ME Magazine Article on Robots by ODU's Ahmed Noor

[Bob Sharak]

All,

I've kind of lost touch with the project since leaving HRP but thought
you might like to take a look at the following article written by
ODU's Ahmed Noor for Mechanical Engineering magazine titled 'Moving On
Their Own". Here's the article link with photos:

http://memagazine.asme.org/Articles/2008/November/Moving_Own.cfm

Dr Noor can be reached at the following address if you would like
additional information:

Ahmed K. Noor
William E. Lobeck Professor of Aerospace Engineering
Director, Center for Advanced Engineering Environments
Old Dominion University
AKN...@odu.edu
Tel. 757 766 5233
center website; http://www.aee.odu.edu

Bob Sharak



This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. This article
may not be reprinted for commercial purposes without the written
permission of Mechanical Engineering magazine and ASME. (c) 2008
Mechanical Engineering magazine

Moving On Their Own
FOCUS ON ENGINEERING TOMORROW

Technology is advancing toward a future supported by a workforce of
autonomous, mobile robots.
by Ahmed K. Noor


The word "robot" dates back to the early 1920s. It was introduced in a
play called R.U.R. by a Czech writer, Karel Čapek. The idea of an
automaton existed in antiquity, the subject of myths and fiction, but
the first humanoid robot, Elektro, was exhibited by Westinghouse
Electric Corp. at the 1939 World's Fair. Ten years later came the
first biologically inspired autonomous robots, Elmer and Elsie. They
looked like turtles and were constructed at Bristol University in
England in 1948 and 1949. Artificial intelligence entered a fully
mobile robot when Shakey was demonstrated by the Stanford Research
Institute (now SRI International) in 1969.

Since then, robotic technologies have enabled computer-driven machines
to interact intimately with the physical world, and there has been an
expectation that robots would some day deliver humans from the
drudgery of hard work.

Automated fire protection: Advances in computing power and artificial
intelligence raise the promise of machines that will carry out
increasingly complex tasks with a decreasing reliance on human
intervention. The OLE beetle is a concept proposed in Germany at the
University of Magdeburg-Stendal.



That has partly come to pass. Contemporary robots are used for jobs
that are boring, dirty, or dangerous; or for tasks that require more
speed, precision, or endurance than a human can provide. Robots today
are part of our lives. They sweep the floor at home, and perform
almost all welding, painting, and assembly tasks in the automotive
industry. They have become a basic element of production in industries
ranging from electronics to wood products.


Military and security organizations use robots to assist in dangerous
situations. In space exploration, robots have been used as planetary
probes, orbiters, and rovers. Robots have a significant role in
medical and health care fields--helping surgeons achieve more precision
in the operating room, and performing safer, less-invasive surgeries.

We are now entering a new age of robotics. Increasing computing power
and AI advances are making robots considerably more useful, and
rapidly expanding their fields of application. Above all, robots are
becoming ever more reliable and autonomous. Indeed, networks of
intelligent, autonomous robots promise to become the next disruptive
technology.

Robots can have a profound impact on many aspects of our personal and
professional lives. In recognition of this fact, several national
robotics initiatives and activities have been launched in countries
around the world.

The estimated number of industrial robots installed worldwide,
according to World Robotics, a report published by the International
Federation of Robotics, is more than one million--50 percent in Asia
and Australia, 33 percent in Europe, and 17 percent in North America.

An assessment of the state of robotics conducted in 2006 by a panel
from the World Technology Evaluation Center, a nonprofit organization,
found that the United States leads in robot navigation in outdoor
environments, robot architectures (the integration of control,
structure, and computation), and in applications to space, defense,
underwater systems, and some aspects of service and personal robots.
Japan and Korea lead in technology for robot mobility, human-like
robots, and some aspects of service and personal robots (including
entertainment). Europe leads in mobility for structured environments,
including urban transportation. Europe also has significant programs
in elder care and home service robotics. Australia leads in commercial
applications of field robotics, particularly in such areas as cargo
handling and mining, as well as in the theory and application of
localization and navigation.

The panel reported that the U.S. lost its preeminence in industrial
robotics at the end of the 1980s, and nearly all its robots for
welding, painting, and assembly are imported from Japan or Europe.

