Technical Activities
Report
Ken Goldberg, VP Technical Activities
Spring 2007, ICRA, Rome
The Future of
Robot Operating Systems
Tandy Trower
Herman Bruyninckx
Gian Paolo Gerio
Nobuto Matsuhira
Paolo Pirjanian
Bruno Siciliano
Ken Goldberg
ieee icra panel, 12 april, 2007
RAS Technical Activities Board
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Vice President, Technical Activities
Associate VPTAs
RAS Officers
45 Technical Committee Co-Chairs
24 Distinguished Lecturers
“At-large” members: Tatsuo Arai, Alicia
Casals, Satoshi Tadokoro, and Sebastian
Thrun
Agenda, TAB Meeting, ICRA, Rome, April 2007
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Review of Progress to date
GOLD Lunch, Panel on Robot Operating Systems
Review of TCs and DLs: Most Active TC and DL
Proposed New RAS Field of Interest (FOI) Statement
Proposed Statement of Support for TCs
Proposed new category: Technical Communities
Proposed Wiki on RAS Research Milestones
Increasing TC's role in ICRA, IROS, CASE Session
Assignments
9. "Birds of a Feather" meetings during conferences
10.Other Topics
TAB Report, ICRA, Orlando, 20 May 2006
1. Approved: Establish 2 New TCs:
• Algorithms for Planning and Control of Robot Motion
• Space Robotics
2. Approved: Expanding DL program from 15 to 24 DLS
3. Approved: Most Active DL Award (+$1000/year)
4. Approved: Expand Young Professionals Lunch to IROS
(+$5000/year)
5. Approved: Approve TAB Charter
TAB Report, IROS, Shanghai,
Oct 2006
1. Proposal: Name Change:
1. Young Professionals Lunch
2. GOLD Lunch (Graduates of the Last Decade)
2. Proposal: Establish New TC:
• Technical Committee on Haptics (TCH)
3. New DL Candidates from Under-Represented Areas
4. Future Work: RAS Focus of Interest (FOI)
GOLD Lunch
Wednesday, 12:40-2:00pm
Panel on Future of Robot Operating Systems
Thursday, 5:10-6:30pm
Microsoft Robotics Studio
Released Fall 2006
IEEE CASE 2007
Scottsdale, Arizona, USA
22-25 September, 2007
Submissions Due 30 April 2007
www.ieee.org/t-ase
RAS Distinguished Lecturers
Asia and Pacific
Hugh Durrant-Whyte
Li-Chen Fu
Shuuji Kajita
Frank Park
Yoshihiko Nakamura
Shigeki Sugano
N. Vishu Viswanadham
Michael Wang
Europe
Wolfram Burgard
Alicia Casals
Dan Halperin
Jean Paul Laumond
Majid Nili
Klas Nilsson
Bruno Siciliano
Roland Siegwart
Americas
Nancy Amato
Mario Campos
Vijay Kumar
Peter Luh
Deirdre Meldrum
Tim Salcudean
Metin Sitti
Alfredo Weitzefeld
RAS Distinguished Lecturers
Asia and Pacific
Hugh Durrant-Whyte
Li-Chen Fu
Shuuji Kajita
Frank Park
Yoshihiko Nakamura
Shigeki Sugano
N. Vishu Viswanadham
Michael Wang
Europe
Wolfram Burgard
Alicia Casals
Dan Halperin
Jean Paul Laumond
Majid Nili
Klas Nilsson
Bruno Siciliano
Roland Siegwart
Americas
Nancy Amato
Mario Campos
Vijay Kumar
Peter Luh
Deirdre Meldrum
Tim Salcudean
Metin Sitti
Alfredo Weitzefeld
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Technical Committee
TAB Database Last Updated
Aerial Robotics and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
Agricultural Robotics
Bio Robotics
Computer & Robot Vision
Humanoid Robotics
Human-Robot Interaction & Coordination
Intelligent Transportation Systems
Manufacturing Automation
Micro/Nano Robotics and Automation
Networked Robots
Programming Environments
Prototyping for Robotics and Automation
Rehabilitation Robotics
Robo-Ethics
Safety Security and Rescue Robotics
Service Robotics
Semiconductor Manufacturing Automation
Surgical Robotics
Underwater Robotics
Planning and Control of Robot Motion
Space Robotics
Haptics
September 30, 2006
October 22, 2006
January 25, 2007
April 1, 2007
October 8, 2006
September 30, 2006
April 3, 2007
April 6, 2007
February 11, 2007
March 1, 2007
January 8, 2007
March 12, 2006
April 6, 2007
January 25, 2007
August 31, 2005
January 12, 2007
January 16, 2007
January 25, 2007
March 5, 2006
January 18, 2007
February 27, 2007
April 4, 2007
Aerial Robotics and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
Flying opens new opportunities to robotically perform field services and
tasks like search and rescue, observation and mapping. Key areas to be
addressed include autonomous missions, localization and multi-vehicle
coordination.
