CEDRA: Center of Excellence in Design, Robotics and Automation
Short for “Center for Excellence in Design, Robotics and Automation,” CEDRA is part of Sharif University of Technology’s School of Mechanical Engineering. Here, students are taught to conduct scientific and technological researches and create scientific research environments to help develop technology and encourage creativity.
As a response to Iran’s growing interest in robotics automation, CEDRA was established in September of 2001. Its primary goal was to study and apply advanced engineering studies in design, robotics, and sensor development. It also includes the study and development of expert systems and intelligence. These are then applied to issues in the environment, energy, natural resources, materials, transportation, information, and medicine, among other industries.
Today, the lab focuses on issues that have no conventional solutions within a single discipline, but that rather need multi-disciplinary systems advancement to incorporate technologies.
CEDRA’s primary sponsors include the country’s Ministry of Sciences, Research, and Technology and the university itself. The lab managed to bridge the gap between the country’s industries and the school with a unique capability to utilize the intellectual energy of the university to impact Iranian manufacturing.
With the interaction between the school, the lab, and the industry, CEDRA was able to identify technical requirements that need intensive research, develop solutions, and generate innovative mechanisms for technological transfer.
Among notable projects that the lab has undertaken is the design and development of Series Industrial Rescue Robots, which commenced from September of 2003 to September of 2004. Another is the design and development of a mid-size humanoid robot under the TAM-Iran Khodro Company. They were also able to develop a four-legged service robot a year earlier. To keep up with underwater robotics, the lab designed an underwater remotely operated vehicle (or ROV) back in 2001 and 2002.
Currently, the center’s major equipment includes various educational- and research-type robot controllers, robot vehicles, advanced PCs, machine visions, and state-of-the-art accessories. They also speak highly of their faculty and student expertise along with the lab’s facilities and multi-disciplinary focus.
