Michael A. PeshkinBreed Senior Professor of DesignProfessor of Mechanical Engineering
Interests
- Robotics and physical human/machine interaction
- Surface haptic display
- Cobots
- Rehabilitation & assistive robotics
- Sensors and acuators
Spin-Offs
- Tanvas
Founded 2010, to bring true haptic feedback to touchscreens - Kinea Design
Founded 2003, to develop robotic assistive devices for physical therapists
Acquired by HDT Global, 2011 - Cobotics
Founded 1997, to commercialize Cobots and related human-interactive robots
Acquired by Stanley Assembly Technologies, 2002 - Mako Surgical Corp. (formerly Z-KAT Inc.)
Founded 1995, to commercialize Coordinated Fluoroscopy for image guided surgery
Acquired by Stryker Corp., 2013
Carnegie-Mellon University, Robotics Institute
PhD, Physics, December 1986
Cornell University, Department of Physics
Master of Science, Experimental Solid State Physics, 1982
University of Chicago
Bachelor of Arts with Honors, Physics, 1979
- ME 233 - Electronics Design "out of the lab"
- ME 433 - Advanced Mechatronics
Professor Peshkin has been appointed Charles Deering McCormick Professor of Teaching Excellence, an all-University award.
Recently, he has been teaching and developing the innovative course Electronics Design, in which students learn to design and debug circuits, using a portable "workbench in a backpack" in place of the traditional fixed labs. Earlier, he created the course Engineering Analysis 3: System Dynamics, which is taken by almost all first year students in the school of engineering. EA3 is part of Northwestern's signature Engineering First curriculum, which engages undergraduate students in the concepts and experience of engineering from the beginning of freshman year. He also teaches a Mechatronics Projects course, and offers walk-in assistance to many students and teams doing mechatronics-related indepenedent projects.
What if you could feel textures on your smartphone?
Crains Chicago Business, February 18, 2016
Touch Technology (5m video)
Chicago Tonight, WTTW, April 17, 2012
Touch Screens with Feeling
IEEE Spectrum, May 2009
Better Together
Observer, Association for Psychological Science, 19(5), May 2006
Rehabilitation Medicine Welcomes a Robotic Revolution
Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) September 14, 2005, Vol 294, No. 10, p.1191
Robotic Rehab
MIT Technology Review, Sept. 2005
Works Well with Others: Collaborative Robots Interacting on the Assembly Line
Industrial Market Trends, Nov. 24, 2000
Numerous reports about Cobots
1996 - 2000