The Center for Robotics and Intelligent Systems (CRIS) at UC Riverside is an interdepartmental research center that conducts cutting-edge research on the foundations and applications of intelligent and autonomous systems, including robotics, computer vision, controls, machine learning, and real-time systems, among others. The Center brings together researchers from academia and industry to develop cross-disciplinary solutions to key societal problems and train the next generation of researchers and practitioners. Application areas of interest include security, biomedical systems, environmental monitoring, agricultural automation, transportation, logistics, and manufacturing. The Center also organizes seminars, workshops, and lectures to facilitate the scholarly dissemination of ideas, promotes research and educational activities for students, and provides its affiliated members with state of the art computational and robotic facilities.

CRIS will continue its focus on providing a single platform to bring together research in robotics and intelligent systems from across campus. A state-of-the-art shared facility with motion capture systems, mobile robots and manipulators, and computational servers is currently being developed. Faculty at the center have built a very strong collaboration with researchers in agriculture and environmental/ecosystem monitoring, which is expected to be a major focus area for the center. CRIS also plans to work closely with other campus centers (e.g., CE-CERT and Data Science Center) and build synergies to increase UCR's visibility in robotics and intelligent systems.

The members of the Center have received numerous awards throughout the years (see the members' home pages), thus attesting to the quality of the Center's research and teaching activities. New faculty and their students are encouraged to become affiliated with the Center and take advantage of its collaborative and energetic culture. 

Mission Statement

The Center conducts cutting-edge research on the foundations and applications of intelligent and autonomous systems, including robotics, computer vision, controls, machine learning, and real-time systems, among others. The Center brings together researchers from academia and industry to develop cross-disciplinary solutions to key societal problems and train the next generation of researchers and practitioners. Application areas of interest include security, biomedical systems, environmental monitoring, agricultural automation, transportation, logistics and manufacturing, and advanced materials, among others.

History

CRIS was started by Prof. Bir Bhanu as the Center for Research in Intelligent Systems in 1996. In 2020, it changed its name to Center for Robotics and Intelligent Systems, reflecting the expanded and intertwined roles of robotics and intelligent systems in the future of the center.