Mike Kutzer

Mike Kutzer is a full-time Associate Professor in the Department of Weapons, Robotics, and Control Engineering (WRCE) at the United States Naval Academy (USNA). Prior to his appointment at USNA, he was a Researcher and Project Manager in the Robotics and Autonomous Systems Group (now part of the Inteligent Systems Center or ISC) at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL).

Professor Kutzer received his Ph.D and M.S.E degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the Johns Hopkins University, and a B.M.E degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Delaware. His research interests include robotic manipulation, additive manufacturing, applied computer vision and motion capture, rigid body mechanics, mechanisms design and characterization, continuum manipulators, redundant mechanisms, and modular systems.

Education History

• B.M.E., Mechanical Engineering, University of Delaware
• M.S.E., Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University
• Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University

Work Experience

Associate Professor, U.S. Naval Academy

Publications

Journals
• L. DeVries, M.D.M. Kutzer, A. Bass, R. Richmond, “Hull Shape Actuation for Speed Regulation in an Underwater Vehicle,” Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics, Volume 12, No. 1, Feb. 2020.

• J. Gainer, L. DeVries, J. Dawkins, and M.D.M. Kutzer, “Persistent Multi-Agent Search and Tracking with Flight Endurance Constraints”, Robotics, Special Issue on Advances in Control, Automation and Robotics, Dec. 2018

• L.D. DeVries, A.M. Sims, and M.D.M. Kutzer, “Kernel Design and Distributed, Self-triggered Control for Coordination of Autonomous Multi-agent Configurations,” Robotica, Mar. 2018.

• M.D. Kutzer and L.D. DeVries, “Testbed for Multilayer Conformal Additive Manufacturing,” Technologies, Special Issue on Additive Manufacturing Technologies and Applications, Volume 5, No. 2, May 2017.

• J.D. Davis, M.D. Kutzer, and G.S. Chirikjian, “Algorithms for Multilayer Conformal Additive Manufacturing,” Journal of Computing and Information Science in Engineering, Volume 16, June 2016.

• M.S. Moses, R.J. Murphy, M.D.M. Kutzer, and M. Armand, “Modeling Cable and Guide Channel Interaction in a High-Strength Cable-Driven Continuum Manipulator,” Mechatronics, IEEE/ASME Transactions on, Volume 20, Dec. 2015, pp. 2876-2889.

• E. Basafa, R.J. Murphy, Y. Otake, M.D. Kutzer, S.M. Belkoff, S.C. Mears, and M. Armand, “Subject-specific planning of femoroplasty: An experimental verification study,” Journal of Biomechanics, Volume 48, Jan. 2015, pp. 59-64.

• R.J. Murphy, M.D.M. Kutzer, S.M. Segreti, B.C. Lucas, and M. Armand, “Design and Kinematics Characterization of a Surgical Manipulator With a Focus on Treating Osteolysis,” Robotica, Volume 32, Sept. 2014, pp. 835-850.

• E. Basafa, R.S. Armiger, M.D. Kutzer, S.M. Belkoff, S.C. mears, and M. Armand, “Patient-specific Finite Element Modeling for Femoral Bone Augmentation,” Medical Imaging & Physics, Volume 35 (6), 2013, pp. 860-865.

• E. Basafa, R.J. Murphy, M.D. Kutzer, Y. Otake, and M. Armand, “A Particle Model for Prediction of Cement Infiltration of Cancellous Bone in Osteoporotic Bone Augmentation,” PLoS ONE 8(6): e67958. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0067958

• Y. Otake, M. Armand, R.S. Armiger, M.D. Kutzer, E. Basafa, P. Kazanzides, and R.H. Taylor, “Intraoperative Image-based Multi-view 2D/3D Registration for Image-guided Surgery: Incorporation of Fiducial-based C-arm Tracking and GPU-acceleration,” IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, 2011, pp. 948-962.

• M. Kutzer, M. Armand, E. Lin, D. Scheidt, G. Chirikjian. “Toward Cooperative Team-Diagnosis in Multi-Robot Systems,” the International Journal of Robotics Research, Volume 27, Sept. 2008, pp. 1069-1090.

