June 2019
Journals
Prof. Ben-Tzvi and his former graduate student, Peter Racioppo, had the following peer-reviewed journal paper published:
Racioppo, P., Ben-Tzvi, P., "Design and Control of an Articulated Cable-Driven Modular Snake Robot", IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, Vol. 24, Issue 3, pp. 893-901, June 2019.
May 2019
Journals
Prof. Ben-Tzvi and his former doctoral student, Dr. Anil Kumar, and his current doctoral student, Mr. Hailin Ren, had the following peer-reviewed journal paper published:
Ren, H., Kumar, A., Ben-Tzvi, P., "LOSA-X: Expandable 3D Motion Tracking System", IEEE Sensors Journal , Vol. 19, Issue 9, pp. 3288-3295, May 2019.
Honors and Awards
Congratulations to Prof. Ben-Tzvi who was awarded the College of Engineering Excellence in Teaching Award.
Graduate Student News
Congratulations to Doctoral student, Bijo Sebastian, who was selected for the poster presentation category of the Torgersen Graduate Research Award. He was one among the 8 selected from 59 PhD applicants in the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech. The Torgersen Graduate Research Award is a very prestigious research accolade and recognizes the top research performed by graduating masters’ and doctoral engineering students.
April 2019
Journals
Prof. Ben-Tzvi and his former doctoral students, Drs. Saab, Rone and Kumar, had the following peer-reviewed journal paper published:
Saab, W., Rone, W., Kumar, A., Ben-Tzvi, P., "Design and Integration of a Novel Spatial Articulated Robotic Tail", IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics , Vol. 24, Issue 2, pp. 434-446, April 2019.
December 2018
Journals
Prof. Ben-Tzvi and his graduate student had the following peer-reviewed journal paper accepted:
1. Sebastian, B., Ben-Tzvi, P., "Active disturbance rejection control for handling slip in tracked vehicle locomotion", Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics, Accepted, December 2018.
November 2018
Journals
Prof. Ben-Tzvi and his graduate students published the following peer-reviewed journal paper:
1. Rone, W., Liu, Y., s Ben-Tzvi, P., "Maneuvering and Stabilization Control of a Bipedal Robot with a Universal-Spatial Robotic Tail", Bioinspiration and Biomimetics Journal,Published online, Nov. 2018. doi: 10.1088/1748-3190/aaf188
October 2018
Journals
Prof. Ben-Tzvi and his graduate students published the following journals:
1. Liu, Y., Kong, M., Wan, N., Ben-Tzvi, P., "A Geometric Approach to Obtain the Closed-Form Forward Kinematics of H4 Parallel Robot," Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics, Transactions of the ASME, Vol. 10, Issue 5, pp. 051013: 1-9, October 2018.
2. Saab, W., Racioppo, P., Kumar, A., Ben-Tzvi, P., "Design of a Miniature Modular Inchworm Robot with an Anisotropic Friction Skin", Robotica Journal, Published online, October 2018. doi:10.1017/S0263574718001157.
Conference
Prof. Ben-Tzvi and his graduate student Vinay R Kamidi presented the following papers at the 2018 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems in Madrid, Spain, Oct. 1-5, 2018:
1. Saab, W., Yang, J., Ben-Tzvi, P., “Modeling and control of an Articulated Tail for Maneuvering a Reduced Degree of Freedom Legged Robot,”in IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Madrid, Spain, Oct.2018, pp. 2695-2700.
2. Kamidi, V.R., Williams, A., Ben-Tzvi, P., “A Framework for Modeling Closed Kinematic Chains with a Focus on Legged Robots,” in IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Madrid, Spain, Oct.2018, pp. 2733-2738.
Conference
Prof. Ben-Tzvi and his graduate students Hailin Ren, Jiamin Wang, Teja Vanteddu, Raghuraj Chauhan, and Bijo Sebastian presented the following peer-reviewed conference papers at the 2018 ASME Dynamic Systems and Control Conference (DSCC), Atlanta, Georgia (Sept 30 - Oct 3, 2018):
1. Vanteddu, T., Sebastian, B., Ben-Tzvi, P., "Design Optimization of RML Glove for Improved Grasp Performance”.
2. Ren, H., Kumar, A., Wang, X., Ben-Tzvi, P., "Parallel Deep Learning Ensembles for Human Pose Estimation".
3. Wang, J., Kamidi, V., Ben-Tzvi, P., "A Multibody Toolbox for Hybrid Dynamic System Modeling Based on Nonholonomic Symbolic Formalism".
4. Chauhan, R., Ben-Tzvi, P., "Latent Variable Grasp Prediction for Exoskeletal Glove Control".
September 2018
Journals
Prof. Ben-Tzvi and his graduate students published the following journal:
1. Saab, W., Racioppo, P., Ben-Tzvi, P., "A Review of Coupling Mechanisms for Modular Reconfigurable Robots", Robotica Journal, Published online, September 2018. doi:10.1017/S0263574718001066.
