The Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Computer Science is moving into new space.
Currently located within Newell - Simon Hall at 5000 Forbes Ave. along CMU's Oakland campus, the RI is setting its sights on leasing additional space in a former Barnes & Noble location on Murray Avenue in Squirrel Hill. This will be an expansion to the institute's current footprint, which is also scattered across other buildings on CMU's campus.
According to Aaron Aupperlee, the senior director of media relations at CMU's computer science school, about 16,000 square feet of space previously used for book displays and shelving will be converted into lab space for the three research groups that make up the organization and the 75 people who run them.
CMU professors Jean Oh, head of the Bot Intelligence Group; Zac Manchester, who runs the Robotic Exploration Lab; and Sebastian Scherer, the AirLab leader, will use the space for their respective research teams that conduct robotics-based work relating to aerial autonomy, collaboration and exploration, among others.
"This move is just the beginning of a major expansion of the Robotics Institute," Aupperlee said in an email to Pittsburgh Inno. "When the Robotics Innovation Center opens at Hazelwood Green, it will provide CMU robotics researchers with roughly 150,000 square feet for research, integration, iteration and commercialization."
The RI is helmed by Matthew Johnson-Roberson, a CMU graduate with extensive experience in the robotics community inside of Pittsburgh and beyond.