Activities:
•IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine Special Issue "Unmanned Aerial
Vehicles: Enabling Technologies and Roadmap for Autonomy", Guest
Editors: K.P. Valavanis (USF) and G.J. Vachtsevanos (Georgia Tech)
•Springer-Verlag Book on UAVs (to be published)
•2006 2nd Annual Indoor Aerial Robot Competition, May 7, 2006 Philadelphia
•ICRA 2006:
•Full day workshop, “UAVs: Missions and Payloads”
•Full day tutorial, “Hands-on Lessons for UAV Construction”
•To Join, Contact Paul Oh:
paul@coe.drexel.edu
IEEE Robotics & Automation Society
Agricultural Robotics Technical Committee
Australia and the
National Centre for Engineering in Agriculture
develop Vision/GPS/Inertial guidance systems
for farm machinery
University of Southern Queensland researchers and
the National Centre for Engineering in Agriculture
develop image processing systems for livestock
recognition
University of Georgia researchers develop networked
autonomous GPS guided farm vehicles
To Join:
Jason Stone: stonej@usq.edu.au
John Billingsley: billings@usq.edu.au
TC on Bio Robotics
Recent Advances:
A novel bio-inspired articulated robotic probe (HARP) was
developed based on a snake-like mechanism for minimally
invasive surgery. Reference: A. Degani, H. Choset, A. Wolf, T. Ota,
M.A. Zenati, “Percutaneous Intrapericardial interventions using a
highly articulated robotic probe”, Proc. BIOROB 2006, pp. 7-12.
Remote-controlled surgical
robots promise to save lives by
imitating surgeons’ dexterity
in cases where patient cannot
be transferred to the hospital.
Reference: J. Rose and B.
Hannaford, “DOC at a
distance”, IEEE Spectrum, Vol.
43, No. 10, pp. 28-33, October
2006.
A novel bio-inspired articulated
robotic probe (HARP) was
developed based on a snake-like
mechanism for minimally
invasive surgery. Reference: S.
Au, P. Dilworth, H. Herr. “An
ankle-foot emulation system for
the study of human walking
biomechanics”, In Proc. ICRA
2006, pp. 2939-2945.
Contact email to join:
The WABIAN-2R reproduces more closely the
human-like walking with stretched knees,
heel contact and toe-off motions. Reference: Y.
Ogura, K. Shimomura, H. Kondo, A. Morishima,
T. Okubo, S. Momoki, H. Lim, A. Takanishi.
“Human-like walking with knee stretched,
heel-contact and toe-off motion by a humanoid
robot,” In Proc. IROS 2006, pp. 3976-3981.
