Abstract: As robots shrink, their interactions with the environment become increasingly important, with surface forces, fluid dynamics, and contact mechanics imposing significant constraints on locomotion and control. These challenges are compounded by severe limitations in onboard power, sensing, and computation, making autonomous operation in complex environments particularly difficult. Yet, the same physical interactions that constrain small robots can also provide opportunities unavailable to their larger counterparts. Rather than treating the environment as an obstacle to overcome, my research explores how we can leverage these interactions as resources for locomotion, sensing, and autonomy.
Realizing this vision requires rethinking how small robots are designed and controlled. Instead of treating mechanical design, actuation, sensing, and control as separate challenges, we take an integrated approach that considers how the robot and its environment interact to enable new capabilities. In this talk, I will present recent advances in the development of insect-scale robotic platforms, including a monolithically-fabricated terrestrial robot capable of autonomous obstacle avoidance, and a water surface robot that exploits the air–water interface for high-speed locomotion, agile maneuvering, and local robot-to-robot communication. These platforms provide a foundation for investigating how environmental interactions can be leveraged not only to improve locomotion, but also to extract information about the surrounding world. I will conclude by discussing our ongoing work toward environment-mediated sensing, communication, and autonomy in terrestrial and aquatic microrobots.
Bio: Farrell Helbling is an Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Cornell University, where her research focuses on the systems-level co-design of mechanical, electrical, and control systems for autonomous small-scale robots. Her group develops bioinspired crawling, swimming, and interfacial robots, investigating how physical interactions with the environment can be leveraged to improve locomotion and enable new capabilities in sensing, communication, and autonomy. Prior to joining Cornell, she conducted her graduate and postdoctoral research at the Harvard Microrobotics Lab, contributing to the development of RoboBee and HAMR. Her research has appeared in Nature, Science, and Science Robotics, including work demonstrating the first autonomous flight of an insect-scale robot. She is a co-author of an IROS Best Student Paper, and her work has been featured in major science museums and international media outlets.