Gaurav S. Sukhatme: Research Gaurav S. Sukhatme
gaurav@usc.edu
Department of Computer Science
Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Systems
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0781
Research Statement (Note: This is outdated, I'll update it one of these days.
With the advent of affordable wireless networking and embedded systems with fast processors, there is a convergence in the Computer Science community between areas that have traditionally been separate. Specifically, there is increasing overlap between distributed robotics, artificial intelligence and computer networks. This intersection is the emerging area of intelligent embedded systems. Some nodes on wireless networks of the future will be mobile and will interact with the physical world. Today these mobile, embedded, solitary robot nodes are the subject of extensive research. In the future, they will be intelligent, reasonably fault-tolerant and ubiquitous. They will also be able to usefully interact with each other and humans to perform collective tasks. The main theme of my research is to develop tools and techniques to design and understand such large-scale, distributed systems.

My research includes theoretical and rigorous empirical methods of study to provide a solid foundation for this emerging field. I emphasize both analytical modeling and experimental work in the lab so systems are built and tested and models are validated. The applications for intelligent embedded systems are wide-ranging; from intelligent homes, office and production environments, to security and reconnaissance.

Listed below are my specific research contributions and plans for future research. The detailed references for the papers cited below are available online as are the names of my principal collaborators on these works.