TC Co-Chairs:
Atsuo Takanishi, Waseda University
Blake Hannaford, University of Washington
• Jorge Solis (Waseda University)
TC_contact@takanishi.mech.waseda.ac.jp
Algorithms for Planning and Control of Robot Motion
Integration of Planning and Control:
Planning based on local feedback control
policies (Connor, Choset, Rizzi, CMU);
others results at UIUC, UMass Amherst,
…
Funding:
SToMP: $7.8 million DARPA
program headed by UIUC to
investigate sensor-based
planning and associated
mathematical and algorithmic
challenges; others: Penn, U of
Chicago, Rochester, CarnegieMellon, Melbourne University,
Arizona State, and Bell
Labs/Lucent
Applications in Molecular Biology:
Protein folding kinetics (Texas A&M,
Stanford); Simulating large-amplitude
molecular motion (LAAS); Protein structure
prediction (UMass Amherst); other results
at CMU, Rice, …
Real-World Implementation:
Motion planning algorithms are being
implemented on real-world humanoid
robots at U Tokyo, AIST, CMU, …
To Join:
Oliver Brock (oli@cs.umass.edu)
Tsutomu Hasegawa (hasegawa@irvs.is.kyushu-u-ac.jp);
Steve LaValle (lavalle@uiuc.edu)
Thierry Simeon (nic@laas.fr)
Computer and Robot Vision Technical Committee
Chairs: Danica Kragic (KTH) and Ioannis Kakadiaris (UH)
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Real-time, Stereo Based Object
Recognition and Pose Estimation
Vision Based Activity Interpretation
for Robot Learning by Demonstration
Vision Based Simultaneous
Localization and Mapping
To join: danik@nada.kth.se
Haptics Technical Committee
Recent advances:
New consumer level
low-cost haptic interface
(Novint Falcon)
2006 conferences best papers:
Q. Wang and V. Hayward, “Compact, Portable, Modular, Highperformance Distributed Tactile Display Device Based on Lateral
Skin Deformation”, Haptic Symposium, pp. 10-16, 2006.
Y.-S. Lee, S. Lai-Yuen, “Energy-Field Optimization and HapticBased Molecular Docking and Assembly Search System for
Computer-Aided Molecular Design”, Haptic Symposium,
pp. 34-40, 2006.
M. Reiner, D. Hecht, G. Halevy, M. Furman, “Semantic
Interference and Facilitation in Haptic Perception”, EuroHaptics
Conference, pp. 31-35, 2006.
E. van West, A. Yamamoto, T. Higuchi, "Development of ‘Haptic
Tweezer’, a non-contact object handling system using magnetic
levitation and haptic device“, EuroHaptics Conference,
pp. 87-92, 2006.
Contact co-chairs to join:
Hong Tan
Matthias Harders
Hiroyuki Kajimoto
hongtan@purdue.edu
mharders@vision.ee.ethz.ch
kajimoto@hc.uec.ac.jp
Human-Robot Interaction and Coordination
Co-Chairs: Cecilia Laschi , Cynthia Breazeal, Yasushi Nakauchi
• Recent Technical Developments
– Computational models of core human socio-cognitive
skills (such as perspective taking and shared attention)
have been successfully demonstrated to improve the
quality of human-robot teamwork and interaction
– HRI frameworks have successfully been applied to
traditional machine learning methods to enable
humanoid and mobile robots to learn from natural
human interactions via imitation, demonstration, and
tutelage.
– The HRI community has embarked on developing
evaluation metrics that embrace multi-disciplinary
perspectives such as human factors, psychology,
robotics, etc. for diverse areas of HRI such as Urban
Search and Rescue, Social Robotics, H-R teams for
Space Exploration, and more.
Leonardo sharing attention during
collaborative tasks at MIT Media
Lab
DB learning by demonstration
to play air-hockey at ATR
• To Join: tchric-all@hri.iit.tsukuba.ac.jp
Robonaut (teleop)astronaut teams at NASA
JSC
Humanoid Robotics
IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots 2005 Event - conference
December 5, 2005 - Tsukuba, Japan
The conference theme was "Humanoid Robots that Interact with Humans and the Society,"
reflecting growing interests in personal service and entertainment robots that can interact
with humans. The conference was part of a series started in Boston in 2000, and traveled
through Tokyo (2001), Karlsruhe/Munich (2003), and Santa Monica (2004), and brought the
spirit to Tsukuba. The 2005 World Exposition, Aichi, Japan had taken place from March 25
to September 25, 2005 with a theme on "nature's wisdom" for rediscovering the
relationship between humanity and technology, and featuring the robotic exposition.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, anthropomorphism in robotics
(hardware/software/theory), Robotics for human science
(behavioral/psychological/cognitive/neural science), Human science for robotics, Humanrobot interaction, Humanoid robot applications, Key-components for humanoid robots.
