Red rover

Trash can. Upside down dustbin. Giant red barrel-that's how the media described some hot new "artwork" at Washington University in St. Louis. But they're not talking about a provocative exhibitthey're talking about the artist.

Lewis the Robotic Photographer cruises conferences, parties, and receptions snapping photos like a cross between Robert Mapplethorpe and R2-D2.The robot is the brainchild of Cindy Grimm and Bill Smart, assistant professors in the department of computer science and engineering.The husband-andwife professors share lab space and wanted to collaborate on a project that would get more students interested in doing research in their labs.

The main challenge of making Lewis work is coordinating a lot of different computer programs-things like mapping technology, movement, and photographic composition. "There are 10,000 things you have to get working together to make it interesting," says Grimm. Zachary Byers, who worked with fellow undergraduate Michael Dixon on the project, agrees: "When you try to make a robot accomplish something in the real world it can be difficult."

To take a photo, Lewis scans the room for human skin. Once the robot identifies a group of people, it tries to figure out where their faces are and then takes a picture using some basic rules of composition. Byers says that because running the 300-pound robot into people "is not how you make friends," Lewis uses a complicated navigation system that incorporates laser rangefinders and pinging sonar sensors. According to Smart, Lewis has taken about 4,000 pictures so far-and a surprising number of them are quite good, "It's on the level of someone like me running around taking pictures."

Smart and Grimm say that Lewis has brought a lot of student attention to robotic work. Smart thinks part of the popularity is due to the project's simple aim. "I can explain it to my mother and she understands it and thinks it's cool," he says. But both professors attribute project's success to Byers and Dixon: "Zach and Michael were really responsible for how good the system is," says Smart. "They really have done 90 percent of the coding on this," adds Grimm.

Grimm thinks the media attentionLewis has been featured in Wired and on CNN.com-has done a lot to get students interested. Even homegrown hip-hop star Nelly gave the robot some "street cred" when he invited Lewis to photograph his birthday party. Grimm says she doesn't really know who Nelly is, but adds, "Our stature on campus, I think, has gone up."

Copyright American Society for Engineering Education Feb 2003
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