Conference Proceedings
• L.A. Davis, J.S. Donnal, M.D.M. Kutzer, “Tracking Additive Manufacturing Using Machine Vision,” in Proceedings of the IEEE Symposium on Additive Manufacturing and Applications (SAMA), Nov. 2020.

• M.D. Kutzer, J.S. Donnal, G.L. Sinsley, and R.S. McDowell, “Toward Detecting Cyber-physical Attacks in Additive Manufacturing Using Multi-view Visual Odometry,” in Proceedings of the ASME 2020 Manufacturing Science and Engineering Conference (MSEC), June 2020.

• J. Donnal, R. McDowell, and M. Kutzer, “Decentralized IoT with Wattsworth,” in Proceedings of the IEEE 6th World Forum on Internet of Things, Apr. 2020.

• M.D. Kutzer, L.D. DeVries, and C.D. Blas, “Part Monitoring and Quality Assessment of Conformal Additive Manufacturing using Image Reconstruction,” in Proceedings of the ASME 2018 International Design Engineering Technical Conference & Computers and Information Engineering Conference (IDETC/CIE), Aug. 2018.

• L. DeVries, M.D.M. Kutzer, R. Richmond, and A. Bass, “Design, Modeling, and Experimental Drag Characterization of a Bio-inspired, Shape-adapting Underwater Vehicle,” in Proceedings of the ASME 2018 International Design Engineering Technical Conference & Computers and Information Engineering Conference (IDETC/CIE), Aug. 2018.

• J.J. Gainer, L.D. DeVries, and M.D. Kutzer, “Persistent Target Detection and Tracking by an Autonomous Swarm,” in Proceedings of the ASME 2018 International Design Engineering Technical Conference & Computers and Information Engineering Conference (IDETC/CIE), Aug. 2018.

• S. Johnson, R. Stroup, J.J. Gainer, L.D. DeVries, and M.D. Kutzer, “Design of a Robotic Catch and Release Manipulation Architecture (CARMA),” in Proceedings of the ASME 2017 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition (IMECE), Nov. 2017.

• M. Heaton, L. DeVries, and M. Kutzer, “Random Path Optimization for the Mitigated Counter-Detection of UAVs,” in Proceedings of the 2017 International Conference for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (ICUAS), June 2017.

• K.C. Wolfe, M.D.M. Kutzer, and E.W.Tunstel, “Exploiting Redundancy to Improve Bimanual Telepresent Manipulation,” in Proceedings of the 2016 World Automation Congress (WAC), Aug. 2016.

• L.D. DeVries and M.D.M. Kutzer, “Kernel Design for Coordination of Autonomous, Time-varying Multi-agent Configurations,” in Proceedings of the 2016 IEEE American Control Conference (ACC), July 2016, pp. 1975-1980.

• J.D. Davis, M.D. Kutzer, and G.S. Chirikjian, “Algorithms for Multilayer Conformal Additive Manufacturing,” in Proceedings of the ASME 2015 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences & Computers and Information in Engineering Conference (IDETC/CIE), Aug. 2015.

• K.D. Katyal, C.Y. Brown, S.A. Hechtman, M.P. Para, T.G. McGee, K.C. Wolfe, R.J. Murphy, M.D.M. Kutzer, E.W. Tunstel, M.P. McLoughlin, and M.S. Johannes, “Approaches to Robotic Teleoperation in a Disaster Scenario: From Supervised Autonomy to Direct Control,” in Proceedings of the 2014 IEEE/RSJ Intl. Conf. on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Sept. 2014.

• M.D.M. Kutzer, C.Y. Brown, G.S. Chirikjian, and M. Armand, “Buckybot: A Robot Based on the Geometry of a Truncated Icosahedron,” in Proceedings of the ASME 2014 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences & Computers and Information in Engineering Conference (IDETC/CIE), Aug. 2014.