•To Join:
Sugano, Shigeki (sugano@waseda.jp)
Hirukawa, Hirohisa (hiro. Hirukawa@aist.go.jp)
Lee, C. S. George (csglee@purdue.edu)
Christian Laugier; Urbano Nunes; Alberto Broggi
The DARPA Grand
Challenge
•The first race ever that saw 5 autonomous vehicles
reach the finish line after 130+ miles of desert, rough
terrain, and extreme conditions.
•The first time that unmanned vehicles
in this extremely complex task.
succeed
Cybercars: a new approach for
sustainable mobility
Emerging as an alternative to the private passenger
car, cybercars try to offer the same flexibility and much
less nuisances based on fully automated electrical
vehicles with on-demand and door-to-door capability. Fleets
of such vehicles are being deployed in several worldwide
cities and are already operational in specific
environments such as
shuttle
services for
passenger transportation.
Steering Control
Combination of Adaptive Cruise
Control (ACC) and Lane Keep
Assist System (LKAS).
Join: Urbano Nunes,
urbano@isr.uc.pt
Manufacturing Automation
Co-Chairs:
• Michael Yu Wang
Chinese University of Hong
Kong
• Zexiang Li
Hong Kong University of
Science & Technology
• Kin Huat Low
Nanyang Technological
University, Singapore
To join:
• Kin Huat Low
mkhlow@ntu.edu.sg

"Steady-State Throughput and
Scheduling Analysis of MultiCluster Tools for Semiconductor
Manufacturing"
Jingang Yi, (Lam Research
Corporation), Shengwei Ding,
(University ofCalifornia at
Berkeley) and Dezhen Song,
(Texas A&M University, USA)

"Geometric Computation for
Assembly Planning with Planar
Toleranced Parts"
Yaron Ostrovsky-Berman and
Leo Joskowicz (The Hebrew
University of Jerusalem, Israel)

"Analysis of Andon Type
Transfer Production Lines: A
Quantitative Approach"
Jingshan Li and Dennis E.
Blumenfeld (General Motors
Research & Development
Center, USA)
Micro / Nano Robotics and Automation TC
Recent Advances:
Electron micrograph of a nanoactuator built
from telescoping carbon nanotubes. Note the
difference in length between top and bottom
panels. Reference: L. Dong, B. J. Nelson, T.
Fukuda and F. Arai, “Towards Linear Nano
Servomotors”, IEEE Trans. on Automation
Science & Engineering, 2006, pp. 228-235.
Fully automatic manipulation of nanoparticles
with sizes ~ 10 nm. Planned sequence of
operations on left AFM image result on the
pattern on right. Reference: B. Mokaberi, J. Yun,
M. Wang and A. A. G. Requicha, “Automated
Nanomanipulation with Atomic Force
Microscopes”, ICRA 07, Rome, Italy, 2007.
Contact Co-Chairs to Join:
Fumihito Arai
arai@imech.mech.tohoku.ac.jp
Nicholas Chaillet
nicolas.chaillet@ens2m.fr
Ari Requicha
requicha@usc.edu
Networked Robots
A "networked robot" is a robotic device connected to a communications network such as the
Internet or LAN. The network could be wired or wireless, and based on any of of a variety of
protocols such as TCP, UDP, or 802.11. Many new applications are now being developed ranging
from automation to exploration. There are two subclasses of Networked Robots:
1) Tele-operated, where human supervisors send commands and receive feedback via the network.
Such systems support research, education, and public awareness by making valuable resources
accessible to broad audiences.
2) Autonomous, where robots and sensors exchange data via the network. In such systems, the
sensor network extends the effective sensing range of the robots, allowing them to communicate
with each other over long distances to coordinate their activity.
Networked robots pose a number of technical challenges related to network noise, reliability,
congestion, fixed and variable time delay, stability, passivity, range and power limitations,
deployment, coverage, safety, localization, sensor and actuation fusion, and user interface design.