August 2018
Conference
Prof. Ben-Tzvi and his graduate students published and presented the following peer-reviewed conference papers at the 2018 ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conferences (IDETC/CIE), 42nd Mechanisms & Robotics Conference, Quebec City, Canada, Aug. 26-29, 2018:
1. Refour, E., Sebastian, B., Ben-Tzvi, P., “Design and Implementation of an Exoskeleton Glove for Infant Medical Rehabilitation”
2. Sohal, S.S., Saab, W., Ben-Tzvi, P., “Improved Alignment Estimation for Autonomous Docking of Mobile robots”
3. Liu, Y., Ben-Tzvi, P., “Dynamic Modeling of a Quadruped with a Robotic Tail Using Virtual Work Principle”
4. Sebastian, B., Williams, A., Ben-Tzvi, P., “Gaussian Kernel Controller for Path Tracking in Mobile Robots”
At this conference,Ben-Tzvi served as a Symposium Co-Chair for the Mobile Robotics Symposium as part of the 42nd Mechanisms and Robotics Conference at the 2018 ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conferences (IDETC/CIE), August 26-29, 2018, Quebec City, Canada. Ben-Tzvi also acted as the session chair for the Technical Session: “Motion Planing”, Topic: “Mobile Robotics” and as a session co-chair for the Technical Session: “Upper Extremity”, Topic: “Medical & Rehabilitation Robotics”.
Grants
Our work on Human Pose Estimation using Multiple Camera Sensing Module (MCSM) has received support from Nvidia with a donation of Nvidia Titan Xp GPU. In addition to this project, We will use our new toy on other ongoing AI research in RML. Titan Xp harnesses Nvidia PascalTM architecture with 12 GB memory and 3840 CUDA cores.
June 2018
Invited Talks
Prof. Ben-Tzvi delivered an invited workshop presentation at the Robotics Science and Systems Conference (RSS 2018) that took place at Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA, June 26–30, 2018. His talk was on “Design and Control of Bioinspired Articulated Robotic Tails for Stabilization and Maneuvering of Legged Robots”, which was delivered as part of the workshop on “Unusual Appendages: Novel, multi-modal, or multi-functional uses for limbs, tails, and other body parts”
May 2018
Media
An article published on Prof. Ben-Tzvi's research on Active dynamic flexible robotic tails for maneuvering and stabilizing legged robots was featured in the Roanoke Times. This is a foundational research that can pave the way for more complex four-legged robots. Those robots could be used in search and rescue operations, especially in rough terrain where robots on wheels or treads couldn't navigate.
Article titled "Virginia Tech animal-inspired robot tails", May 14, 2018 Issue.
Article available at:
Graduate News
Congratulations to Dr. William Rone, Dr. Anil Kumar and Dr. Wael Saab for successfully carrying out a very productive doctoral programs at the Robotics and Mechatronics Lab at Virginia Tech and for being awarded the Ph.D. degree during the May 2018 graduation ceremony!
April 2018
Honors
Prof. Ben-Tzvi awarded the College of Engineering Faculty Fellow "In Recognition of Extraordinary Performance in Research".
Journals
Prof. Ben-Tzvi and his graduate students Eric Refour and Bijo Sebastian had following peer-reviewed journal paper published: Refour, E., Sebastian, B., Ben-Tzvi, P., "Two-Digit Robotic Exoskeleton Glove Mechanism: Design and Integration", Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics, Transactions of the ASME, Vol. 10, Issue 2, pp. 025002: 1-9, April 2018.
Appointments
Prof. Ben-Tzvi has been appointed as Associate Editor of the ASME Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics. The appointment is for 3 years from 4/1/2018 to 4/1/2021. Transactions of the ASME, Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics (ISSN 1942-4302) is a peer-reviewed bimonthly periodical. The Journal publishes research contributions to the fundamental theory, algorithms, and applications for robotic and machine systems.
March 2018
Invited Talks
Prof. Ben-Tzvi gave a research presentation at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, March 8-9, 2018. His talk was on "Novel Field Robots and Robotic Exoskeletons: Design, Integration and Applications".
March 2018
Publications
Prof. Ben-Tzvi and his doctoral students Wael Saab and William Rone had following peer-reviewed journal paper published: Saab, W., Rone, W., Ben-Tzvi, P., "Discrete Modular Serpentine Robotic Tail: Design, Analysis and Experimentation", Robotica Journal, Published online, March 2018. doi:10.1017/S0263574718000176
Publication Link:
March 2018
Publications
Prof. Ben-Tzvi and his doctoral student Anil Kumar had following peer-reviewed journal paper accepted: Kumar, A., Ben-Tzvi, P., "Novel Wireless Sensing Platform for Experimental Mapping and Validation of Ship Air Wake", Mechatronics Journal, Accepted, Mar. 2018.
March 2018
Graduates
Wael Saab successfully defended his Ph.D. Dissertation! Congratulations Wael! Dissertation title: "Design and Implementation of Articulated Robotic Tails to Augment the Performance of Reduced Degree-of-Freedom Legged Robots"
March 2018
Outreach
The Robotics and Mechatronics Lab organized a Lab tour hosted on March 15 for the Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy - Industry Study Initiative. The tour started with a short overview and presentation of the mission of the lab and ongoing research projects, followed by a walk-through of the Robotics and Mechatronics Lab where the tour group, consisting of 15 students (mix of military and government civilians) and 3 faculty members, interacted with graduate students discussing the various ongoing research and educational activities in the lab.
