sedwards's profile - overview

SHAUN M. EDWARDS Senior Research Engineer Robotics and Automation Engineering Section Manufacturing Systems Department Automation and Data Systems Division M.S., Mechanical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, 2004 B.S., Mechanical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, 2003 Mr. Edwards is part of the Robotics and Automation Engineering Section (RAES) within the Manufacturing Systems Department. RAES provides automation development services with a focus toward applying new technologies and control methodologies to dynamic systems. The group specializes in semi and fully-custom systems including robotics, end-effectors, electrically-controlled mechanisms, instrumentation, assembly equipment, material handling and processing equipment, controls (PC, PLC, HMI), industrial electronics, independent control system evaluation, and integration. In addition, RAES specializes in computer vision and perception technologies for industrial inspection, automated surveillance, and autonomous robotic applications. Mr. Edwards’ expertise includes software development for embedded systems, mechanical design, dynamic simulations, and robotics. He has experience with several different Programmable Logic Controllers, Human Machine Interface platforms, and various distributed control networks, including ControlNet, EtherNet, and DeviceNet. He is proficient in many different software languages including C++, Java, CSharp, ladder logic, Matlab, and Python. Mr. Edwards is also experienced in using Computer Aided Design (CAD) software (ProE and SolidWorks) for mechanical design and analysis. In his work at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), Mr. Edwards has been responsible for mechanical and software design for automation and robotic systems. His past projects include the design and programming of several distributed control systems. He has also designed mechanical components for custom automation equipment and robotic systems. Recently, Mr. Edwards has served as the principal investigator for multiple internal research projects focused on cognitive approaches to autonomous robotic perception. The goal of these projects has been to apply the methods that people employ for reasoning to perception for autonomous robots. Mr. Edwards has also developed methods to automatically generate robot software based on design data. These methods allow robotic automation to perform similar tasks on a variety of parts, allowing cost effective automation of small part runs. Mr. Edwards completed his Masters in Mechanical Engineering in 2004. He designed and tested successful strategies of tracking odors to their sources. The methods were based on strategies believed to be used by insects. The strategies were tested using a physical odor plume as well as a simulated plume. The simulated plume, also developed by Mr. Edwards, was unique in that it used a statistical model. Other plume models use physical laws which create more accurate simulations but at the expense of much more computing time. The statistical model allowed for fast simulations and, therefore, optimization of various control parameters. Mr. Edwards showed that a simple rule based approach not only created what seemed like complex behavior but also solved the complex task of odor tracking. PATENTS & PUBLICATIONS: • “Context-Based Object Recognition” PerMIS 2009 conference • “Moth-Inspired Plume Tracking Strategies In Three-dimensions” ICRA 2005 conference • “A Robotic Platform for Testing Moth-Inspired Plume Tracking Strategies” ICRA 2004 conference PROFESSIONAL CHRONOLOGY: Codonics: mechanical engineering co-op, 2001-3; software/firmware engineer, 2003-5; Southwest Research Institute: research engineer, 2005-9; senior research engineer, 2009-present. August 2010