Trailblazers

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The United States’ entry into last year’s RoboCup was DARwIn — Dynamic Anthropomorphic Robot with Intelligence, and it was created in Virginia Tech’s Robotics and Mechanisms Lab. Dennis Hong is an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Virginia Tech and he is in charge of the Robotics and Mechanisms Lab (RoMeLa.)

Hong and his team of students work to infuse robots with artificial intelligence and together they have created a three-legged robot called STriDER, an air-powered robotic hand named RAPHaEL, and the world’s first car that can be driven by the blind.

In addition to robotics, Hong’s other passion is sailing, and he was a member of the Hoofer Sailing Club while an undergraduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.