Florida Atlantic receives $500,000 NSF grant to connect AI robotics labs and training

Florida Atlantic University has received a $500,000 National Science Foundation grant to connect AI computing, simulation and physical robotics experiments in a shared training environment. Announced October 22, the four-year project aims to give students and researchers access to tools that the university says are often fragmented and difficult to reach.

Connecting the simulated robot to the physical one

The award goes to FAU’s College of Engineering and Computer Science. Its focus is AI-enabled robotics and cyber-physical systems: technologies that connect computing with machines and other physical systems that sense, communicate, make decisions and interact with their surroundings.

FAU identifies a practical obstacle to learning those technologies. The computing resources, simulation environments, datasets and physical equipment needed for realistic experiments are often separate or inaccessible. The project will develop shared computing and experimental infrastructure so participants can move between virtual environments and physical tests, with more realistic and reproducible experiments as the intended result.

The team will build on the Center for Connected Autonomy and Artificial Intelligence’s digital twin computing platform and networked robotic testbed. These provide a foundation for linking digital simulations with experiments on physical robots. Expanding remote access to research-grade tools is also part of the plan.

Advanced robotics and AI are transforming science and engineering, but access to research-grade tools and hands-on experimentation remains limited

Xiangnan Zhong, project principal investigator

Reusable experiments, not just access to equipment

The planned resources extend beyond the underlying hardware. FAU says the project will provide materials that students, researchers and educators can use to conduct experiments. The package is intended to bring research-grade work into engineering and computing education, combining hands-on laboratories, mentored research and reusable experimental workflows.

The planned resource package

• Digital twin environments and simulation resources for work in virtual settings.
• Datasets and executable notebooks as resources for research and education.
• Experimental examples and research-grade workflows that students, researchers and educators can reuse.

Xiangnan Zhong, an associate professor in FAU’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, leads the project. She is also a member of the connected autonomy center. The university says this is her fourth NSF grant as principal investigator in intelligent systems and cyber-physical systems.

A training framework intended to outlast the award

The interdisciplinary team brings together expertise in AI, robotics, computing, communications and biomedical engineering. Co-principal investigators are Erik Engeberg, Zhen Ni and George Sklivanitis. Engeberg works in ocean and mechanical engineering and biomedical engineering; Ni and Sklivanitis work in electrical engineering and computer science. The project’s applications span healthcare, autonomous systems and networked robots.

FAU’s stated workforce goal is to prepare people with the computing and data skills needed to develop and test intelligent systems across virtual and real-world environments. The grant funds development of that research and training framework; the university describes the broader access and training benefits as objectives of the work.

Beyond the four-year project, the university wants an infrastructure framework that can remain sustainable and support research and education over the longer term. Its stated direction for future work is to add application areas, institutions and research communities, extending access to computing, digital twin environments and experimental capabilities beyond the initial effort.