Feb 2018
Invited Talks
Dr. Ben-Tzvi delivered a keynote lecture at the 2018 International Conference on Mechatronics Systems and Control Engineering (ICMSCE 2018), which took place in Amsterdam, Netherlands, February 21-23, 2018. His keynote address was on "Recent Trends on Modeling and Integration of Novel Field Robots and Robotic Exoskeletons and Their Applications"
Feb 2018
Publications
Prof. Ben-Tzvi and his doctoral students Wael Saab and William Rone had following peer-reviewed journal paper accepted for publication: Rone, W., Saab, W., Ben-Tzvi, P., "Design, Modeling and Integration of a Flexible Universal Spatial Robotic Tail", Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics, Transactions of the ASME, Accepted, February 2018.
doi: 10.1115/1.4039500
Publication Link:
Feb 2018
Graduates
Anil Kumar successfully defended his Ph.D. Dissertation! Congratulations Anil! Dissertation title: "Estimation and Mapping of Ship Airwake Using RC Helicopters as a Sensing Platform"
Jan 2018
Publications
Prof. Ben-Tzvi and his doctoral students Wael Saab and William Rone had following peer-reviewed journal papers accepted for publication: Saab, W., Rone, W., Ben-Tzvi, P., "Discrete Modular Serpentine Robotic Tail: Design, Analysis and Experimentation", Robotica Journal, Accepted, Jan. 2018.
Dec 2017
Graduates
William Rone successfully defended his Ph.D. Dissertation! Congratulations Will! Dissertation title: "Hyperredundant Dynamic Robotic Tails for Stabilizing and Maneuvering Control of Legged Robots."
Dec 2017
Graduates
Peter Racioppo successfully defended his M.S. Thesis! Congratulations Peter! Thesis title: "Design and Control of a Modular, Cable-Driven Snake Robot"
Dec 2017
Graduates
Vinaykarthik Kamidi successfully defended his M.S. Thesis! Congratulations Vinay! Thesis title: "Design and Integration of Novel Single Degree of Freedom Leg For Fast Locomotion"
Nov 2017
Publications
Prof. Ben-Tzvi and his doctoral students Wael Saab and William Rone had following peer-reviewed journal paper accepted for publication: Saab, W., Rone, W., Ben-Tzvi, P., "Robotic Tails: A State of The Art Review", Robotica Journal, Accepted with Minor Revisions, November 2017.
Oct 2017
Appointments
Prof. Ben-Tzvi has been appointed as Associate Editor of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine. The Magazine (RAM) publishes technical articles of interest to the international robotics and automation community. The magazine has over 12,000 readers and is consistently ranked by Thompson's Journal Citation Reports (JCR) as one of the most highly ranked publication in both Robotics (#5) and Automation & Control (#13) categories, with an impact factor of 3.276 in 2016 (5 year IF = 5.607). The magazine publishes four issues per year: March, June, September and December.
The journal's website is:
Oct 2017
Editorial Board
Prof. Pinhas Ben-Tzvi has been invited to serve as an associate editor of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society's conference editorial board for the 2018 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2018). ICRA is the flagship conference in robotics and automation and continues to be one of the most prestigious in this area. ICRA 2018 will be held in Brisbane, Queensland Australia during 21-25 May, 2018.
Oct 2017
Graduates
Eric Refour successfully defended his M.S. Thesis! Congratulations Eric! Thesis title: "Design and Integration of a Form-Fitting General Purpose Robotic Hand Exoskeleton."
Oct 2017
Conferences
Prof. Ben-Tzvi and his doctoral students Anil Kumar, Wael Saab and Hailin Ren presented the following 3 papers at this year's Proceedings of the ASME 2017 Dynamic Systems and Control Conference (DSCC 2017), which was held in Tysons Corner, VA during Oct 11-13, 2017:
Kumar, A., Ren, H., Ben-Tzvi, P., “Obstacle Identification for Vision Assisted Control Architecture of a Hybrid Mechanism Mobile Robot”, Proceedings of the ASME 2017 Dynamic Systems and Control Conf. (DSCC 2017), Tysons Corner, VA,Oct 11-13, 2017.
Saab, W., Ben-Tzvi, P., “Maneuverability and Heading Control of a Quadruped Robot Utilizing Tail Dynamics”, Proceedings of the ASME 2017 Dynamic Systems and Control Conf. (DSCC 2017), Tysons Corner, VA,Oct 11-13, 2017.
Kumar, A., Ben-Tzvi, P., “An Inertial Sensor to Measure Wind Turbulence with RC Helicopters”, Proceedings of the ASME 2017 Dynamic Systems and Control Conf. (DSCC 2017), Tysons Corner, VA,Oct 11-13, 2017.
