Dear potential summer interns: I do not take on summer interns. Please do not send requests to be a summer intern.

Dear potential graduate students: Please do NOT send me an email asking about your prospects of joining my research group until AFTER you have completed and submitted your application to OU -- and only then if there is additional information you want to give me that was not included in your application (e.g., a link to a paper or video of a relevant project on which you worked). I cannot make any decisions on admission or financial support without first having seen a completed graduate school application. If you wish to make sure that I see your application, please select "intelligent systems" as your area of interest on an OU AME application, or put a note requesting my review on an application to OU CS.

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I am the Wilkonson Chair Professor in the School of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering. Additionally I am a member of the Bioengineering faculty and an adjunct faculty member in the School of Computer Science.  My major research area is in robotics, particularly robots used for planetary exploration, assisting people with disabilities, and for educational purposes.   

I have a mostly up to date copy of my CV available online, which includes links to download many of my published papers.

My current research is primarily focused on long duration autonomous rovers for exploring the Moon and Mars.  The picture to the right is of SR2, a robot designed and built at OU for Malin Space Sciences Inc.  We ran this robot in a California desert where it was able to navigate on its own and complete a traverse of more than a kilometer in a day using solar power.  It found its way between rocks, up and down ridges, etc using its onboard sensors and navigation software.  More details on SR2 and other research projects can be found by looking at the papers hyperlinked from my CV.
Another of my interests in engineering outreach.  I believe that robotics is a good way to interest young people in science and engineering.  Towards that end, I have some projects with KISS Institute for Practical Robotics, a not for profit company that runs the Botball program, and other technology outreach programs for students of all ages. If you are college aged or beyond, you should consider entering the Beyond Botball competition. Many schools, including OU, use this contest as part of their robotics curriculum. It is great to see all the different approaches people have taken when they meet at the international competition in July.
I've only been at OU since the Fall of 1999.  I have online summaries and pictures of several of my previous projects, including work I did leading towards the 1997 Mars Rover mission.
Along with several other OU faculty members, I'm trying to put together the Sooner Lunar Schooner mission -- an alumni funded Oklahoma robotic mission to the Moon. Before you laugh, keep in mind that such a mission would cost about the same amount, or maybe even a little less than the recent upgrades to OU's Memorial Stadium; OU's staff and students encompass virtually the entire skill set needed to do such a mission; and the Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority is quickly becoming a significant player in the national space scene. Watch this space for future announcements about the SLS project.  You can download a paper about SLS as a multi-disciplinary education project.

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