U.S. research and development efforts on robotics have focused
primarily on military and defense-related applications--unmanned
aerial, ground, and maritime systems, both surface and undersea. The
Department of Defense has developed an unmanned-systems integrated
roadmap covering the technology to 2032. The DOD will develop an
increasingly sophisticated force of unmanned systems over the next 25
years and expects to integrate them with manned systems. Future
unmanned systems will operate independently to execute complex
missions in dynamic environments. A Robotics Industry Consortium was
formed in July of this year, with 70 initial organizations, to speed
the creation and deployment of ground robotics technology for the DOD
and other U.S. government agencies.

3-D at your fingertips: Mounted on a mobile robot, information could
be summoned as needed in public spaces.



A congressional robotics caucus was formed in 2007 to broaden
awareness among members of Congress and policy analysts of key issues
facing the U.S. robotics industry. An initiative was launched in
January this year to formulate a targeted R&D roadmap for nonmilitary
applications of robotics. It grew out of four workshops that focused
on robotics in manufacturing and automation, in medical and health
care, in domestic and professional services, and in emerging
technologies.

In Europe, the European Robotics Platform (EUROP) was formed to
strengthen links between academia and industry, and to develop a
research agenda of European robotics. The European investment in
robotics research between 2007 and 2010 is about 400 million euros
(more than $636 million).

In Japan, the Ministry of Industry and Economic Development has
sponsored robotics activities for a long time. To alleviate a
workforce shortage in the country, robots are expected to fill the
jobs of 3.5 million people by 2025. A 2007 national technology roadmap
by the Trade Ministry calls for one million robots to be installed
throughout the country by 2025. The Japanese government also estimates
that the nation may save as much as $21 billion on insurance payments
in the same year by using robots to monitor the health of elderly
people.

In South Korea, a 10-year robotics initiative was launched along with
a detailed roadmap to make the country the second-largest provider of
robotics in the world, after Japan. Two robot-themed parks are planned
to be built near Seoul by 2013. They will cost $1.6 billion and will
allow visitors to interact with advanced machines. The country's
forecasts include placing a robot in every household by 2020.

The European Union, Japan, and South Korea have developed "roboethics
roadmaps" and charters--recommendations for the safe performance of
next-generation robots, including robotic surgeons and soldiers.


FUTURE ENVIRONMENTS


The convergence of technologies involving computing, communication,
and intelligent interfaces with autonomous robotics promises to change
the way we live and work. People may one day be supported by
intelligent tools, intercommunicating devices, and robots that are
sensitive and responsive to them. The tools, devices, and robots may
be seamlessly integrated in the environment and beam information to
each other.

The concept of networking everyday objects and appliances in an
ambient intelligent environment has been actively pursued since the
beginning of the new century. However, the focus has usually been on
the creation, delivery, and sharing of information, and not on the
performance of physical tasks, which robots make possible.

Grunt work: This concept for a military robot would continue the
tradition of machines taking on jobs that are dirty or dangerous. The
image is based on tactical robotic systems by iRobot Corp.



Robotic networks are expected to handle increasingly complex tasks,
with a high degree of autonomy and capacity for collaboration, thereby
enhancing workplace productivity and safety, and making home
management easier. The robots can be provided with sensors, develop
rich models through interaction with the environment, and form a
mobile sensor network to become search engines for physical space.

The flying robot concept of Microsoft Research labs is an example of
the future mobile communication technology. The flying robot serves as
a camera, a communications device, a fully operational computer, and
more. It can accompany a person around, take pictures, receive a
message from a friend, and turn into a computer with a projected
keyboard and mouse. It can also recover files from a mobile phone.

Autonomous mobile robots may one day perform complex medical
procedures, including surgery, on patients in dangerous or remote
locations from battlefields to space, with little human guidance. A
proof of concept for this technology was reported this year at Duke
University, for a system using 3-D ultrasound and artificial
intelligence in a desktop robot.

Advances in miniaturization and bionanotechnology can lead to a new
generation of nanorobots, which would revolutionize the medical
industry. Nanobots may provide treatment at the cellular level,
perhaps clearing clogged arteries, repairing genes, battling cancer
cells, and delivering drugs.

Instant attention: Cognitive robots can be used as home helpers,
caregivers, or emergency and rescue aids.