Prof. Ben-Tzvi also served as a Session Co-Chair at the conference for the following Technical Sessions: “Unmanned, Ground and Surface Robotics I, and “Unmanned, Ground and Surface Robotics III. In addition, Prof. Ben-Tzvi served as the Chair for Workshops, Tutorials and Special Sessions at the conference.
Sep 2017
Conferences
Prof. Ben-Tzvi and his graduate student Vinay Kamidi presented the following paper at this year's Proceedings of the 2017 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS2017), which was held in Vancouver, Canada, during Sep. 24–28, 2017:
Kamidi, V., Saab, W., Ben-Tzvi, P., “Design And Analysis of a Novel Planar Robotic Leg For High-Speed Locomotion”, Proceedings of the 2017 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS2017), Vancouver, Canada, pp. 6343–6348, Sep. 24–28, 2017.
In addition, the following two posters were presented at the conference:
Kamidi, V., Ben-Tzvi, P., “Experimental Validation of Dynamic Legged Locomotion Utilizing a Single-DOF Robotic Leg”, Proceedings of the 2017 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS2017), Vancouver, Canada, Sep. 24–28, 2017.
Rone, W.S., Saab, W., Ben-Tzvi, P., “Serpentine Robotic Tails for Maneuvering and Stabilizing Mobile Robots”, Proceedings of the 2017 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS2017), Vancouver, Canada, Sep. 24–28, 2017.
Aug 2017
Graduates
RML welcomes the following new Ph.D. students:
Shumin Feng
Jiamin Wang
Yujiong Liu
RML welcomes the following new M.S. students:
Jiteng Yang
Teja Vanteddu
Shubhdildeep Sohal
Aug 2017
conferences
Prof. Ben-Tzvi and his graduate students William Rone and Peter Racioppo presented the following papers at this year's 2017 IEEE Conference on Control Technology and Applications (CCTA), which was held in Kohala Coast, Hawai'i, during Aug. 27–30, 2017:
Rone, W., Ben-Tzvi, P., “Maneuvering and Stabilizing Control of a Quadrupedal Robot using a Serpentine Robotic Tail”, 2017 IEEE Conference on Control Technology and Applications, Kohala Coast, Hawai'i, pp. 1763–1768, Aug. 27–30, 2017.
Racioppo, P., Ben-Tzvi, P., “Modeling and Control of a Cable Driven Modular Snake Robot”, 2017 IEEE Conference on Control Technology and Applications, Kohala Coast, Hawai'i, pp. 468–473, Aug. 27–30, 2017.
Prof. Ben-Tzvi also served as a Session Chair at the conference for the Technical Session: "Mobile Robots".
Aug 2017
Conferences
Prof. Ben-Tzvi and his graduate students Wael Saab, Peter Racioppo and Eric Refour presented the following 4 papers at this year's ASME 2017 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences & Computers and Information in Engineering Conference (IDETC/CIE 2017), as part of the 41st Mechanisms & Robotics Conference, which was held in Cleveland, Ohio during Aug. 6-9, 2017:
Williams, A., Saab, W., Ben-Tzvi, P., “Analysis of Differential Mechanisms for a Robotic Head Stabilization System”
Refour, E., Sebastian, B., Ben-Tzvi, P., “Design and Integration of a Two-Digit Exoskeleton Glove”
Racioppo, P., Saab, W., Ben-Tzvi, P., “Design and Analysis of Reduced Degree-of-Freedom Modular Snake Robot”
Kumar, P., Saab, W., Ben-Tzvi, P., “Design of a Multi-Directional Hybrid-Locomotion Modular Robot with Feedforward Stability Control”
Prof. Ben-Tzvi also served as a Session Co-Chair for Technical Session: “Assistive Devices”, Topic: “Medical & Rehabilitation Robotics”; ASME IDETC/CIE 2017, 41st Mechanisms & Robotics Conference.
July 2017
Publications
Prof. Ben-Tzvi and his doctoral students Wael Saab and William Rone had following peer-reviewed journal paper accepted for publication: Saab, W., Rone, W., Ben-Tzvi, P., "Discrete Modular Serpentine Robotic Tail: Design, Analysis and Experimentation", Robotica Journal, Accepted with Revisions.
July 2017
Conferences
Prof. Ben-Tzvi and his graduate students had a paper accepted to this year's IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, to be held in Vancouver, Canada, Sep. 24–28, 2017:
Kamidi, V., Saab, W., Ben-Tzvi, P., "Design And Analysis of a Novel Planar Robotic Leg For High-Speed Locomotion", Proceedings of the 2017 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS2017), Vancouver, Canada, Sep. 24–28, 2017, Accepted.
Prof. Ben-Tzvi and his graduate students had 3 papers accepted to this year's ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, to be held in Tampa, Florida, Nov. 3–9, 2017:
Lee, J., Ben-Tzvi, P., “Design of a Wearable 3-DOF Forearm Exoskeleton for Rehabilitation and Assistive Purposes”, Proceedings of the 2017 ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition (IMECE 2017), Tampa, Florida, Nov. 3–9, 2017, Accepted.