• Y. Otake, R.J. Murphy, M.D. Kutzer, R.H. Taylor, and M. Armand, “Piecewise-rigid 2D-3D registration for pose estimateion of a Snake-like Manipulator Using an Intraoperative X-Ray Projection,” in Proceedings of SPIE Medical Imaging, Mar. 2014.

• B.A. Wester, M.P. Para, A. Sivakumar, M.D. Kutzer, K.D. Katy, A.D. Ravitz, J.D. Beaty, M.P. McLoughlin, and M.S. Johannes, “Experimental Validation of Imposed Safety Regions for Neural Controlled Human Patient Self-Feeding using the Modular Prosthetic Limb,” in Proceedings of the 2013 IEEE/RSJ Intl. Conf. on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Nov. 2013, pp. 877-884.

• E. Basafa, R.J. Murphy, M.D. Kutzer, Y. Otake, and M. Armand, “Computer Assisted Femoral Augmentation – Modeling and Experimental Validation,” in Proceedings of the ASME 2013 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences & Computers and Information in Engineering Conference (IDETC/CIE), Aug. 2013.

• M.S. Moses, M.D.M. Kutzer, H. Ma, and M. Armand, “A Continuum Manipulator Made of Interlocking Fibers,” in Proceedings of the 2013 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, May 2013, pp. 3993-4000.

• R.J. Murphy, M.S. Moses, M.D.M. Kutzer, G.S. Chirikjian, and M. Armand, “Constrained Workspace Generation for Snake-like Manipulators with Applications to Minimally Invasive Surgery,” in Proceedings of the 2013 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, May 2013, pp. 5321-5327.

• Y. Otake, J.W. Stayman, W. Zbijewski, R.J. Murphy, M.D. Kutzer, R.H. Taylor, J.H. Siewerdsen, and M. Armand, “Model-Based Cone-Beam CT Reconstruction for Image-Guided Minimally Invasive Treatment of Hip Osteolysis,” SPIE Medical Imaging Volume 8671, Mar.2013.

• S.M. Segreti, M.D.M. Kutzer, R.J. Murphy, and M. Armand, “Cable Length Estimation for a Compliant Surgical Manipulator,” in Proceedings of the 2012 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, May 2012, pp. 701-708.

• K.C. Wolfe, M.S. Moses, M.D.M. Kutzer, and G.S. Chirikjian, “M3Express: A Low-Cost Independently-Mobile Reconfigurable Modular Robot,” in Proceedings of the 2012 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, May 2012, pp. 2704-2710.

• E. Tunstel, A. Cushman, M. Kutzer, and T. McGee, “Toward Space Object Contact Operations using Robotic Nanosatellites,” in Proceedings of the 2012 NSBE Aerospace Systems Conference, Los Angeles, CA, Feb. 2012, pp. 114-120.

• M.D. Kutzer, E. Basafa, Y. Otake, and M. Armand, “An Automatic Injection Device for Precise Cement Delivery During Osteoporotic Bone Augmentation,” in Proceedings of the ASME 2011 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences & Computers and Information in Engineering Conference (IDETC/CIE 2011), Aug. 2011.

• M.D.M. Kutzer, S.M. Segreti, C.Y. Brown, R.H. Taylor, S.C. Mears, and M. Armand, “Design of a New Cable Driven Manipulator with a Large Open Lumen: Preliminary Applications in the Minimally-Invasive Removal of Osteolysis,” in Proceedings of the 2011 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, May 2011, pp. 2913-2920.

• E. Basafa, Y. Otake, M.D. Kutzer, R.S. Armiger, and M. Armand, “A Particle-Based Model for Prediction of Cement Diffusion During Osteoporotic Hip Augmentation Surgery: Theory and Validation,” in Proceedings of the ASME 2010 International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition (IMECE2010), Nov. 2010.

• M.D.M. Kutzer, M.S. Moses, C.Y. Brown, D.H. Scheidt, G.S. Chirikjian, and M. Armand, “Design of a New Independently-Mobile Reconfigurable Modular Robot,” in Proceedings of the 2010 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, May 2010, pp. 2758-2764.

