Current Projects

Please see the LIS group site for additional information.

Integrated task and motion planning in belief space



Note the head motions; it's planning where to look as well as how to move. More information

Completed Projects

Handey: A Robot Task Planner (1986 - 1992)

Handey was able to recognize simple objects in range data, plan how to grasp (and regrasp them) and place them at a specified location.

Technologically Enhanced Education (2000 -- now)

Principal Investigators:

Prof. Tomás Lozano-Pérez, Dept. of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science (EECS)

Additional Investigators:

Prof. Eric Grimson (EECS), Prof. Leslie Kaelbling (EECS), Dr. Chris Terman (EECS), Prof. Patrick Winston (EECS)

Project Overview:

Faculty in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) have been experimenting with major changes in the format and content of several of the department's key courses. They are developing and using on-line, interactive technologies that enable students to learn at their own pace and on their own schedules and to get immediate and complete feedback on their mastery of material; and enable faculty to spend their time on developing new content, rather than rehashing of old content, and enable teaching assistants to spend their time on face-to-face interactions with the students, rather than grading.


This work uses different combinations of:

  • On-line presentations based on narrated PowerPoint slides. These presentations are modular and interspersed with on-line exercises. They are easy to edit and improve from semester to semester.
  • Web-based assignments with immediate feedback on correctness and multiple attempts allowed. These assignments include programming and circuit design, not just multiple-choice and provide students with a wide range of challenges.

These technologies define a new genre of course materials that goes far beyond printed textbooks or Web sites of materials to be printed. This research is already being used in three of the large undergraduate Computer Science subjects in EECS (6.001, 6.034 and 6.004) and are under evaluation for 6.042. Extensive surveys have been conducted in 6.001 and 6.034; student reaction has been quite positive.