Humanoid robots like those visualized in science fiction are likely a decade or more away from becoming part of our everyday lives, but the groundwork for the robotic future — including the ability for “agentic” machines to perform self-directed tasks — is being laid right now in Bryant University’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Lab. 

The AI Lab, which opened in 2024 as part of Bryant’s new Business Entrepreneurship Leadership Center (BELC), pairs programmable humanoid robots with workstations equipped with powerful Graphic Processing Unit (GPU) chips that can run the large language models needed to analyze large sets of data and create AI tools. 

The lifelike robots Pepper and NAO put a human(oid) face on the AI Lab, but the GPU workstations are where students and faculty collaborate to build new robotic capabilities (including for a recently acquired robot arm, similar to those used in manufacturing) and generative AI tools.  

“A GPU is a high-power computer chip which allow you to process and manipulate lots of data at one time,” explains Suhong Li, Ph.D., chair and professor in Bryant’s Information Systems and Analytics Department. “A regular CPU (like those found in ordinary desktop computers and laptops) is not sufficient.” 

For example, Li says, deep learning — a type of machine learning that uses artificial neural networks to learn from data — requires the processing power of GPU chips, which were originally designed to handle graphics. The same is true of the large language models used to create generative AI, she says. 

The AI Lab features five collaborative GPU workstations with chips manufactured by NVIDIA (the world’s leading supplier of AI hardware and software), in addition to more everyday tools like movable whiteboards and large-screen monitors for presentations. 

Chen Zhang, Ph.D., associate professor of Information Systems Analytics, plans to use the lab as a classroom for his “Machine Learning Applications with Robotics” class, which will be offered as an elective for the first time in the Spring 2025 semester. Students in the class will learn to program robots using OpenAI’s API and programming languages like Python and the Robotic Operating System (ROS). 

"We're introducing Bryant students to different applications of robotics and applications of machine learning such as natural language processing and computer vision,” says Zhang. “Basically, it's hand/eye coordination, how you convert the perception to manipulation, which actually is quite a complex process. Students are learning how to make the robots move and perform manual tasks, as well as programming their interaction with people and how they answer questions." 

The lab also will play a role in supporting a minor in AI that’s currently being developed at Bryant, says Li. When not in use for classes, however, the AI Lab is open for students to use at any time. 

“The lab was designed as a place for collaboration and for students working on a project where they need a high-powered machine,” says Li.  

Some students, for example, have expressed an interest in building their own chatbots — something that Li herself is working on. “So, when a student has a question about my course, they can just go to ask the chatbot,” she explains. 

In addition to a teaching and learning facility, the lab also functions as a showplace for Bryant’s AI initiatives for visitors like prospective students and their families, and as a resource for the department’s corporate partners, which currently include AAA Northeast and Amica.  

“In the future, companies can come in to do some collaboration with us,” Li says. Meanwhile, Bryant Data Analytics students have used the lab to research a capstone project that involves using AI to analyze AAA travel booking data and try to predict whether and why some clients cancel their trips. 

Tom Dougherty, executive in residence in the Information Systems and Analytics Department, is actively seeking new corporate partners who want to utilize the AI Lab for meetings and presentations and to use the GPUs. 

“AI is a cost of doing business if you want to compete, and the partners we have call to ask the opinions of our faculty as they confront this developing landscape,” says Dougherty, whose background includes 35 years working as a data scientist in the corporate environment. “They can also have our students work on projects, which our partners see as having value to their companies.” 

"What we are trying to do here at Bryant is to give our students a start so that they're not going to be afraid of AI."

Through the AI Lab and the classroom, “What we are trying to do here at Bryant is to give our students a start so that they're not going to be afraid of AI,” says Zhang.  

“This is a trillion-dollar industry. IT companies have huge investment in AI,” he says. “So we definitely want students to grasp the opportunity, to use their imagination, and achieve as much as possible.”