A University of Arkansas at Little Rock researcher was among a select group of robotics innovators who were featured at a national event — the Congressional Robotics Caucus — in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Cang Ye, a professor in the UALR Department of Systems Engineering, and student researchers at the university showcased a robotic cane during the caucus that marked the fifth anniversary of the National Robotics Initiative. 

The Co-robotic Cane developed by Ye and his team is intended to make daily travel easier and safer for the visually impaired. The device can locate its position and utilize that information to guide its user to his or her destination. It also can detect objects and help the user move around them.

During the Congressional Robotics Caucus — on Thursday, June 9, at the Rayburn House Office Building — Ye joined other principal investigators from universities such as Cornell, Johns Hopkins, and MIT.

Ye, an Arkansas Research Alliance fellow, plays a key role in additional projects designed to help people with visual and physical disabilities, including a quadrupedal robotic walker and a wearable robotic object manipulation aid that will help users detect and grasp objects.

The National Robotics Initiative, led by the National Science Foundation, is a “multi-agency effort to accelerate the development and use of robots that work beside or cooperatively with people.”

Agencies involved include:

• Air Force Office of Scientific Research
• Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
• Department of Agriculture
• Department of Defense
• Department of Energy
• NASA
• National Institutes of Health  
• National Science Foundation