Ask any roboticist and they will tell you demos are nerve-wracking experiences. Demonstrating new technology for the president of the United States certainly takes it to the next level. 

But President Joe Biden put the nerves of researchers from Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute at ease during his visit last week.

Changliu Liu, an assistant professor in RI, was among a handful of university researchers who presented work to Biden during his January 28 visit to Mill 19. Ruixuan Liu and Rui Chen, both Ph.D. candidates in robotics, joined her for the demonstration.

"We were a bit nervous before the demo, since we were not sure our demo would impress the president," said Liu, who heads the Intelligent Control Lab. "But once the demo started, we were quickly calmed by the president's kindness and interest in our work. He greeted us with smiles and hellos, and was focused as he talked to us."

Liu's research aims to enable humans and robots to better work side-by-side. The demo for Biden illustrated a scenario where humans could rely on robots to manage the various tools needed on multipurpose assembly lines. Robots could also collaborate with humans to fetch objects that are out of reach, too heavy or in hazardous environments.

The team planned to demo a FANUC industrial robotic arm picking up a power drill and handing it to a student, then receiving it from the student and returning it to storage. The demo takes less than a minute, but in that time sensors, software, artificial intelligence, safety systems, and a digital twin tracking and supervising the entire operation must work together to successfully locate, pick up, hand off, receive and replace the tool.

"There are two major challenges in this task," Liu said. "First is safety. We must make sure the robot does not hurt the human. The second is teaching the robot to interpret a person's intention so the two can work together as efficiently as possible."

Just before the president arrived at the team's booth, however, they detected a connection issue that prevented the gripper on the robotic arm from communicating with the computer. The team ran the demo, showing the president the movement of the robotic arm, the digital twin, the safety systems in place, the human intention detection component and the sensors tracking the student's hand. They were not able to physically demonstrate the robotic arm and gripper picking up or receiving the tool, instead they illustrated the idea through the prerecorded video.

Despite this hiccup, the demo still captured Biden's attention.

"The president was very interested in this idea and asked insightful questions, like how to best integrate this kind of method in real manufacturing environments," Liu said. "This showed his passion for making robotic technologies that help workers, not replace them."

Read more about Liu's demo for the president on the Intelligent Control Lab's website. More information about Biden's visit to Mill 19 is available on CMU's News site.