Cognitive robots can become available as office helpers or as robotic
companions for guiding the blind and assisting the elderly. General-
purpose anthropomorphic robots, with human-like hands, can be used in
transforming manufacturing from resource-intensive to knowledge-
intensive, and creating totally unmanned factories. Agricultural
robotic scouts may roam the fields of the future to care for the
plants, use sensors to provide detailed real-time information about
the status of the crop, and apply data fusion techniques for making
management decisions.

The robotics industry is going through a paradigm shift from provider
of a specific industrial technology to a broad enabler for a wide
range of services. The challenges facing the industry are similar to
those of the computing industry three decades ago. Among these
challenges are the standardization of robotic processors and other
hardware, the accelerated development of several enabling
technologies, and the synergistic coupling of these technologies into
novel robotic systems.

Many technologies still need to be refined before the full potential
of robotics can be realized. There is a need for behavior and
environment recognition; for novel mobility concepts; for large-scale
coordination, collaboration, and interaction among different types of
robots; for language understanding; for AI-based dialogue systems for
unscripted communication with humans; for visual and voice
recognition; for faster processors, and for smaller power sources.

It's a big job that, of course, can be done. It represents opportunity
for professionals in numerous fields and will require a range of
advances. Above all, it will require the skills and collective
knowledge of multidisciplinary teams of engineers around the world to
do what they do best--to remake the world we live in.

ALREADY ON THE JOB

Autonomous and mobile robots have proliferated in recent years and
moved out of the research labs. They are increasingly evident in the
military, and in many aspects of industry and everyday life. They are
used in the military as unmanned systems for surveillance,
reconnaissance, mine detection, explosives handling, and other
missions.

Robots provide rehabilitative and assistive health care. A health care
robot developed by Skilligent LLC can navigate through a facility to
monitor patients' vital signs and to assist patients and caregivers in
their daily routines.

With increased flexibility and a smaller footprint, new mobile and
autonomous robots are used in several areas of life sciences, to
alleviate the shortage of trained workers. Applications include
laboratory automation, specialized forms of material handling, and
collecting and organizing large amounts of data.

Domestic robots include the Roomba vacuum cleaner, with over two
million units sold, and the Verro pool cleaning machine developed by
the IRobot Corp.

Autonomous robots appear as guides, receptionists, pets, or even
soccer players. The International RoboCup is one of many robotic
competitions. It aims at building a robotic soccer team that can win
against the best human team, on a real soccer field, by 2050. A number
of technologies are being integrated in the soccer robot team
including multi-agent collaboration, strategy acquisition, real-time
reasoning, and sensor fusion. The technologies developed can be
applied to search and rescue in large-scale disasters.

The uBot robotics platform developed by DigitRobotics LLC balances on
two wheels like the Segway transporter, can lift objects, and is
equipped with Skype communication software. The company's founders,
two University of Massachusetts Ph.D. students, plan to market it to
other robot designers.

AUTOMATON AUTONOMY

Autonomous robots may be characterized as intelligent machines capable
of performing tasks in unstructured environments without explicit or
continuous human control over their movements. Concepts range from
small insect-like machines to highly sophisticated humanoid robots
with social intelligence and awareness of their environment.

An autonomous robot can sense and gain information about its
surroundings, work and move either part or all of itself for an
extended period without human assistance, and avoid situations that
are harmful to people, property, or itself. It may also learn, or gain
new capabilities, like adapting to changing conditions or adjusting
strategies for accomplishing its tasks.

New categories of autonomous and mobile robots have been developed
that can significantly expand the applications of robotics.

Cognitive robots are endowed with artificial reasoning skills to
achieve complex goals in complex environments. Cognitive robots can be
used in manufacturing and as home helpers, caregivers, or emergency
and rescue aids. They are also useful for space missions.



A flying robot stars in a Microsoft video intended to encourage young
people toward careers in computer science.



A number of research projects are focused on cognitive robotic
systems, including the European Union's project CoSy--Cognitive Systems
for Cognitive Assistants--aimed at developing robots that are more
aware of their environment and better able to interact with humans.
Another is provided by the cognitive robot companion in the Cogniron
Project of the French National Center for Scientific Research. The
project aims at developing a robot that would serve humans in their
daily lives. It would exhibit cognitive capabilities for adapting its
behavior to changing situations and for various tasks.