New capabilities arise frequently with the introduction of new hardware, software, and protocol
standards.
Co-Chairs: Dez Song, Nori Hagita, Klaus Schilling
Past Chairs: Wolfram Burgard, Nak-Young Chong, and Gaurav Sukhatme
To Join: dzsong@cs.tamu.edu
Programming Environments in Robotics & Automation
Advances in Robot Software Development
• Domain Analysis : identification of issues and challenges in robot
software development
– Hardware heterogeneity
– Prototype/Simulation/Reality
• Component-based Development : definition of reusable
software component models
– Component internal behavior
– Component external interface
– Component integration
• Framework-based Development : definition of software
architectures for robot control application
– Middleware for distribution
– Functionality customization
To Join:
Brugali, Davide
brugali.unibg.it
Prototyping for Robotics & Automation
• TC Chairs:
– I-Ming Chen (Nanyang Technological
University
– Metin Sitti (Carnegie Mellon University)
• Recent Technical Developments
– Spherical Actuators (3-DOF ball-joint like
direct-drive actuator)
– Micro- & Nano manipulation components
(Flexure-based Electromagnetic Linear
Actuator for high precision force control
and positioning)
– Reconfigurable Automation
(Reconfigurable and modular robotics)
Spherical actuator
Reconf. automation
• To Join: I-Ming Chen
(michen@ntu.edu.sg)
Flexure linear actuator
Rehabilitation Robotics
Michelle J. Johnson
Eugenio Guglielmelli
Marquette University, USA
(From RAS Area 1: Americas)
Università Campus Bio-Medico, Italy
(From RAS Area 2: Europe, Middle Est & Africa)
Takahori Shibata
AIST, Japan
(From RAS Area 3: Asia & Oceania)
RECENT ACHIEVEMENTS
ROBOT-THERAPIST CO-OPERATION
FOR LOWER LIMB MOTOR THERAPY
• The KineAssist is a robotic device for
gait and balance motor training
• It results from a partnership of the
Rehab Institute of Chicago with the
IDEO company
• Key novel feature is therapist-robot
physical interaction and co-operation
for assisting the patient exercise
A NEW SIMPLE SYSTEM FOR ROBOTMEDIATED UPPER LIMB MOTOR THERAPY
THE WL-16 LEGGED CHAIR FOR MOBILITY
OF THE ELDERLY AND THE DISABLED
• MEMOS is a novel low-cost, 2 d.o.f. • This robot consists of two Stewart
Platform type legs and waist with a
mechatronic system for elbow-shoulder
passenger seat
rehabilitation
•
Developed by Waseda University (Tokyo)
• Developed by the ARTS Lab of the Scuola
in co-operation with the
TMSUK
Superiore Sant’Anna (Pisa) and experimented
company
at Fondazione S. Maugeri (Veruno), Italy
• Preliminary clinical trials on post-stroke • Preliminary tests confirmed the stability
and effectiveness of the system carrying
patients show very encouraging results
one 60 Kg passenger
Robo-Ethics
MEMBER
COUNTER
78
Roboethics is Ethics applied to Robotics.
It is the human-centered ethics guiding the design,
construction and use of the robots.
Gianmarco Veruggio <gianmarco@veruggio.it> (Corresp. Co-chair)
Ronald C. Arkin <arkin@cc.gatech.edu> (Co-chair)
Atsuo Takanishi <takanisi@waseda.jp> (Co-chair)
RECENT DEVELOPEMENTS
• New website http://www.roboethics.org/ieee_ras_tc/
• Humanoids’06: During the Poster Session of the IEEE-RAS
International Conference on Humanoid Robots, poster displaying
the TC activities and announcing the ICRA07 Workshop on
Roboethics.