Sebastian, B., Williams, A., Ben-Tzvi, P., “Control of a Head Stabilization System for Use in Robotic Disaster Response”, Proceedings of the 2017 ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition (IMECE 2017), Tampa, Florida, Nov. 3–9, 2017, Accepted.
Rone, W., Ben-Tzvi, P., “Design, Modeling and Optimization of the Universal-Spatial Robotic Tail”, Proceedings of the 2017 ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition (IMECE 2017), Tampa, Florida, Nov. 3–9, 2017, Accepted.
June 2017
Conferences
Prof. Ben-Tzvi and his graduate students had 3 papers accepted to this year's ASME 2017 Dynamic Systems and Control Conference, to be held in Tysons Corner, VA, Oct 11-13, 2017:
Kumar, A., Ben-Tzvi, P., “An Inertial Sensor to Measure Wind Turbulence with RC Helicopters”, Proceedings of the ASME 2017 Dynamic Systems and Control Conf. (DSCC 2017), Tysons Corner, VA, Oct 11-13, 2017, Accepted.
Saab, W., Ben-Tzvi, P., “Maneuverability and Heading Control of a Quadruped Robot Utilizing Tail Dynamics”, Proceedings of the ASME 2017 Dynamic Systems and Control Conf. (DSCC 2017), Tysons Corner, VA, Oct 11-13, 2017, Accepted.
Kumar, A., Ren, H., Ben-Tzvi, P., “Obstacle Identification for Vision Assisted Control Architecture of a Hybrid Mechanism Mobile Robot”, Proceedings of the ASME 2017 Dynamic Systems and Control Conf. (DSCC 2017), Tysons Corner, VA, Oct 11-13, 2017, Accepted.
May 2017
Conferences
Prof. Ben-Tzvi and his graduate students had 2 papers accepted to this year's IEEE Conference on Control Technology and Applications, to be held in Kohala Coast, Hawai'i, Aug. 27–30, 2017:
Rone, W., Ben-Tzvi, P., “Maneuvering and Stabilizing Control of a Quadrupedal Robot using a Serpentine Tail”, 2017 IEEE Conference on Control Technology and Applications, Kohala Coast, Hawai'i, Aug. 27–30, 2017, Accepted.
Racioppo, P., Ben-Tzvi, P., “Modeling and Control of a Reduced Degree of Freedom Modular Snake Robot”, 2017 IEEE Conference on Control Technology and Applications, Kohala Coast, Hawai'i, Aug. 27–30, 2017, Accepted.
May 2017
Lab Tour
The Robotics and Mechatronics Lab organized a Lab tour hosted on May 11 for the ASME members of the Virginia Section and other guests. The evening started with a short overview and presentation of the mission of the lab and ongoing research projects, followed by a walk-through of the Robotics and Mechatronics Lab where visitors interacted with Prof. Ben-Tzvi and his graduate students discussing the various ongoing research and education activities in the lab.
Aug 2017
Patent
Prof. Ben-Tzvi was granted a United States Patent No. 9,616,948, Issued April 11, 2017. The Patent is titled "Active Docking Mechanism for Modular and Reconfigurable Robots."
Aug 2017
Publications
Prof. Ben-Tzvi and his doctoral students Wael Saab and William Rone have published the following peer-reviewed journal publication:
Saab, W., Rone, W., Ben-Tzvi, P., "Robotic Modular Leg: Design, Analysis and Experimentation", Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics, Transactions of the ASME, Vol. 9, Issue 2, pp. 024501: 1-6, April 2017.
April 2017
General
Prof. Ben-Tzvi will be taking part in Virginia Tech's participation to compete in the 2017 AutoDrive Challenge.
For additional information, please read the article "Virginia Tech earns spot to compete in 2017 AutoDrive Challenge" published by VT News.
March 2017
Conferences
Prof. Ben-Tzvi and his graduate students had 4 papers accepted to this year's IDETC conference:
Williams, A., Saab, W., Ben-Tzvi, P., “Analysis of Differential Mechanisms for a Robotic Head Stabilization System”, Proceedings of the 2017 ASME IDETC/CIE, 41st Mechanisms & Robotics Conference, Cleveland, Ohio, Aug. 6-9, 2017, Accepted.
Refour, E., Sebastian, B., Ben-Tzvi, P., “Design and Integration of a Two-Digit Exoskeleton Glove”, Proceedings of the 2017 ASME IDETC/CIE, 41st Mechanisms & Robotics Conference, Cleveland, Ohio, Aug. 6-9, 2017, Accepted.
Racioppo, P., Saab, W., Ben-Tzvi, P., “Design and Analysis of Reduced Degree-of-Freedom Modular Snake Robot”, Proceedings of the 2017 ASME IDETC/CIE, 41st Mechanisms & Robotics Conference, Cleveland, Ohio, Aug. 6-9, 2017, Accepted.
Kumar, P., Saab, W., Ben-Tzvi, P., “Design of a Multi-Directional Hybrid-Locomotion Modular Robot to with Feedforward Stability Control”, Proceedings of the 2017 ASME IDETC/CIE, 41st Mechanisms & Robotics Conference, Cleveland, Ohio, Aug. 6-9, 2017, Accepted.
