For the first time ever, take a video tour of the award-winning Robotics & Mechanisms Laboratory (RoMeLa), led by its director Dr. Dennis Hong. Meet a variety of robots that play soccer, climb walls and even perform the 8-Clap.
More than a decade ago, roboticist Dennis Hong debuted a new generation of cutting-edge robots on the TEDx stage. Now he's back to reveal how his lab at UCLA has eclipsed its own achievements with a fleet of wildly advanced and delightful humanoid robots. Part demo, part time capsule, part glimpse of the future, Hong brings you into the excitement and potential of the next evolution in robotics engineering.
From the moment he saw C-3PO and R2-D2 waddle across the screen in “Star Wars” as a 7-year-old, Dennis Hong knew he wanted to build robots.
These days, the professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and his students at RoMeLa, the Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering, are busy designing a new generation of humanoid robots — advanced machines capable of a variety of tasks, from walking, jumping and climbing walls to cooking and performing magic.
The idea, Hong says, is that his lab’s work will eventually lead to robots that can assist the blind or elderly in their daily tasks, for instance, or perform dangerous jobs like clearing landmines and responding to disasters. But the possibilities are endless.
In his Jan. 27 TEDx talk, Hong unveiled some of RoMeLa’s newest creations and spoke about his team’s approach to robotics research. “Openness, freedom, trust, having fun and truly believing what you can do to change the world — these are some of the secrets behind our next seven species of robots,” he said.
Dr. Dennis Hong on Achieving the Impossible With Robotic Inventions
When Dr. Dennis Hong was 7 years old, he saw a movie that shaped the rest of his life.
The movie was Star Wars: A New Hope, and it was the robots — or "droids" in the film — that caught his eye.
“The humanoid robot and the R2-D2 that looks like a trash can just captivated me,” he said. “I thought it was so cool."
From that point on, Dr. Hong knew what he wanted to do. He went on to get his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering and now spends his time inventing robots just like the ones in his beloved Star Wars films.
Known as the "Leonardo da Vinci of Robots," Dr. Hong showed off some of his inventions on the latest episode of LA Stories with Giselle Fernandez. As a professor of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering and the founding director of RoMeLa (Robotics & Mechanisms Laboratory), Dr. Hong works with a team of students that focuses on robot locomotion and manipulation, autonomous vehicles, and humanoid robots.
One of Dr. Hong's most impressive inventions is a car that can be driven by the blind. Nothing seems out of the question for him.
"Everybody’s saying, 'Oh, this is impossible, impossible, impossible.' So inside I said, 'Really? If I succeed with this, then I want to show you that you said it was impossible, but I've done it!'"
Dr. Hong’s zest for life is evident in everything that he does. Not only does he create robots, but he is also an avid magician and chef. He even competed on the cooking show MasterChef with his robotic sous chef "Charli."
For Dr. Hong, everything is a learning experience — including failure. He discussed failure in a children’s book that he wrote with his son and teaches his students the importance of learning from their mistakes.
“I don't know anybody who has never failed,” he said. “Everybody fails. The difference is, if you fail and give up, then that's the end. But if you learn from it, it becomes a stepping stone for success.”
Dr. Dennis Hong is a Korean American mechanical engineer and roboticist, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, also founder of RoMeLa (Robotics & Mechanisms Laboratory).
RESEARCH AND INTERESTS
- Dennis Hong, “Making a car for blind drivers”, TED2011 | Long Beach, 2011
- Dennis Hong, “My seven species of robot”, TEDxNASA | Newport News, 2009
- Kanabe, C., Hopkins, M., Hong, D., “Team CHARLI: RoboCup 2012 Humanoid AdultSize League Winner,” RoboCup 2012, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Springer Berlin Heidelberg
- Reinholtz, C., Hong, D., Wicks, A., et. Al., “Odin: Team VictorTango’s Entry in the DARPA Urban Challenge”, Journal of Field Robotics, 25: 467–492
- Ren, P. and Hong, D. W., “Mobility Analysis of a Spoked Walking Machine with Variable Topologies”, ASME Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics, 3, 041005 (2011)
- Hong, D. W., Ingram, M. and Lahr, D., “Whole Skin Locomotion Inspired by Amoeboid Motility Mechanisms”, ASME Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics, 1, 011015 (2009)
- Hong, D. W. and Cipra, R. J., “Optimal Contact Force Distribution for Multi-limbed Robots”, ASME Journal of Mechanical Design, Vol. 128, No. 3, May, 2006, pp. 566-573 128, 566 (2006)
- Hong, D., et. Al., “Development of a Semi-Autonomous Vehicle Operable by the Visually Impaired”, Multisensor Fusion and Integration for Intelligent Systems, Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering (LNEE), Springer-Verlag, Vol. 35, 2009, pp. 455-467
IN THE NEWS
- We’re Designing Robots to Look Like Us. What Could Go Wrong? | PBS, June 2023
- Robot to Compete in Summer Competition | Spectrum News 1, May 2023
- UCLA’s Robotic Footballer is Going to the RoboCup | WIRED Middle East, May 2023
- This Robot Can Walk Upright, Play Soccer and Potentially Save Lives in Disaster Zones | Independent Tribune, April 2023
- UCLA Prof. Dennis Hong on KFI News | KFI News, March 2023
- Kick Off: Robot That Can Run and Jump to Comet in Football Tournament - and Creators Say it Could be ‘Better’ Than Messi | The Sun (U.S.), March 2023
- Robot Helpers Could be Coming Sooner Than You Think | CBS News Sacramento, March 2023
- Morning News at 4:30 | KTLA 5, March 2023
- UCLA Unveils New ARTEMIS Robot for Soccer Tournament | Teslarati, March 2023
- 7 News Species of Robot That Dance, Jump - and Walk on Water | TED, January 2023
- Bipedal Balloon Robot Charms at California Tech Fair | Yahoo! News Malaysia, November 2022
- Cars, Tugs—and Elevators? Big Changes Coming for Transportation in the Future | Wall Street Journal, November 2022
- From a four-legged robot goalkeeper to a Google AI ping-pong champion: Meet the robots taking the world of sports by storm | Daily Mail, October 2022
- Tesla's Optimus bot: 'High school science project' or robotics gamechanger? | MarketWatch, October 2022
- What Do Robotics Experts Think of Tesla’s Optimus Robot? | Cleantechnica, October 2022
- Introducing ARTEMIS: The Next-generation Humanoid Robot Platform to Serve us for the Next 10 years | IEEE Spectrum, July 2022
- Dr. Dennis Hong on Achieving the Impossible With Robotic Inventions | Spectrum News 1, February 2021
Awards and nominations
- 2007 NSF (National Science Foundation) CAREER Award
- 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge, 3rd Place
- 2009 Popular Science Brilliant 10
- 2009 Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award
- 2009 Forward Under 40 honoree by the University of Wisconsin–Madison Alumni Association
- 2011 “Louis Vuitton Cup” Best Humanoid Award
- 2015 Gilbreth Lectureship, NAE (National Academy of Engineering)
- 2016 URAI Best Paper Award
- 2015 Hyupsung Social Contribution Award
- 2015 RoboCup Winner
https://www.ted.com/talks/dennis_hong_7_new_species_of_robot_that_jump_dance_and_walk_on_water/c
https://newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/professor-dennis-hong-introduces-his-robot-posse
https://samueli.ucla.edu/people/dennis-hong/
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