• ICRA’07 Workshop on Roboethics, Rome, 14 April 2007.
http://www.roboethics.org/icra07
The goal of the Full Day Workshop is a cross-cultural update for
engineering scientists who wish to monitor the medium and long
effects of applied robotics technologies.
info@roboethics.org
Safety Security and Rescue Robotics
* IEEE International Workshop on Safety, Securitiy and Rescue Robotics (SSRR 2006)
Workshop August 25, 2006 - NIST, Gaithersburg, MD, USA
Contact Information: Adam Jacoff (adam dot jacoff at nist dot gov)
* IEEE International Workshop on Safety, Security and Rescue Robotics (SSRR 2005)
Workshop June 9, 2005 - Kobe, Japan
o Nardi, Daniele (nardi@dis.uniroma1.it)
+ Univ. Roma "La Sapienza", Dip. Informatica e Sistemistica
o Voyles, Richard (voyles.cs.umn.edu)
+ University of Minnesota
o Matsuno, Fumitoshi (matsuno.hi.mce.uec. Ac.jp)
+ The University of Electro-Communications
+ corresponding chair - send email to join committee
* Committee Chairs Emeritus:
o Tadokoro, Satoshi (tadokoro.rm.is.tohoku.ac. jp)
+ Tohoku University
To Join: : Satoshi Tadokoro (tadokoro@rm.is.tohoku.ac.jp)
TC homepage: http://ford.ieor.berkeley.edu/tzhang/TC/
Contact : Mike Tao Zhang, mike.zhang@cal.berkeley.edu
230+ members worldwide; 2 journal special issues
7 TC meetings, and 6 conferences 2006-2007
Service Robots TC
Recent Advances:
Robot learns to grasp everyday chores,
Stanford Report, November 8, 2006.
Brain Waves Guide Walking
Robots, Discovery News,
1/10/07.
Contact Co-Chairs to Join:
Hadi Moradi
Giovanni Muscato
moradi@usc.edu
gmuscato@diees.unict.it
Space Robotics
•
Founding co-chairs :
•
Rick Wagner (NGC)
•
Dimi Apostolopoulos (CMU)
•
Hobson Lane (Northrop Grumman Corp.)
•
Richard Volpe (JPL)
•
Membership increased to 13 in 2006.
•
Cooperation with other organizations initiated
•
The TC membership voted overwhelmingly to broaden the initial scope of the TC
from orbital (in-space) robotics only to include planetary robotics.
•
An ICRA ’07 workshop on Space Robotics was proposed and accepted by the ICRA
committee.
To Join: Rick.Wagner@NGC.com
Surgical Robotics
Automatic Detection of Instruments
in Laparoscopic Images
Some examples of recent applications…
MRI-Compatible Robotics
Credit: (Voros, et. al., TIMC)
Locomoting Devices
Credit: S. DiMaio et al., BioRob 2006
TC Co-Chairs:
Jaydev P. Desai, desai@coe.drexel.edu
Frank Tendick, frank.tendick@ucsf.edu
Mamoru Mitsuishi, mamoru@nml.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp
Credit: Metin Sitti, CMU
To join, please contact Corresponding Chair:
Jaydev P. Desai - desai@coe.drexel.edu
Underwater Robotics
Co-Chairs: J. Yuh and Dan Stilwell
The Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science
and Technology (JAMSTEC) has developed a
deep-sea vehicle, URASHIMA for ocean
science and exploration of ocean resources.
This vehicle is one of the first underwater
vehicles powered by fuel cell technology.
http://www.jamstec.go.jp/
The Autonomous System Laboratory (ASL) of
the University of Hawaii, MASE, Inc, and The
Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC)
have developed the SAUVIM AUV for
intervention missions in up to 6,000m depth
and demonstrated its autonomous robotic arm
operation in 2005.