Feb 2017
General
Prof. Pinhas Ben-Tzvi has been invited to serve as a Member of the Technical Program Committee for the 2017 IEEE International Conference on Mechatronics and Automation - IEEE ICMA 2017, Takamatsu, Japan, 6-9 Aug. 2017.
Jan 2017
Publications
Prof. Ben-Tzvi and his former doctoral student Zhou Ma have published the following peer-reviewed journal publication:
Ma, Z., Ben-Tzvi, P., Danoff, J., "Hand Rehabilitation Learning System with an Exoskeleton Robotic Glove", IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems & Rehabilitation Engineering, Vol. 24, Issue 12, pp.1323–1332, December 2016.
Prof. Ben-Tzvi and his collaborator Grace Zhao have published the following peer-reviewed journal publication:
Zhao, H., Ben-Tzvi, P., "Synchronous Position Control Strategy for Bi-Cylinder Electro-pneumatic Systems", International Journal of Control, Automation and Systems, Vol. 14, Issue 6, pp. 1501-1510, December 2016.
Saab, W., Rone, W., Ben-Tzvi, P., "Robotic Modular Leg: Design, Analysis and Experimentation", Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics, Transactions of the ASME, Accepted, January 2017. DOI: 10.1115/1.4035685
Dec 2016
Publications
Prof. Ben-Tzvi and his doctoral student Wael Saab have published the following peer-reviewed journal publication:
Saab, W., Ben-Tzvi, P., "A Genderless Coupling Mechanism with 6-DOF Misalignment Capability for Modular Self-Reconfigurable Robots", Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics, Transactions of the ASME, Vol. 8, Issue 6, pp. 061014: 1-9, December 2016.
Nov 2016
Grants
Prof. Ben-Tzvi received a new research grant from the U.S. Army Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center (TATRC) through a contract from RE2 Inc., a Robotics company situated in Pittsburgh, PA. The team consisting of RE2 Inc. (leads the Phase II SBIR), Virginia Tech, and Lockheed Martin was tasked to develop automated robotic technologies that can assist combat medics in maneuvering, treating, and evacuating wounded soldiers under hostile conditions. Ben-Tzvi is the PI for the Virginia Tech part of the team. Under this research effort, Ben-Tzvi’s Robotics and Mechatronics Lab will research and develop a mobile mobot for integration with a LIFELINE-equipped Squad – Multipurpose Equipment Transport (S-MET) unmanned ground vehicle (UGV). The mobile robot will be designed to safely retrieve, secure, and transport a casualty to the S-MET, where LIFELINE can in turn lift and secure the casualty onto the S-MET for transport to a hospital or air evacuation location.
Nov 2016
Publications
Prof. Ben-Tzvi and his doctoral student Anil Kumar have published the following peer-reviewed journal publication:
Kumar, A., Ben-Tzvi, P., "Spatial Object Tracking System Based on Linear Optical Sensor Arrays", IEEE Sensors Journal, Vol. 16, Issue 22, pp. 7933-7940, November 2016.
Oct 2016
Publications
Prof. Ben-Tzvi and his former doctoral student Zhou Ma and their collaborator Jerome Danoff from the GW Department of Exercise Science, published the following peer-reviewed journal paper:
Ben-Tzvi, P., Danoff, J., Ma, Z., "The Design Evolution of a Sensing and Force-Feedback Exoskeleton Robotic (SAFER) Glove for Hand Rehabilitation Application", Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics, Transactions of the ASME, Vol. 8, Issue 5, pp. 051019: 1-9, October 2016.
Sep 2016
Patents
Prof. Ben-Tzvi was granted a Canadian Patent No. CA2631116, Issued September 2016. The Patent is titled "Hybrid Mobile Robot" and the co-inventors are Andrew A. Goldenberg and Jean W. Zu, Ben-Tzvi’s former advisors from the University of Toronto.
Aug 2016
Conferences
Burns, C., Francom, M., Repisky, P., Kinney, A., Medina, B., Tello, E., Ben-Tzvi, P., "Development of Autonomous Robotic Cataract Surgery Device", Proceedings of the 2016 ASME IDETC/CIE, 40th Mechanisms & Robotics Conference, Charlotte, North Carolina, 2016.
Saab, W., Ben-Tzvi, P., "Design and Analysis of a Miniature Modular Inchworm Robot", Proceedings of the 2016 ASME IDETC/CIE, 40th Mechanisms & Robotics Conference, Charlotte, North Carolina, 2016.
Saab, W., Ben-Tzvi, P., "Design and Analysis of a Discrete Modular Robotic Tail for Improved Performance of Mobile Robots", Proceedings of the 2016 ASME IDETC/CIE, 40th Mechanisms & Robotics Conference, Charlotte, North Carolina, 2016.
Saab, W., Ben-Tzvi, P., "Design and Analysis of a Robotic Modular Leg Mechanism for Legged Robots", Proceedings of the 2016 ASME IDETC/CIE, 40th Mechanisms & Robotics Conference, Charlotte, North Carolina, 2016.
