History
The idea of founding a Technion –wide program to study and develop Autonomous and Robotics Systems , started from discussions between the faculties of Aerospace Engineering, and Computer Science. This followed a recommendation by an international review committee, suggesting a wide effort in developing unmanned systems. These discussions led to a proposal to Technion Management and Senate in 2007 to establish such a program. The proposal included a center for research as well as an independent graduate studies program. The program was started the same year, and was kick-started by a 5 year multi-million dollar donation from the Arnold Goldstein family of New York in 2008. This donation served as seed for the two branches of the program, helping also obtain further funding from industry and government agencies. In 2012, a further large donation from the Peter Munk family has resulted in the present (2019) development of the program to a state, where about 12 Msc and 2-3 PhD students graduate every year, and large scale research projects are performed , including a landmark agreement with Hyundai Motor Corp. of South Korea and other international collaborations.
The Technion Autonomous Systems Program consists at present of three major divisions: Unmanned Aerial and Space Systems Division, Unmanned Ground Systems Division and Unmanned Marine Systems Division.
Membership of TASP is comprised of researchers from the following faculties: Aerospace Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Civil & Environmental Engineering, Industrial Engineering & Management, Biomedical Engineering, Medicine and Education in Science and Technology. Research activities take place in both established laboratories and in new, specific facilities built for TASP. Another interesting research area is Learning From Nature (LFN).