http://www.eng.hawaii.edu/~asl/
To Join: stilwell.vt.edu
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Technical Committee
TAB Database Last Updated
Aerial Robotics and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
Agricultural Robotics
Bio Robotics
Computer & Robot Vision
Humanoid Robotics
Human-Robot Interaction & Coordination
Intelligent Transportation Systems
Manufacturing Automation
Micro/Nano Robotics and Automation
Networked Robots
Programming Environments
Prototyping for Robotics and Automation
Rehabilitation Robotics
Robo-Ethics
Safety Security and Rescue Robotics
Service Robotics
Semiconductor Manufacturing Automation
Surgical Robotics
Underwater Robotics
Planning and Control of Robot Motion
Space Robotics
Haptics
September 30, 2006
October 22, 2006
January 25, 2007
April 1, 2007
October 8, 2006
September 30, 2006
April 3, 2007
April 6, 2007
February 11, 2007
March 1, 2007
January 8, 2007
March 12, 2006
April 6, 2007
January 25, 2007
August 31, 2005
January 12, 2007
January 16, 2007
January 25, 2007
March 5, 2006
January 18, 2007
February 27, 2007
April 4, 2007
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Technical Committee
TAB Database Last Updated
Aerial Robotics and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
Agricultural Robotics
Bio Robotics
Computer & Robot Vision
Humanoid Robotics
Human-Robot Interaction & Coordination
Intelligent Transportation Systems
Manufacturing Automation
Micro/Nano Robotics and Automation
Networked Robots
Programming Environments
Prototyping for Robotics and Automation
Rehabilitation Robotics
Robo-Ethics
Safety Security and Rescue Robotics
Service Robotics
Semiconductor Manufacturing Automation
Surgical Robotics
Underwater Robotics
Planning and Control of Robot Motion
Space Robotics
Haptics
September 30, 2006
October 22, 2006
January 25, 2007
April 1, 2007
October 8, 2006
September 30, 2006
April 3, 2007
April 6, 2007
February 11, 2007
March 1, 2007
January 8, 2007
March 12, 2006
April 6, 2007
January 25, 2007
August 31, 2005
January 12, 2007
January 16, 2007
January 25, 2007
March 5, 2006
January 18, 2007
February 27, 2007
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Technical Committee
TAB Database Last Updated
Aerial Robotics and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
Agricultural Robotics
Bio Robotics
Computer & Robot Vision
Humanoid Robotics
Human-Robot Interaction & Coordination
Intelligent Transportation Systems
Manufacturing Automation
Micro/Nano Robotics and Automation
Networked Robots
Programming Environments
Prototyping for Robotics and Automation
Rehabilitation Robotics
Robo-Ethics
Safety Security and Rescue Robotics
Service Robotics
Semiconductor Manufacturing Automation
Surgical Robotics
Underwater Robotics
Planning and Control of Robot Motion
Space Robotics
Haptics
September 30, 2006
October 22, 2006
January 25, 2007
April 1, 2007
October 8, 2006
September 30, 2006
April 3, 2007
April 6, 2007
February 11, 2007
March 1, 2007
January 8, 2007
March 12, 2006
April 6, 2007
January 25, 2007
August 31, 2005
January 12, 2007
January 16, 2007
January 25, 2007
March 5, 2006
January 18, 2007
February 27, 2007
April 4, 2007
Agenda, TAB Meeting, ICRA, Rome, April 2007
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Past TAB meeting summaries
GOLD Lunch, Panel on Robot Operating Systems
Review of TCs and DLs: Most Active TC and DL
Revisions to RAS Field of Interest (FOI) Statement
Proposed Wiki on RAS Research Milestones
Increasing TC's role in ICRA, IROS, CASE Session
Assignments
7. "Birds of a Feather" meetings during conferences
8. Technical Communities
9. Other Topics
RAS Field of Interest Statement (FOI) (1998):
The Society is interested in both applied and
theoretical issues in robotics and automation.
Robotics is here defined to include intelligent
machines and systems used, for example, in space
exploration, human services, or manufacturing;
whereas automation includes the use of automated
methods in various applications, for example,
factory, office, home, or transportation systems to
improve performance and productivity.
{Asked to Revise and Update by Pres. Volz}
Proposed New RAS Field of Interest Statement (2007-)
The Society encourages fundamental and applied research in Robotics
and Automation. Robotics focuses on sensor and actuator systems that
operate autonomously or semi-autonomously (in cooperation with
humans) in unpredictable environments. Robot systems emphasize
intelligence and adaptability, may be networked, and are being
developed for many applications such as service and personal assistants;
surgery and rehabilitation; haptics; space, underwater, and remote
exploration and teleoperation; education, entertainment; search and
rescue; defense; agriculture; and intelligent vehicles. Automation
focuses on systems that operate autonomously in predictable
environments over extended periods. Automation emphasizes efficiency,
productivity, quality, and reliability, with primary applications in
manufacturing, including industrial robots. Today automation has many
applications such as agriculture, biotechnology, healthcare, home and
laboratory automation, maintenance, packaging, retail, security,
semiconductors, service, supply chains, and transportation.
