Projects

Daniela Rus leads and contributes to pioneering projects that push the boundaries of robotics, AI, and autonomy.

Advancing robotics, AI, and autonomy through visionary research and creative exploration. Each project reflects Daniela Rus’s commitment to designing intelligent systems that expand human potential and make technology more accessible, adaptive, and inspiring.

DISCOVER Projects

Discover All
Projects

Each project explores how intelligent systems can work alongside people enhancing creativity, solving real-world challenges, and shaping a more connected future.

Research

Soft Robots

Soft robots provide an opportunity to bridge the gap between machines and people. In contrast to hard bodied robots, soft robots have bodies made out of intrinsically soft and/or extensible materials (e.g. silicone rubbers) that can…

Group

Distributed Robotics Laboratory

Research

Mobility on Demand with Self-Driving Cars

The objective is to develop data-driven customized transportation. We are developing a fleet of self-driving cars consisting of golf carts and electric cars. Mobility on demand aims to transform transportation into a utility, to be…

Group

Distributed Robotics Laboratory

Research

Robot Compiler

A great challenge with today’s robots is that it takes a long time to design and fabricate new robots. We need to speed up the creation of robots.

Group

Distributed Robotics Laboratory

Everyday Life

Tracking Whales with Quadrotors

Currently, whales are observed manually using binoculars and cameras from the shore or from boats, and notes are made using pencil and paper. The process is error prone, non-quantitative and very labor intensive.

Group

Distributed Robotics Laboratory

Everyday Life

Bakebot

The creation of a robot chef represents a grand challenge for the field of robotics. Cooking is one of the most important activities that takes place in the home, and a robotic chef capable of following arbitrary recipes would have many…

Group

Distributed Robotics Laboratory

Everyday Life

Virtual Fences for Animals

In collaboration with Dean Anderson from the USDA we developed wearable devices for cattle. Each animal in the herd is given a smart collar consisting of a GPS, PDA, wireless networking and a sound amplifier. Using the GPS, the animal’s…

Group

Distributed Robotics Laboratory

Everyday Life

Seraph

This piece explores the relationship between man and machine in a pastoral fable involving a dancer and two flying robots. Set to a Schubert piano trio, the resulting work explores the expressive potential of machines, presenting in the…

Group

Distributed Robotics Laboratory

Everyday Life

The Umbrella Project

The participants use the color-changing umbrellas to create images that are projected in real time on a large screen, and use this feedback along with high-level human instructions to cause the image to change. UP gives a group of…

Group

Distributed Robotics Laboratory

Education

The Robot Garden

Computational thinking is an important part of a modern education, and robotics provides a powerful tool for teaching programming logic in an interactive and engaging way.

Group

Distributed Robotics Laboratory

Education

Imara

In August 2014 I traveled to Taveuni, the Garden Island of Fiji, with a treasure trove: a box of 60 Little Suns, the gift of light for school children.

Group

Distributed Robotics Laboratory

Research

Self-Reconfiguring Robots

We are developing self-organizing systems of robots. Self-reconfiguring robots have the ability to modify their geometry without human intervention. They take on the body shape most suited for the task at hand.

Group

Distributed Robotics Laboratory

Research

Adaptive Optimization for Multi-Robot Teams

Distributed networked robot systems consist of multiple robots that are connected by communication. In these systems the robots interact locally with the environment. The objective is for the system as a whole to have guaranteed global…

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Distributed Robotics Laboratory

Research

Manufacturing with Multi-Robot Teams

Robots have already enabled mass production and robots together with new computational systems have the potential to enable mass customization. Today, robots are used extensively in manufacturing. But manufacturing systems of today have…

Group

Distributed Robotics Laboratory

Research

Self-Folding Robots

We wish to design the body of the robot flat. We wish for the robot to have built-in intelligence, and ability to move in the world. Once designed, the robot is printed and a special control system is used to deliver a 3d functional…

Group

Distributed Robotics Laboratory

Research

Data Summarization and Life Logging

Today we can record everything we do, as well as everything a robot does. These past experiences can be a very rich source for decision-making, but the data collected from sensors and actuators is too big and low-level. It needs to be…

Group

Distributed Robotics Laboratory

CONTACT

Collaborate on
Ideas That Shape
the Future

Breakthroughs need ecosystems. Daniela works with founders, researchers, students, industry leaders, and investors to move bold ideas from first principles to real-world impact.

If you are building the next generation of AI, robotics, mobility, intelligent systems, or device-native technologies (systems that are efficient, trustworthy, and designed to serve people) there may be an opportunity to collaborate.

Daniela welcomes conversations with people and organizations working to turn scientific imagination into technologies that improve lives, strengthen society, and help shape a better future.

Contact
DANIELA