FSU and Florida A&M student team takes top prize in national poster competition

Florida State University College of Business senior Michael DiNicola and his two teammates from Florida A&M University took first place in the poster competition at the 2012 Annual ARTSI (Advancing Robotics Technology for Societal Impact) Conference held at Norfolk State University on March 22-24.

The team's poster, titled "A Platform for Experimenting with Multimodal Human-Robot Interaction," showcased their work, which allows a person to use a mobile device (Smart phone, Tablet) to control a robot with voice and gestures.

The team of senior DiNicola, a marketing and management information systems major at FSU; senior Brian Johnson, a computer science major at FAMU; and junior Cameron Askew, a computer science majors At FAMU, were advised by professors Clement Allen, Ph.D. (FAMU) and Steve Payne, Ph.D. (FSU).

“Our goal was to create an android app to control the CREATE robots used in the competition at the ARTSI Conference,” DiNicola said. “We were able to complete our goal of controlling the robot with buttons, the accelerometer and voice commands.”

ARTSI is a collaborative education and research project centered on robotics for healthcare, the arts, and entrepreneurship.  The collaborative institutions are Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs ) and research I universities. The annual conference brings together students, professors and industry representatives for robotic competitions and research presentations.