• K.C. Wolfe, M.D.M. Kutzer, M. Armand, and G.S. Chirikjian, “Trajectory Generation and Steering Optimization for Self-Assembly of a Modular Robotic System,” in Proceedings of the 2010 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, May 2010, pp. 4996-5001.

• Y. Otake, M. Armand, O. Sadowsky, R.S. Armiger, M.D. Kutzer, S. Mears, P. Kazanzides, and R.H. Taylor, “An Image-Guided Femoroplasty System: Development and Initial Cadaver Study,” in Proceedings of SPIE, Feb. 2010.

• Y. Otake, M. Armand, O. Sadowsky, M. Kutzer, R.S. Armiger, E. Basafa, P. Kazanzides, and R.H. Taylor, “Development of a Navigation System for Femoral Augmentation Using an Intraoperative C-Arm Reconstruction,” in Proceedings of the 9th Annual Meeting of CAOS-International, June 2009, pp. 177-180.

• E. Basafa, R. Armiger, M.D. Kutzer, E. Sutter, S. Mears, and M. Armand, “Optimizing Cement Injection in Osteoporotic Femur Augmentation,” in Proceedings of the 9th Annual Meeting of CAOS-International, June 2009, pp. 319-322.

• M. Kutzer, B. Vigaru. “Detection, Tracking, and Classification of Moving Objects for Unstable Video Surveillance Applications”, in Proceedings of the 2008 IEEE International Carnahan Conference on Security Technology, Prague, Oct. 2008.

• K. Kuchenbecker, D. Ferguson, M. Kutzer, M. Moses, A. Okamura. “The Touch Thimble: Providing Fingertip Contact Feedback during Point-Force Haptic Interaction”, in Proceedings of the IEEE 16th Symposium on Haptic Interfaces for Virtual Environments and Teleoperator Systems, Mar. 2008, pp. 239-246.

Other Publications

• E.W. Tunstel Jr., K.C. Wolfe, M.D.M. Kutzer, M.S. Johannes, C.Y. Brown, K.D. Katy, M.P. Para, and M.J. Zeher, “Recent Enhancements to Mobile Bimanual Robotic Teleoperation with Insight Toward Improving Operator Control,” Johns Hopkins APL Technical Digest, Vol. 32, No. 3, 2013, pp. 584-594.

• R.C. Grande, M.D.M. Kutzer, C.Y. Brown, and M. Armand, “Buckybot: Preliminary Control and Mapping Algorithms for a Robot Geometrically Based on a Truncated Icosahedron,” Johns Hopkins APL Technical Digest, Vol. 32, No. 3, 2013, pp. 605-612.

• M.D.M. Kutzer, E.W. Tunstel Jr., C.Y. Brown, D. Vahdat, J.E. Clark, N.J. Cowan, and M. Armand, “Morphable Limbs for Multi-Legged Climbing on Convex Structures,” Johns Hopkins APL Technical Digest, Vol. 32, No. 3, 2013, pp. 613-618.

• Y. Otake, M. Armand, O. Sadowski, M.D. Kutzer, R.S. Armiger, P. Kazanzides, and R.H. Taylor, “An Iterative Framework for Accuracy Improvement of Intraoperative Intensity-based 2D/3D Registration for Image-Guided Therapy,” Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Springer, Vol. 6136, pp. 23-33, 2010.

• M. Kutzer, C. Brown, D. Scheidt, M. Armand, K. Wolfe, M. Moses, and G. Chirikjian, “Reconfigurable Robotic System with Independently Mobile Modules,” Johns Hopkins APL Technical Digest, Vol. 28, No. 3, 2010, pp. 270-271.

• M. Armand, R. Armiger, M. Kutzer, C. Brown, S. Mears, E. Sutton, P. Kazanzides, R. Taylor, Y. Otake, O. Sadowski, and E. Basafa, “Image-Guided, Robotically Assisted Osteoporotic Bone Augmentation,” Johns Hopkins APL Technical Digest, Vol. 28, No. 3, 2010, pp. 216-217.

