But first, pizza: Team creates assistive robotics that can make you a meal

Mon, 28 Jul 2025 14:02:00 -0400

Could robots help those with mobility issues make a pizza? With support from the National Science Foundation, a team of Virginia Tech mechanical engineers are using robotic grippers and artificial intelligence to make that idea a reality.

A helping hand for wheelchair users

A group of undergraduates in the senior design program of the Department of Mechanical Engineering have worked with Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy to create a new robotic hand that provides valuable assistance. As the team reaches the end of their design cycle, they look back with the sponsors over the year of victories and challenges.

Research turns robotic hardware into flatware

Fri, 07 Feb 2025 09:30:00 -0500

Eating meals can be a challenge for people with limited mobility. Virginia Tech researchers have created a new robot-friendly utensil to assist.

Engineering a better way to eat

Virginia Tech researchers, along with collaborators at Cornell University, have created a new robot friendly utensil to assist individuals with limited mobility. The kiri-spoon – from “kirigami,” the Japanese art form of cutting paper – can both grasp like a fork and scoop like a spoon.

Dylan Losey receives National Science Foundation CAREER award to build assistive AI

Tue, 27 Feb 2024 10:48:00 -0500

Losey leads a team that has explored the possibilities of human-robot interaction, and now he will expand that research to develop robots that understand — and are understood by — their everyday users.

BME major Julia Wakefield found her passion through service and helping others.

Julia Wakefield, a Biomedical Engineering major in the Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics department found purpose in service and working with the local community. ENABLE, a club at Virginia Tech gave Wakefield an outlet to create prosthetics for youth in need.

HokieTalks: Assistive technology for farmers with mobility limitations

Alexander Leonessa, Professor of Mechanical Engineering in the College of Engineering, presented during the 2019 HokieTalks. Watch his talk, "Assistive technology for farmers with mobility limitations."

Researchers design software, creating robots to help humans

Virginia Tech researchers in the Hybrid Dynamic Systems and Robot Locomotion design software for different gaits of legged robots, allowing the machines to assist people with disabilities to walk and to assist or replace humans in hazardous environments.

Virginia Tech students engineer device to help alumna thrive

A Virginia Tech couple returns to campus, twenty years after receiving their graduate degrees, to share the power of the Ut Prosim (That I May Serve.)

Harvesting watermelons with agBOT

A student-lead team designed the agBOT watermelon harvester to help aging farmers. The machine can autonomously identify and harvest ripe watermelons. A passive slapper mechanism thumps the watermelons in a way that is similar to how a person tests one at the supermarket, and an onboard microphone helps agBOT determine whether or not to harvest the watermelon.

Tags