Mission
iCORE advances the capabilities of robotic systems in challenging, unstructured built and natural environments.
Our History
The iCORE lab begain in 2016 under the leadership of Marcio de Queiroz, Ph.D in collaboration with Hunter B. Gilbert, Ph.D.. We have been working since then to advance the frontier of robotic systems and science. The laboratory today is led by three investigators in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at Louisiana State Unviersity. Our team has grown in expertise, experience, and size, and today we are a full-service robotics research laboratory capable of designing, prototyping, and testing state-of-the-art robotic systems. Our demonstrated capabilities cover all aspects of robotic systems, including mechanical and electrical hardware and software.
Collaboration, Partnerships, and Research Services
We welcome collaboration with academic labs, industry partners, and public-sector stakeholders. Industry partnerships and sponsored research projects can range from small to large and may vary substantially in intellectual scope, timeline, and deliverables. We also gratefully acknowledge the financial support from by a variety of State and Federal Sources, including the Louisiana Space Consortium, Louisiana Board of Regents, Louisiana State University, National Science Foundation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and NASA. For additional information or inquiries, please contact Dr. Gilbert.
Facilities
We are located on the main campus of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, LA. The laboratory is located in Patrick F. Taylor Hall and covers approximately 1300 square feet. The laboratory is equipped with 5 kg payload class industrial robot arms on Robotnik Mobile Bases (Kuka LBR iiwa, Universal Robots UR5e), rapid prototyping equipment and supplies (a variety of additive manufacturing machines including standard and high temperature reinforced polymers), electronics workstations, electronic benchtop test equipment including multimeters, mixed-signal oscilloscopes, sourcemeter, and 500 kHz precision LCR meter, deployable marine robots, an optical motion tracking system (OptiTrack), and ample desk and work space for staff and students. Advanced computing and simulation capability is provided through GPU-accelerated workstations and a dedicated 168-core AMD Epyc computational server with 40 TB flash storage and 48 GB VRAM Nvidia L40S GPU.
The nearby Robotics Teaching Lab in Patrick F. Taylor Hall Rm 1300 is an undergraduate teaching lab that is equipped with a UR10e and 2 UR5e collaborative industrial robotic arms, a LR Mate 200iD ECC industrial robotic arm, and a computer lab with software for 3D modeling and robotic programming and control. It is also equipped with six Geomagic Touch desktop haptic devices. The robotics lab also houses standard mechatronics prototyping supplies such as electric DC motors and servomotors, batteries, battery chargers, and a variety of sensors.
Advanced Manufacturing and Machining Facility (AMMF), 185 Engineering Laboratory Annex Building, LSU College of Engineering, is across the street from our lab. The AMMF provides manufacturing and machining services in support of research at reduced rates, and it houses resources and services in support of the Capstone Design program courses as well as providing resources and services for manufacturing courses. The AMMF supports advanced manufacturing with capabilities including 3-axis and 5-axis CNC micro mills (Kern EVO and Kern MMP), CNC Lathes and Mills (Haas TL1, TL-3, VF2, TM1), Wire EDM (Mitsubishi MV2400S Wire) and Hole Popper EDM (Yougar YGS-43Z), waterjet machining (WARDJet 5’ x 10’), laser engraving and cutting (ComMarker B6 MOPA 60W) and a variety of 3D printing systems for metal (Concept Laser Mlab, Markforged MetalX, custom in-house wire-arc additive manufacturing), polymers via FDM (Bambu Lab X1 series), and polymers via stereolithography (2x Formlabs Form 2). The shop also includes manual equipment including vertical knee mills, lathes, grinders, drill presses, saws, sheet metal tools, and piping tools. The AMMF is also equipped with an Artec Space Spider handheld 3D scanner.
Proto Lab, 2272 Patrick F. Taylor Hall, College of Engineering, is just down the hall from iCORE. The Mark and Carolyn Guidry Electrical Engineering Laboratory Duplex houses a microprocessor interfacing lab and a proto lab. This space is used by students to fabricate circuit boards and create device prototypes. It is designed as a chemistry lab with fume hoods to allow students to safely handle chemicals required for circuitry and is fully outfitted with soldering stations, cutting machines, and 3D printers. Additionally, the lighting and windows are designed to filter out UV light.