• R.M. Johnson, D. Ferguson, J. Kegelman, J. Lefkowitz, T. Rajpal, A.F. Conn, M. Armand, C.Y. Brown, A.F. DeBella, M.D. Kutzer, and D. L. Ryan, “Senior Design Project: Miniature Actuator for Throwable Robot,” Johns Hopkins APL Technical Digest, Vol. 28, No. 3 2010, pp. 272-273.

• K.M. Kalumuck, A. Brandt, M. Armand, M.D. Kutzer, C.Y. Brown, N.J. Cowan, A. Prosperetti, C. Blizzard, R. Burns, M. Takagi, and E.S. Fortune, “Biomimetic Undulating Fin Propulsion for Maneuvering Underwater Vehicles,” Johns Hopkins APL Technical Digest, Vol. 28, No. 3 2010, pp. 278-279.

Patents
• U.S. Patent No. 10,259,129 – M. Armand, M. Moses, M. Kutzer, J. Tiffany, “Adjustable Stiffness Morphable Manipulator,” Apr. 2019.

• U.S. Patent No. 9,927,060 – M. Moses, C. Brown, M. Kutzer, J. Tiffany, D. Scheidt, M. Rizk , “Vehicle for Navigating within an Enclosed Space,” Mar. 2018.

• U.S. Patent No. 9,737,687 – M. Armand, M. Kutzer, C. Brown, R. Taylor, E. Basafa, “Cable-Driven Morphable Manipulator,” Aug. 2017.

Patent Application Publications

• Pub. No.: US 2015/0321343 A1 – M. Armand, M. Moses, M. Kutzer, J. Tiffany, “Adjustable Stiffness Morphable Manipulator,” Nov. 2015.

Patent Filings

• Serial No.: 62/137,715 – J. Davis, M. Kutzer, G. Chirikjian, P. Biermann, R. Matteson, R. Forrest, “Systems and Methods for Conformal Additive Manufacturing”

Presentations

• M. Kutzer, “A.W.E.S.O.M-O: Why Eric Cartman is a genius (An Overview of JHU/APL’s Dexterous Telemanipulation Research: Applications to Bimanual Operations and Computer Integrated Surgery),” presented to the University of Maryland Institute for Systems Research, July 2013.

• M. Kutzer, “A Continuum Manipulator Made of Interlocking Fibers,” presented at the 2013 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, May 2013.

• M. Kutzer, “Collaborative Efforts in Computer Aided Surgery,” presented to the JHU/APL Executive Council, Feb. 2013.

• M. Kutzer, “Education, Robots, and Interns,” presented to the Baltimore Excellence in STEM Teaching (BEST) Project, Towson University Center for STEM Excellence, Jan. 2013.

• M. Kutzer, “Design and Modeling of a Surgical Manipulator: A Practical Application of Trigonometry and Linear Algebra in Robotics,” presented at the Association for Maryland Independent Schools (AIMS) Annual Conference, Nov. 2012.

• M. Kutzer, “Cable Length Estimation for a Compliant Surgical Manipulator,” presented at the 2012 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, May 2012.

• M. Kutzer, “A Scalable Cable Driven Morphable Manipulator,” presented to the Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School, Mar. 2012.

• M. Kutzer, “An Automatic Injection Device for Precise Cement Delivery during Osteoporotic Bone Augmentation,” presented at the ASME 2011 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences & Computers and Information in Engineering Conference (IDETC/CIE 2011), Aug. 2011.

• M. Kutzer, “Design of a New Cable Driven Manipulator with a Large Open Lumen: Preliminary Applications in the Minimally-Invasive Removal of Osteolysis,” presented at the 2011 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, May 2011.

Honors and Awards

• Outstanding Special Publication Award, JHU/APL (2014)
• IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Best Medical Robotics Paper (2013)
• Invention of the Year Nominee, JHU/APL (2013)
• Government Purpose Innovation Award Nominee, JHU/APL (2012)
• Janney Publication Award Recipient, JHU/APL (2011)
• Invention of the Year Nominee, JHU/APL (2011)

Professional Organizations

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
IEEE Robotics and Automation Society
American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)