Kumar, A., Ben-Tzvi, P., "Extraction of Impact of Wind Turbulence on RC Helicopters using Machine Learning", Proceedings of the 2016 ASME IDETC/CIE, 40th Mechanisms & Robotics Conference, Charlotte, North Carolina, 2016.
Prof. Ben-Tzvi served the following roles at the ASME IDETC/CIE 2016, 40th Mechanisms & Robotics Conference, Charlotte, NC, Aug. 21-24, 2016:
Session Chair, Technical Session: "Mobile Robots", Topic: "Novel Mechanisms, Robots and Applications"
Session Organizer, Technical Session: "Mobile Robots", Topic: "Novel Mechanisms, Robots and Applications"
Session Co-Organizer, Technical Session: "Modeling, Analysis, and Estimation", Topic: "Mobile Robots, Motion Planning, Dynamics and Control"
Aug 2016
Appointments
Prof. Ben-Tzvi has been appointed as a Technical Editor of the IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics Journal. The appointment is for 3 years with a possibility of an extension for one more year. The IEEE/ASME TRANSACTIONS ON MECHATRONICS is a peer-reviewed bimonthly periodical that began as a quarterly in 1996 as a joint publication of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society, IEEE Robotics and Automation Society, IEEE Lasers and Electro-Optics Society, ASME Dynamic Systems and Control Division, and ASME Design Engineering Division. The aim of the present TRANSACTIONS is to establish a high-quality archival journal which presents the state of the art, recent advances and practical applications of mechatronics. Its scope encompasses all practical aspects of the theory and methods of mechatronics, the synergetic integration of mechanical engineering with electronic and intelligent computer control in the design and manufacture of industrial products and processes.
The journal's website is :
Aug 2016
Publications
Prof. Ben-Tzvi and his doctoral students William Rone have published the following peer-reviewed journal paper:
Rone, W., Ben-Tzvi, P., "Dynamic Modeling and Simulation of a Yaw-Angle Quadruped Maneuvering with a Robotic Tail", Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement and Control, Transactions of the ASME, , Vol. 138, Issue 8, pp. 084502: 1-7, August 2016.
Aug 2016
Graduates
The Robotics and Mechatronics Lab welcomes the following new M.S. and Ph.D. students:
Hailin Ren (Ph.D.)
Prashant Kumar (M.S.)
Adam Williams (M.S.)
July 2016
Commitee
Prof. Pinhas Ben-Tzvi has been invited to serve as a Member of the Technical Program Committee for the 2016 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics which will take place Dec. 3-7 in Qingdao, China.
Prof. Pinhas Ben-Tzvi has been invited to be a member of the organizing committee for the 2017 International Conference on Mechatronics Systems and Control Engineering to be held Feb. 2-4 in Kayseri, Turkey.
July 2016
Publications
Prof. Ben-Tzvi and his doctoral student Wael Saab had the following peer-reviewed journal paper accepted for publication:
Saab, W., Ben-Tzvi, P., "A Genderless Coupling Mechanism with 6-DOF Misalignment Capability for Modular Self-Reconfigurable Robots",Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics, Transactions of the ASME,, In-Press, June 2016. DOI: 10.1115/1.4034014
June 2016
Invited Talks
On June 1, Prof. Ben-Tzvi gave an invited research presentation in Washington, DC during the Annual Executive Meeting of Maxon Precision Motors, Inc. company. The research seminar was titled "Integrating Novel Field Robots and Robotic Exoskeletons of the Future". At the meeting, Ben-Tzvi had the opportunity to network and discuss future needs of powering novel robotic technologies.
June 2016
Publications
Prof. Ben-Tzvi and his doctoral students, Anil Kumar and Wael Saab, published the following peer-reviewed journal paper: Kumar, A., Ben-Tzvi, P., Saab, W., Snyder, M.R., "Wireless Telemetry System for Real-time Estimation of Ship Air Wake with UAVs", Mechatronics Journal, Vol. 36, pp. 18-26, June 2016.
June 2016
Panel
Prof. Ben-Tzvi was invited to serve on a National Science Foundation Panel as part of the National Robotics Initiative.
May 2016
Grants
Prof. Ben-Tzvi recently received a new research grant from the Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Ohio. This research grant is part of Prof. Ben-Tzvi's collaboration with Dr. Nathalie Maitre, MD, PhD who is a neonatologist and developmental specialist at Nationwide Children's Hospital, to develop robotic technology for diagnostic and therapeutic applications. Ben-Tzvi's proposal for "Development of Two-Finger Haptic Glove Exoskeleton for Delivery of Somatosensory Stimuli for Measurement of Cortical Responses in Neurologically Impaired Children" will look at using haptic robotic exoskeletons that can apply forces in a controlled fashion to various fingers on the hands of 12-36 month old children, provide stimuli with tactile feedback, and collect various measurements in real-time. The preliminary results of this research will enable Dr. Maitre's testing in typically developing infants and toddlers to establish preliminary values for both cortical responses and sensorimotor responses.