Neurorobotics couples neuroscience with robotics. The overall goals of
the activity are to develop high-performance, human-centered robotic
systems to serve as physical platforms for validating biological
models. Current activities are focused on developing robotic devices
with control systems that mimic the nervous system, such as brain-
inspired algorithms and models of biological neural networks.

The field of evolutionary robotics emerged from the idea of allowing
robots to evolve. Although the field shares many of the insights of
artificial life, which pioneered the use of genetic algorithms in the
1970s and 1980s, evolutionary robotics is distinguished by its
insistence on making the leap from computer animations to physical
machines. Evolutionary robotics aims at developing robots that acquire
their own skills through close interaction with the environment.
Evolutionary computational tools like neural networks, genetic
algorithms, and fuzzy logic are used in developing intelligent
autonomous controllers for robots.

Life-like robots are biologically inspired robots that resemble living
systems and biological organisms, from insects to humans. Mobility
mechanisms are incorporated into their design that mimic biological
mobility systems, and the resulting robots are referred to as
biomimetic robots. A recent life-like robot project is the BigDog
built by Boston Dynamics Inc. with funding from DARPA--a quadruped
robot that can walk, run, or climb on rough terrain (and other places
where accessibility is difficult), and carry heavy loads up to 340
pounds. The iCat robot platform for human-robot interaction research,
developed by Philips labs in the Netherlands, can generate different
facial expressions and talks to its users. The Amphibian Snake robot
ACM-R5, built by the Hirose Fukushima Robotics Lab in Japan, can
slither and swim under water for 30 minutes, can navigate in very
confined spaces, and can search for earthquake victims.

Several humanoid and anthropomorphic robots were created to imitate
some of the physical and mental functions of humans. They wrestle,
skate, or play soccer. Honda's Asimo, originally developed in 2000,
has more recently been equipped with software and an array of eight
microphones, which enable it to understand three humans shouting at
once. Sony has a dancing robot, Sugoi. A home helper robot, HRP-2 or
Promet, from Kawada Industries Inc., understands voice commands. HRP-3
from the same company can work in hazardous environments and carry out
disaster relief. The Kansei robot, developed by Japan's Robot and
Science Institute, can make up 36 different facial expressions in
response to words associated with different emotions.

Cyborg robots, in the form of hybrid biological/artificial assistive
limbs and wearable robots, have been developed to expand and improve
human capability. The robotic exoskeleton developed by Raytheon
amplifies the wearer's ability and enhances personal mobility. An
integrated prosthetic arm prototype that can be controlled naturally
has been developed by an international team led by Johns Hopkins
University under DARPA sponsorship. The arm, Proto 1, provides sensory
feedback and allows for eight degrees of freedom--a level of control
far beyond the current state of the art for prosthetic limbs.

Advances in computing, sensing, networking, and communication
technologies have led to the development of distributed robotics and
multirobot systems for performing complex tasks in dynamic and
challenging environments. Applications include search and rescue,
reconnaissance, cleanups of toxic spills, firefighting, and planetary
exploration.

Swarm robotics envisions large numbers of mostly simple robots. It is
inspired by swarm intelligence, the principle of cooperation observed
in colonies of ants and bees. The swarm may consist of heterogeneous
robots, differing in the type of sensors, manipulators, and
computational power. Robots can communicate by wireless transmission
systems.

Potential applications for swarm robotics include tasks that demand
miniaturization, like distributed sensing tasks in micromachinery or
the human body; tasks that demand cheap design, such as mining or
agricultural foraging; and tasks for which failure can be very costly,
such as planetary exploration. A current swarm robotic project is the
shape-shifting, or "claytronic," robots of Carnegie Mellon University.
The pocket-size, cylindrical wheeled robots of the swarm use
electromagnetic forces to cling together, and to assume different
shapes. A.K.N.



FOR MORE INFORMATION

Readers interested in pursuing the subject covered in this article
will find links to more information at http://www.aee.odu.edu/automobilerobotics.

The Web site, created as a companion to Mechanical Engineering
magazine's November Feature Focus, contains links to material on
autonomous and mobile robotics systems and technologies, and has
continuously updated information feeds. There are also links to other
online services and features of the Center for Advanced Engineering
Environments at Old Dominion University.


Ahmed K. Noor is eminent scholar and William E. Lobeck Professor of
Aerospace Engineering, as well as the director of the Center for
Advanced Engineering Environments at Old Dominion University in
Norfolk, Va.