Ken Goldberg

Professor of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research, Professor of Computer Science
Keywords: controls
Research Areas: robotics, media art, automation, collaborative decision making, networked robots, internet robots, teleoperation, manufacturing, geometric algorithms, internet applications, collaborative filtering, human factors
Website: http://goldberg.berkeley.edu/index-flash.html

Research Description:

UC Berkeley’s Laboratory for Automation Science and Engineering, directed by Professor Ken Goldberg of IEOR and EECS, is a center for research in robotics and automation, with current projects in networked telerobotics, computer assisted surgery, automated manufacturing, and new media artforms.

Networked Telerobotics: Systems, Collaborative Algorithms. To expand access to tools, instruments, and testbeds, we’re developing algorithms, systems, and interfaces for remote control of devices via networks such as the Internet. We are currently investigating a new class of hybrid teleoperated and autonomous robotic “observatories” incorporating robotic cameras that allow groups of scientists, via the internet, to remotely observe, record, and index detailed natural activity in remote locations.

Medical Robotics: Steerable Needles, Dose Delivery. To improve patient care and more accurately target treatment within the human body, we’re developing new geometric models and algorithms for surgical training, planning, and analysis, including fast FEM models of medical intervention in soft tissues, new methods for dose planning, brachytherapy, new image registration techniques, and new planning algorithms for steering flexible needles.

Algorithmic Automation: Part Feeding, Fixturing. To produce the high quality, rapidly evolving products of the future, we’re establishing a science base for automated assembly by analyzing its basic components. We develop efficient geometric algorithms for feeding, fixturing, and grasping industrial parts.

Selected Publications:

R. Alterovitz, E. Lessard, J. Pouliot, I. J. Hsu, J. O’Brien, and K. Goldberg, “Optimization of HDR Brachytherapy Dose Distributions using Linear Programming with Penalty Costs,” Journal of Medical Physics, vol. 33, no. 4012-4019, Nov. 2006.

K. Gopalakrishnan, K. Goldberg, G. M. Bone, M. J. Zaluzec, R. Koganti, R. Pearson, and P. A. Deneszczuk, “Unilateral fixtures for sheet-metal parts with holes,” IEEE Trans. Automation Science and Engineering, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 110-120, Oct. 2004.

K. Goldberg, D. Song, and A. Levandowski, “Collaborative teleoperation using networked spatial dynamic voting,” Proc. IEEE, vol. 91, no. 3, pp. 430-439, March 2003.

K. Bohringer, V. Bhatt, B. R. Donald, and K. Goldberg, “Algorithms for sensorless manipulation using a vibrating surface,” Algorithmica, vol. 26, no. 3-4, pp. 389-429, March 2000.

A. F. van der Stappen, K. Goldberg, and M. H. Overmars, “Geometric eccentricity and the complexity of manipulation plans,” Algorithmica, vol. 26, no. 3-4, pp. 494-514, March 2000.

K. Goldberg, B. V. Mirtich, Y. Zhuang, J. Craig, B. R. Carlisle, and J. F. Canny, “Part pose statistics: Estimators and experiments,” IEEE Trans. Robotics and Automation, vol. 15, no. 5, pp. 849-857, Oct. 1999.