University’s robot dog visits governor’s office

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont got a chance recently to meet SPOT, a quadrupedal robot from Boston Dynamics that’s lending more visibility to the work being done at the University of New Haven’s Tagliatela College of Engineering.

At an event last month, the inaugural Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology Day, academics visited the governor’s office and met with lawmakers and industry representatives to raise awareness about the university’s engineering work.

“Visibility is key,” said Shayok Mukhopadhyay, an associate professor of engineering and computer science who led the public relations effort. “The public and the legislators need to know what type of research capabilities and educational endeavors the University of New Haven is involved in.”

SPOT is a gateway for innovation, Mukhopadhyay said in a post on the university’s blog.

“We have submitted grants related to autonomous vehicle security,” he said. “Multiple graduate students are getting involved with search-and-rescue-type work involving SPOT. Hands-on autonomy and robotics-related courses offered at our university prepare students to take this kind of thing on.”