Roboticists, This week, we're having a visit from Dr. Melisa Orta Martinez (an expert in haptics, including neat work on novel interfaces and equitable education) for our Friday seminar. She is visiting us from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), where she works as part of the Robotics Institute. As a reminder, everyone is expected to come to the seminar. We’ve got a strict no-device policy. We also have, as always, coffee and coffee cake. For the fall, we still have Covell Hall 221 as our seminar location, with the usual timing of 10am Fridays. Please plan to head there each Friday at 10am. Looking forward to the seminar! See you there. Cheers, Naomi P.S. Note that next week, we'll have an extra-bountiful seminar week, with a special Monday seminar from Huang Yi (the artist performing with a robot at PRAx next week - get free Oct 23 COE tickets here<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fprax.universitytickets.com%2Fw%2Fevent.aspx%3Fid%3D1670&data=05%7C02%7Crobotics-seminar%40engr.orst.edu%7C03fb59fc370a4242f53b08dceca56508%7Cce6d05e13c5e4d6287a84c4a2713c113%7C0%7C0%7C638645442306378877%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=aQJBf%2Bf1ZurjszFWeu8ejN1f3U%2BE7XXY2aNXPPcvQAg%3D&reserved=0> or paid tickets for the Oct 24 performance via the usual PRAx website). Huang Yi will visit us 4-5pm Monday in ROG 226. We will also have a great seminar at the usual timing Friday, with V Nguyen from Hello Robot (usual time and place). ________________________________________________ From Haptic Devices to Interactive Machines: Unlocking the power of our touch sense Melisa Orta Martinez, Assistant Professor of Robotics at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) Abstract: Our sense of touch plays a critical role in diverse areas of our daily lives such as high-precision motor tasks, understanding and interpreting textures, and conveying and appreciating social signals. In this talk we explore the untapped potential of our haptic sense and present four devices that use the sense of touch for novel applications ranging from feature perception to education. The first is a magnetic soft device for tactile haptic actuation of the fingertip. The second is a haptic mouse prototype for blind and visually impaired individuals. The third is an interactive haptic interface which ties mathematical ideas through body syntonicity. Lastly, we present a robotic loom which takes advantage of the interdisciplinary nature of weaving to ground abstract mathematical concepts in a concrete and embodied art, view this art through an engineering lens, and integrate hands-on interdisciplinary learning into mathematics curricula. Bio: Melisa Orta Martinez is an assistant professor in the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, where she leads the Social Haptics Robotics and Education (SHRED) Laboratory. Her research combines the areas of robotics, haptics, human-computer interaction, and education. Her main areas of focus and interest are developing low-cost, open-source robotic technology for educational applications and understanding the effects of this technology on learning, as well as studying the sense of touch and developing novel mechanisms for human-machine interaction.