News
Events
VideoLaura Ray
Professor of Engineering
laura.ray@dartmouth.edu
Education
- B.S.E., Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University 1984
- M.S.E., Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University 1985
- Ph.D., Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University 1991
Research Interests
Dynamics and controls; nonlinear estimation; mobile robots; active noise control; damage detection in smart structures; mechatronics
Current Research Projects
- Acoustics and signal processing
- Cooperative control of multi-robot systems
- Robot design and smart navigation
- Terrain identification
Teaching
Selected Publications
- L.R. Ray, D. Brande, J.H. Lever, Estimation of Net Traction for Differential-Steered Wheeled Robots, J. Terramechanics Special Issue on Robotics, in press.
- A. Ramasubramanian and L. Ray, On the Applications of Extended Kalman-Bucy Filtering to Friction Cancellation, ASME J. Dynamic Systems, Measurement, and Control, 129(2), pp. 236-242, March 2007
- L. Ray, A. Streeter, J. Lever, A. Price, Design and Power Management for a Solar-Powered 'Cool Robot' for Polar Instrument Networks, J. Field Robotics, 24(7), pp. 581-599, July 2007
- L. Ray, J. Solbeck, A. Streeter, and R. Collier, Hybrid Active Noise Reduction for Hearing Protection and Communication, J. Acoustical Society America, 120(4), 2026-2036, Oct 2006
- J.A. Solbeck and L.R. Ray, Damage Identification Using Sensitivity-Enhancing Control and Identified Models, ASME J. Vibration and Acoustics, 128(2), 210-220, April 2006
- L.R. Ray, A. Price, A. Streeter, D. Denton, J. Lever, Cool Robots: Scalable Mobile Robots for Instrument Network Deployment in Polar Climates, The Bridge, National Academy of Engineering, 34(4), 5-12, Winter 2004
- J.H. Lever, L.R. Ray, A. Streeter, and A. Price, Solar Power for an Antarctic Rover, Hydrological Processes, 20(4), 629-644, March 2006
- L.R. Ray, Nonlinear Tire Force Estimation and Road Friction Identification: Simulation and Experiments. Automatica, 33(10), 1819-1833, 1997
Awards
- American Society for Non-destructive Testing Fellowship (2001)
- SAE Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award (1997)
Selected Patents
- L.R. Ray, D.A. Cartes, and R.D. Collier, Method for Tuning an Adaptive Leaky LMS Filter, Patent No. 6741707. Filed June 22, 2001.
- L.R. Ray and A. Streeter. Tuned Feedforward LMS filter with feedback control, Patent No. 6996241, a continuation in part of application No. 09/887942, filed on Jun. 22, 2001, granted, now 6,741,707. Filed May 10, 2004.
Entrepreneurship
- Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer, Sound Innovations Inc.
Professional Activities
- American Society of Mechanical Engineers member
- Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers member
News
Yeti Robot Detects Polar Dangers
National Geographic News
April 16, 2013High-tech ‘Yeti’ may revolutionize exploration near North and South poles
The Washington Post
March 11, 2013Battery-Powered Yeti Guides Antarctic Explorers Past Concealed Crevasses
Gizmodo
March 11, 2013Robot Yeti Tells You Where Not to Go in Antarctica
IEEE Spectrum
March 7, 2013Yeti Robot Finds Deadly Antarctic Crevasses So We Don’t Have To
Slate
March 5, 2013Robot Called ‘Yeti’ Finds Cracks in Antarctic Ice
LiveScience
March 5, 2013In Greenland and Antarctic Tests, Yeti Helps Conquer Some “Abominable” Polar Hazards
National Science Foundation
March 1, 2013How a Robot Is Changing the Game of Antarctic Science
Wired Science
February 28, 2013Curiosity’s Cousins: Autonomous Polar Robots Explore Earth’s Extremes
Wired Science
December 12, 2012Yeti Roves the Ice Sheet
May 9, 2012Cold Truths: new issue of Dartmouth Engineer
Dartmouth Now
March 9, 2012Dartmouth’s Cool Robot is literally cool
Nashua Telegraph
February 2, 2012Cold hard facts
AUVSI
December 31, 2011MicroStrain partners with Dartmouth
Burlington Free Press
September 29, 2011NSF’s Partnerships for Innovations connects engineering PhDs with small business
September 21, 2011On endless ice, searching for clues to our future
Associated Press
August 15, 2011Polar Researchers Harness Robots That Thrive in the Midnight Sun
The New York Times
August 3, 2011Harnessing Robots to Study Inaccessible Arctic
Scientific American
August 3, 2011Yeti and “Cool Robot,” the Rovers Tough Enough to Explore Greenland’s Ice Sheet
Popular Mechanics
July 20, 2011Yeti robot designed to detect polar crevasses
The Dartmouth
July 19, 2011Frozen Rover Goes for a Spin
Discovery News
July 12, 2011Kudos: Recognition for Dartmouth faculty, staff and students
VOX of Dartmouth
June 23, 2008Defense Department grants $1.6 million
Concord Monitor
April 4, 2008NH Scientists Receive $1.6 Million In Defense Grants
UNH
February 4, 2008A Sound Solution
WCAX-TV News
April 9, 2007Dartmouth Engineering Researchers Use PTC Pro/ENGINEER® Solutions To Create Affordable Robots
PTC
March 26, 2007Dartmouth taps Parametric for robot study
The Boston Globe
March 26, 2007A Cool Robot for polar duty
CNETnews.com
March 16, 2007Cool Robot, new icebreaker to gather polar data
Reuters
March 16, 2007Professors’ patents can pull in cash for College
The Dartmouth
April 24, 2006NASA interested in Thayer-designed robot
The Dartmouth
March 2, 2006Hear, hear!
VOX of Dartmouth
March 7, 2005
In Dartmouth Engineer Magazine
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Cold Truths: From the microstructure of snow to the massiveness of ice sheets, from fundamental science to practical applications, from Thayer’s ice lab to the earth’s polar regions, Thayer researchers are uncovering what snow and ice reveal about the world.
Winter 2012 -
Complex Systems: Tackling surprises in multi-component systems, from human behavior to robotic smarts
Summer 2010 -
Kudos
Summer 2008 -
Shop Talk: Life in the Project Labs
Winter 2008 -
Kudos
Spring/Summer 2007 -
Investiture: Class of 2005
Fall 2005 -
Kudos
Fall 2005 -
Lab Reports: Cool Robot
Fall 2005 -
Minding Their Business: Professors Venture into New Markets
Spring 2005 -
Classroom: Sailing through Design
Fall 2004 -
Kudos
Fall 2004