For this coming National Robotics Week (April 2-10) — an annual event to showcase innovations in robotics — Fulton Schools researchers have a lot of new advances to put in the spotlight.  Assistant Professor Heni Ben Amor’s Interactive Robotics Laboratory is making progress human-robot interaction, robot autonomy and machine learning. Assistant Professor Daniel Aukes’ IDEA Lab is developing fish-inspired robots that can perform vital work in extreme environments. Associate Professor Wenlong Zhang’s Robotics and Intelligent Systems (RISE) Lab is making drones that mimic bird-like flight. Professor Aviral Shrivastava’s Make Programming Simple Lab is helping to improve autonomous vehicles. Research by other faculty members is expanding the potential for the use of robots as medical assistants, as well as improving the capabilities of bio-inspired robotics technologies and robotic exoskeletons created in the Human Machine Integration Lab that promise to assist workers in many industries.