Recent advances in machine learning, simulation, algorithm design, and computer hardware have allowed reinforcement learning (RL) to become a powerful tool which can solve a variety of challenging problems that have been difficult or impossible to solve with other appro...

Internet of Things (IoT)-based remote health monitoring (RHM) generates a paradigm shift from traditional healthcare services. RHM applications deliver healthcare solutions to the national and global demand of improving the health and wellness of the population. Recent ...

With the fast-paced proliferation of robots in our daily lives, it is especially important that the human experience is prioritized for human-robot interactions and automated systems. We investigated how human eye movements can be leveraged in real-time by robotic syste...

Robots have shown prowess in demonstrating navigation in many extreme environments, except in granular media (GM), which remains relatively unexplored. GM such as sand, dry snow, and gravel are some of the most common substrates on Earth as well as other terrestrial pla...

To gain an empirical understanding of the utility of near-nadir Ka-band for mapping surface changes, particularly with respect to water and wet surfaces, this dissertation demonstrates the utility for mapping water surface elevation (WSE) and inundation as observed by t...

The advancing frontier of modern robotics has enabled the automation of dental implant surgery, which also invokes the problem of physical Human-Robot Interaction (pHRI) in the clinical environment. In this dissertation, the concern for pHRI is integrated into the desig...

California faces complicated water challenges and increased drought that have put pressure on agricultural systems to cut back on water consumption. Responding to changes in water supply and improving adaptive capacity requires that knowledge and expertise be available ...

Rigid robotic systems struggle to solve problems that require drastic shape changes, possess high environmental uncertainty, and involve direct interaction with humans. The present work investigates four different approaches to designing mechanically reprogrammable robo...

Anthropogenic climate change poses an existential threat to biodiversity that is compounded by habitat conversion, disease, and other disturbances. Understanding the ecological needs of sensitive species and identifying priority habitat is vital for wildlife conservatio...

As the world has grown increasingly urbanized over the last half-century, management of regional metropolitan landscapes has become more complex. Planning and research efforts alike require an understanding of local conditions and variability within cities. In this stud...