Haldun Komsuoglu, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
| In February 2005, I moved to the University of Pennsylvania to join Kod*Lab as a post doctoral research fellow, supported originally by the DARPA-RiSE project and later by the NSF FIBR Program. My research spans 1) analytic studies in hybrid dynamical task control in the absence of sensors; and 2) design/implementation of modular electromechanical systems. I received the Ph.D. (2004) and M.S. (1998) degrees in Electrical Engineering: System from University of Michigan and a B.S. (1997) degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Middle East Technical University, Turkey. During my doctoral study under Prof. Daniel E. Koditschek I participated three DARPA projects: DARPA Controlled Biological Systems (CBS); DARPA Robotic Hexapod (RHex); and DARPA Robots in Scansorial Environments (RiSE). You can find more information on these projects and my contributions in the project pages below. In 2006, I founded Sandbox Innovations, Inc. --- a robotics start-up out of University of Pennsylvania aiming to bring the inventions from critically acclaimed DARPA-RHex project to the hands of first responders. For the following two years I led and personally funded this entrepreneurial effort. This period was an immensely educational experience where I learned invaluable lessons in investor relations, customer relations, industrial project management and human resources. In August 2008 after successfully delivering the first batch of RDK series Sandbox products I left the company to pursue other entrepreneurial opportunities. I am currently working on establishing Robolit, LLC---a design consulting company. I am a competitive ballroom dancer. I am very lucky to have a beautiful and extremely talented partner with whom I was nationally ranked 3rd in Amateur Championship American Style Ballroom in 2008. |  Princeton/Penn Ballroom Dance Competition, 2005 |
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Upcoming Events
Nothing schedule at this time!
Recent News
- May 20, 2009: I gave a plenary talk on Dynamic Legged Mobility Systems at the International Joint Robotics Competition and Symposium.
- May 2, 2009: I gave a talk at the Bilkent Robotics Club.
- April 29, 2009: SandBot appeared in Daily Pennsylvania
- April 1, 2009: SandBot appeared in IEEE Spectrum?
- March 6, 2009: SandBot project is featured on NPR’s Science Friday.
- Feb 9, 2009: Paper on locomotion on granular media is published on PNAS.
- Nov 19, 2008: I was featured as the guest builder in the 6×6 ATV episode of the Prototype This! show on the Discovery channel.
Current Projects
- SandBot - Legged locomotion in granular material and its modeling (in collaboration with Prof. Goldman at Georgia Institute of Technology).
- EduBot - a low-cost programmable modular hexapod robot for research and education.
- SprawlHex? - a hexapod robot with adjustable body sprawl as a model to study horizontal plane locomotion dynamics of arthropods.
- RiSEBus? - a simple real-time communications bus for the use of heterogenous modular robotic platforms.
Past Projects
- EduBot - a modular low cost hexapod mobility platform for research and education.
- RiSE - world’s most dexterous hexapod robot platform that can climb on various vertical surfaces.
- RHex - a multi-purpose robotic mobility platform that can navigate in highly unstable and broken natural settings.
- LegNet? - a wireless local-area sensor network for the RHex system.
- Body State Estimation - a sensor fusion system to estimate body state in a dynamic hexapod.
- Hopper? - an analytical and numerical study of 1-DOF hopping task.
- CNM? - a project aiming to study arthropods for the purposes of using them as a locomotion platform.
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