Manufacturing roboticists

At Los Alamos National Laboratory, robotics and automation play an important role in helping the Laboratory attain its manufacturing objectives and accomplish its national security mission. But how is the Laboratory “manufacturing” the experts it needs to support that work?

One program that’s training a new generation of roboticists is the Robotics and Automation Summer School (RASS). Founded in 2023, RASS is a 10-week program that allows talented college students to gain hands-on experience with the type of projects that Laboratory staff researchers undertake.

“I describe it as Top Gun for automation because we get the best of the best students,” says RASS organizer Daniel Preston, who leads Los Alamos’ Automation, Robotics, and Controls group. “It’s a three-month boot camp that throws these world-class students into an environment where they can create things, develop proofs of concept, and demonstrate to sponsors what they’re able to do.”

Beth Boardman, who directs RASS, says that through academic and extracurricular programs, students gain robotics experience at younger ages and are ready to hit the ground running by the time they come to Los Alamos. In the program’s first summer, for example, students designed a robotic system that could move a hazardous material container—a complex undertaking. “Everyone was really impressed by how much the students were able to do in just 10 weeks,” she says.

The students selected for RASS had varied academic backgrounds: some were studying robotics, while others were studying electrical engineering, computer science, and even biomechanical engineering. “That diversity of backgrounds was definitely intentional,” Boardman says. “The problems we have for students to solve are very diverse and complex, and we wanted the students to work together to solve those problems.”

The goal of RASS was to task students with projects that would necessitate working across the Laboratory and the nuclear security enterprise in much the same way that staff roboticists do. One of these projects supported Los Alamos’ ARIES (Advanced Recovery and Integrated Extraction System) program, which converts surplus plutonium to its oxide form. Another project involved using robotics to laser weld thin sheets of foil together—a proof-of-concept of a recently developed additive manufacturing technique. A third project saw students develop a robot that could bolt and unbolt shipping containers at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee. And a fourth involved coordinating the movements of a robotic arm and a conveyor belt.

Wisconsin native Joseph Krahn is a senior at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. As a 2024 RASS student, Krahn spent his summer working on the laser welding foil project. “At Los Alamos, I got to see how robotics work from a practical point of view—how robots can save people from having to do repetitive or dangerous tasks,” he says.

Robotics, Krahn says, is a field that demands technical know-how and creativity alike. By pooling his experience with teammates knowledgeable about electrical and software engineering, Krahn’s three-person team was able to complete its task successfully. “No robotics problem can be completed alone,” Krahn says. “You have to work with a team, learn from them, and combine strengths to solve a problem.”

Krahn adds that the project was rewarding in part because it wasn’t mere busywork. Instead, the techniques that the team developed may be further developed by Laboratory scientists to support Los Alamos’ mission.

“One thing that’s very cool about Los Alamos is the emphasis on the ‘why’ behind what we’re doing,” Krahn says. “I’m excited because we’re doing cutting-edge research to achieve meaningful change. That’s what the Laboratory is all about.” ★