal was to stay home while my wife makes money.” Jang said. “But my love for robotics changed that...
by Esraa Malha | Jun 2, 2015 | NEWS/EVENT
Chasing his dreams, Baek-Kyu Cho, an Assistant Professor at Kookmin University, traveled with two graduate students from Seoul, to join DRC-Hubo@UNLV and share their effort and expertise with the team in the challenge. “I really wanted to be part of the DRC, and finally got the chance after contacting professor Oh.” Cho said. Just like many kids, he used to watch animated cartoons with robots. But at the time, his dreams were to become a lawyer, a public officer or the president. However, it wasn’t until after middle school he realized engineering was his main passion. And since then, he has been chasing his dreams to add to the field of robotics. “For me, DRC is like the World Cup or the Olympics. I really enjoy watching it, and I’m really excited to participate in it.” Cho said. Cho also will bring his two daughters from Korea to attend the DARPA challenge. “I like to spend time with my two daughters and wife, even if my job is hard, family time is very important.” Cho...
by Esraa Malha | Jun 1, 2015 | NEWS/EVENT
Comic books, anime, video games, and science fiction novels by Isaac Asimov are some of many things that motivated young Paresh Brahmbhatt, Chief of Support Unit for DRC-Hubo team, to earn his Ph.D in engineering and work on humanoids. Creating and working on technology to aid humans is his ultimate goal, accompanied with his childhood dreams and ambitions to visit space and be able to live on a different planet. “I’ve always thought it’d be cool to go to a different planet and build a place to live, so instead of me doing the work, I can send robots.” He tries to enjoy this planet before humans are able to live somewhere else. Brahmbhatt enjoys snowboarding every year, and visits a new state to snowboard every winter. Working on Hubo, he realized that any robot would not be perfect unless its creator realizes that it does not need to replicate the image of humans, and having an anthropomorphic robot conflicts with its main purpose. “Humanoids should not serve as an egocentric idea, it is here to help and should look like it can do more than us.” Brahmbhatt said. He added that people misunderstanding robots- is expected, however, he encourages people to read more about the technology and learn the pros and cons before judging and fearing...
by Esraa Malha | May 31, 2015 | NEWS/EVENT
Growing up, Youngbum Jun never thought about becoming an engineer, instead, he wanted to be an actor. But after completing his undergraduate program, he developed an interest in robotics. That passion soon turned into a Ph.D. in technical engineering and a chance to work on robotics on an international scale. “I am really eager to participate in the DARPA Robotics Challenge, even if we don’t win, this will be a great experience.” said Youngbum Jun, a UNLV research scientist who is the team lead on planning and control systems for the robot. This isn’t Jun’s first time competing with the robot, however. He was part of Paul Oh’s team at Drexel University. This original DRC-Hubo team competed at trials in Miami in December 2013. The team did not earn enough points to qualify to the next round, but DARPA decided to give the team a chance to participate in the robotics finals this June. “We implemented our research concept, applying practical applications and that’s what impressed them; we focused on implementing our research rather than completing tasks to gather points only,” Jun said. After the Miami competition, Oh was hired at UNLV as Lincy Professor for Unmanned Aerial Systems and asked Jun and two others if they’d go with him to UNLV and work on the Hubo robot and continue the journey to the finals. Now, Jun is working on different applications, with the goal of having a fully autonomous robot to reach full autonomous system, however, the technology available is limited to only half autonomous system. He believes that very soon robots will work in areas where humans...
by Esraa Malha | May 30, 2015 | NEWS/EVENT
Jon Daniels says he has been a nerd since birth, but what really sparked his love for robotics was a ’70s science fiction movie, Silent Running. After watching the movie, he knew he wanted to make human lives better and help others using robots. “I have four daughters, but only one thinks I’m a cool dad: my youngest who is an inspiring robotics engineer,” said Daniels who is the chief of staff on UNLV’s DRC-Hubo team and CEO of Praxis Aerospace. Daniels also is an adjunct instructor teaching courses that are part of the minor in unmanned aircraft systems, offered by the Howard R. Hughes College of Engineering. “Robots are awesome,” he says, “They can placed in a box near a power station or a nuclear power plant and as soon as a natural disaster occurs, robots can serve as an immediate first response. When human rescuers arrive, robots will have detailed reports about what happened and what steps should be taken next to continue with the rescue process without risking the lives of human rescuers. Because they can drive, fly and transport themselves, they will be very accessible and easy to relocate.” Daniels jokes with his team to place tyrannosaurus-like arms on the robot. He believes that robots should have what humans don’t have and this should include a set of smaller arms that could be used to grab the steering wheels and drive, instead of exhausting their long arms. Daniels said one advantage the DRC-Hubo robot already has over human are wheels that are placed on the robot’s knees. This allows the robot to move quickly while...
