By Express News Service CHENNAI: An Indian Institute of Technology Madras Distinguished Alumnus awardee from Chennai has donated a sum of `1 crore to establish a state-of-the-art ‘Robotics Research and Teaching Laboratory’ in the Department of Engineering Design. The lab will provide hands-on learning experience for students, and enable teaching and research in the robotics field. This robotics facility is expected to fill the gap in robotics education in India, promote learning and increase research output in this field. Considering the growth in robotic technology and applications, this facility is expected to attract highly motivated students and enhance the overall standing of IIT Madras in the field of robotics teaching and research. Speaking about the importance of this upcoming facility, Prof T Asokan, Head, Department of Engineering Design, IIT Madras, said, “We thank the donor immensely for this support and we are confident that the research and teaching facility in robotics will make a large impact in the long run and the students and the faculty will be hugely benefitted.” Thanking the Distinguished Alumnus Awardee, who has requested anonymity for this generous gesture, Prof Mahesh Panchagnula, Dean (International and Alumni Relations), IIT Madras, said, “Our alumni have made a big difference to several of our research and teaching initiatives at IIT Madras. This interdisciplinary lab on robotics will help train several generations of students for our emerging high-tech workforce.” Facilities in the lab Serial Manipulators for collaborative manipulation (cobots) Parallel Manipulators Robotic automation systems Robotic vision system Aerial robots Underwater robots Medical robots and haptic systems Robot calibration systems Controller design and analysis Robotic system design and programming Robotics study In order to provide a formal academic programme completely devoted to robotics, IIT Madras started the Interdisciplinary Dual Degree program in Robotics in 2017, which is open to students from various departments across the institute.

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