Carl D. Crane is a Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and Director of the Center for Intelligent Machines and Robotics (CIMAR) at the University of Florida.  He received his B.S. and M.E. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1978 and 1979.  Following this he spent five years as an officer in the Army Corps of Engineers. He then went on to continue his studies and received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Florida in 1987.  In 2003 he was named a fellow of ASME. Dr. Crane has been involved in research in the areas of spatial mechanisms, tensegrity systems, robotics, and autonomous navigation for over twenty five years.  Current activities include the development and implementation of system architectures for autonomous ground vehicle navigation and the design and implementation of passive parallel mechanisms to be used for force control applications.  Dr. Crane was team leader of the University of Florida’s 2004 and 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge autonomous vehicle development efforts and for the University of Florida’s 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge project team. Dr. Crane has authored one book and over forty papers in the area of spatial geometry and robotic systems.  He has supervised one hundred and ten Master’s graduates and forty one Ph.D. graduates during his career at the University of Florida.

Education

Ph.D., 1987, University of Florida,M.E., 1979, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute,B.S., 1978, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Professional Memberships and Fellowships

American Society of Engineering Education, Member
American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Member
American Nuclear Society, Member

Teaching Interests

Robotics, computer aided design, and mechanical design.

Research Interests

Spatial mechanisms, robotics, autonomous ground vehicles.