April 2016
Publications
Kumar, A., Ben-Tzvi, P., Saab, W., Snyder, M.R., "Wireless Telemetry System for Real-time Estimation of Ship Air Wake with UAVs", Mechatronics Journal, Accepted, April 2016. DOI: 10.1016/j.mechatronics.2016.03.010
April 2016
Editorial Board
Invited to serve as a Member of the Technical Editorial Board for the 2016 CSME (Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering) International Congress – Symposium on Control and Robotics, Kelowna, BC, Canada, 26-29 June 2016.
March 2016
Publications
Rone, W., Ben-Tzvi, P., "Dynamic Modeling and Simulation of a Yaw-Angle Quadruped Maneuvering with a Robotic Tail",
March 2016
Commitee
Prof. Pinhas Ben-Tzvi has been invited to serve as a Member of the Technical Program Committee for the 2016 IEEE International Conference on Mechatronics and Automation - IEEE ICMA 2016, Harbin, China, 7-10 Aug. 2016.
Feb 2016
Invited Talks
On February 26, Prof. Ben-Tzvi gave an invited research seminar at the University of Toronto in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering as part of their Distinguished Seminar Series. The research seminar was titled "Novel Field Robots and Robotic Exoskeletons: Design, Integration and Applications"
Jan 2016
Publications
Zhao, H., Ben-Tzvi, P., "Synchronous Position Control Strategy for Bi-Cylinder Electro-pneumatic Systems", International Journal of Control, Automation and Systems, Accepted, 2016.
Dec 2015
Publications
Ben-Tzvi, P., Danoff, J., Ma, Z., "The Design Evolution of a Sensing and Force-Feedback Exoskeleton Robotic (SAFER) Glove for Hand Rehabilitation Application", Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics, Transactions of the ASME, In-Press, Dec. 2015. DOI: 10.1115/1.4032270
Nov 2015
Journals
Ma, Z., Ben-Tzvi, P., "Sensing and Force-Feedback Exoskeleton (SAFE) Robotic Glove", IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems & Rehabilitation Engineering, Vol. 23, Issue 6, pp. 992-1002, November 2015.
Ma, Z., Ben-Tzvi, P., "Design and Optimization of a Five-Finger Haptic Glove Mechanism", Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics, Transactions of the ASME, Vol. 7, Issue 4, pp. 041008: 1–8, November 2015.
Ma, Z., Ben-Tzvi, P., Danoff, J., "Hand Rehabilitation Learning System with an Exoskeleton Robotic Glove", IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems & Rehabilitation Engineering, Accepted/In-Press, November 2015.
Oct 2015
Invited Talks
On October 19, Prof. Ben-Tzvi gave an invited research seminar at Vanderbilt University in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. The research seminar was titled "Novel Field Robots and Robotic Exoskeletons: Design, Integration and Applications."
Oct 2015
Editorial Board
Prof. Pinhas Ben-Tzvi has been invited to serve as an associate editor of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society's conference editorial board for the 2016 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2016). ICRA is the flagship conference in robotics and automation and continues to be one of the most prestigious in this area.
Sep 2015
Tech. Committee
Prof. Ben-Tzvi has been invited to serve as a member of the Technical Program Committee for the 2015 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics (ROBIO 2015), to be held in Zhuhai, China, 6-9 Dec. 2015.
Aug 2015
Publications
Prof. Ben-Tzvi moved to Virginia Tech!
Aug 2015
Conferences
Prof. Ben-Tzvi and his doctoral students published and presented four peer-reviewed conference papers (full articles with full review) at the 39th Mechanisms & Robotics Conference and 2015 ASME/IEEE International Conference on Mechatronic and Embedded Systems and Applications, held August 2-5 in Boston, MA. The papers are:
Saab, W., Ben-Tzvi, P., "Development of a Novel Coupling Mechanism for Modular Self-Reconfigurable Mobile Robots", Proceedings of the 2015 ASME IDETC/CIE, 39th Mechanisms & Robotics Conference, Boston, MA, Aug. 2–5, 2015.
Rone, W., Ben-Tzvi, P., "Static Modeling of a Multi-Segment Serpentine Robotic Tail", Proceedings of the 2015 ASME IDETC/CIE, 39th Mechanisms & Robotics Conference, Boston, MA, Aug. 2–5, 2015.
Ma, Z., Ben-Tzvi, P., "Hand Rehabilitation Learning System with the Sensing and Force-Feedback Exoskeleton Robotic (SAFER) Glove", Proceedings of the 2015 ASME IDETC/CIE, 39th Mechanisms & Robotics Conference, Boston, MA, Aug. 2–5, 2015.
Kumar, A., Ben-Tzvi, P., Snyder, M.R., "UAV-based Wireless Telemetry System for the Estimation of Ship Air Wake Patterns", Proc. of the 2015 ASME IDETC/CIE, 2015 ASME/IEEE International Conference on Mechatronic and Embedded Systems and Applications, Boston, MA, Aug. 2–5, 2015.