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SECTTRA
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
5-201 EE/CS Building
200 Union Street SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455

Phone: 612-625-4002
E-mail: npapas@cs.umn.edu

Contact Information

Welcome to SECTTRA

The Security in Transportation Technology Research and Applications (SECTTRA) program is a joint effort of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) and the Center for Transportation Studies (CTS) at the University of Minnesota.

Professor Nikolaos Papanikolopoulos of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, a nationally recognized expert in robotics, computer vision systems, and sensors for transportation applications, is the director of SECTTRA.

SECTTRA works collaboratively with University of Minnesota researchers and other research programs including the Intelligent Transportation Systems Institute and the public-private Safety Security Rescue Research Center (SSR-RC) to support the development and application of advanced technologies to improve transportation security.

SECTTRA News

Transforming the Twin Cities into a robotics hub
St. Paul Pioneer Press, November 11, 2011
The little robot scuttling across the floor at ReconRobotics will likely never get a casting call from Hollywood. It weighs less than a pound, rolls on knobby plastic wheels at either end of a headless, armless cylinder and communicates through insect-like antennas. "It's just a camera on wheels," said Nikolaos Papanikolopoulos, head of the University of Minnesota's Center for Distributed Robotics. "Why is it so popular? Because it does a very dangerous job and it saves lives." The robot will be one of the stars of Robotics Alley, the first regional conference on robots. The conference has an ambitious goal—to transform the Twin Cities into the hub for a Midwestern robotics industry.

Reconnaissance robots to the rescue
Star Tribune, May 31, 2009
Using robot technology developed by U of M researchers in the SECTTRA program, an Edina company sells miniature robots to police and the military that let them see dangers before facing them.

U of M Featured Discoveries: What's the latest in lifesaving technology? Robots.

• View the TV commercial: Life-saving robots in Iraq

Everything you ever wanted to know about the Scout robot but were afraid to ask.
Visit the U of M's Center for Distributed Robotics Web site and learn more about the amazing Scout robot. See photos, detailed descriptions and video demonstrations.

Evacuation research nets additional federal funds
October 2007 CTS Report