Steve Tousignant's Website

Contact:
Email:
tous0032@umn.edu
Phone:+1 952 884 5813
Address:
4673 Morris Lane
Bloomington
MN - 55437

About Me

I am Steve Tousignant, a PhD Student in Computer Science at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities. I hold a Master's Degree in Software Engineering and a Bachelor's in Manufacturing Engineering from The University of St. Thomas in St. Paul MN.

My research interests lie in the intersection of the fields of Robotics and Software Engineering. Of particular interest is the possibility of making robotic software easier to create by applying ideas from language design theory such as Domain Specific Languages (DSLs). My goal is to produce a specific language for robotics which is significantly easier to learn and use than most development tools. I believe this will have a two-fold benefit for the robotics community: first, it will create a more user friendly entry point for people new to the field and possible new to computer science; second, it will automate much of the code generation for robotic algorithms so robotic research and development is more straight-forward for both academic and industrial pursuits.

Here are some video of my Roomba iCreate running in my office

The Follow Wall Algorithm is common in robotics.

The Spiral Algorithm has the robot drive in circle of increasing radii unless it hit a wall. Upon hitting the wall, it follows the wall until it can rejoin the spiral.

The Square Algorithm Has the robot walk around a 1 m X 1m square unless it hits an obstacle. After hitting the obstacle, it adjusts the square away from the obstacle.

The Grid Algorithm has the robot go two "steps" over and eight "steps" down. If it encounters an obstacle, it avoids it but still goes to the goal position if possible.