Proposed Assertion of
Support for TCs
(Dick Volz)
• Technical Area development &
growth
– It is a fundamental goal of the Society
to help technical areas develop and
grow to their full potential, both
technically and organizationally
Proposed Assertion of
Support for TCs
(Dick Volz)
• Scientific autonomy
– Within broader IEEE/Society polices and
procedures and constraints, TCs shall have
scientific autonomy in their technical
activities, including such areas a
conference and publication activities, e.g.,
selection of committees, editors, reviewers.
Proposed Assertion of
Support for TCs
(Dick Volz)
– The society shall encourage TCs and be
willing to invest financially in TCs that
demonstrate exceptional initiative
TECHNICAL COMMUNITIES
A Subject For Consideration
Dick Volz
Motivation
• We want to stimulate technical committees
• As we grow, some technical committees
become large, active and need more flexibility
• Generally, we should, from time to time,
examine how we can best serve our members
and help our field to prosper (in the broadest
terms, not only financial)
• Presently, we have a community or two that
are large and there might well be benefit from
some restructuring
• Create a class of technical activity groups that have
greater responsibility/authority than typical technical
committees
• Possible qualifications
– Size, e.g. > 200
– Significant level of technical activity, measured in terms such
as
•
•
•
•
Number of conferences, workshops, tutorials, symposia
Number of attendees as above events
Dollar level of activities
Publications
• Possible rights/authority
– Get a percentage of conference surplus IF conference closes
in time
– Representation on some major society boards
– Get percentage of publication surplus in excess of some
minimum IF target metrics achieved, e.g., review times
under target
– Part of annual budget process
• Possible responsibilities
– Maintaining some specified level of membership
and activity
– Paying for IEEE imposed fines for late conference
closings
– Can there be some quality metric?
• Probable constraints (largely due to IEEE
policies)
– No accumulation of resources from year to year,
i.e., unspent budget goes back into society
reserves, where is largely untouchable.
– Conference rules, especially closings
• Certain actions can be costly to society and might be
cause for undesired consequences
– Publication policy goals
• Is this a worth considering at all? If so, then
• What should be specifics of membership?
• What should be the rights and
responsibilities?
• What are the financial implication?
– In view of substantial decreases in income, can the
society afford it?
• What additional administrative load would
result and do we have the capacity to handle
it, especially our financial team?
• Should we establish a small sub-committee or
working group to come up with a concrete
plan?
Better Coordinating RAS Research Efforts:
Benchmarks, Metrics, and Milestones
New opportunities:
TC Chairs role in ICRA, IROS, CASE Session
Assignment?
TC’s organizing informal “Birds of a Feather”
meetings (lunches, dinners, gatherings at the hotel bar,
etc) during conferences
RAS Wiki on Research Milestones
Scope of T-ASE
The IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering (T-ASE)
publishes fundamental papers on Automation, emphasizing scientific results
that advance efficiency, quality, productivity, and reliability. T-ASE
encourages interdisciplinary approaches from computer science, control
systems, electrical engineering, mathematics, mechanical engineering,
operations research, and other fields. We welcome results relevant to
industries such as agriculture, biotechnology, healthcare, home
automation, maintenance, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, retail, security,
service, supply chains, and transportation. T-ASE addresses a research
community willing to integrate knowledge across disciplines and
industries. For this purpose, each paper shall include a Note to
Practitioners that summarizes how its results can be applied or how they
might be extended to apply in practice.
Scope of T-RO
The IEEE Transactions on Robotics (T-RO) publishes fundamental papers on
all aspects of Robotics, featuring interdisciplinary approaches from
computer science, control systems, electrical engineering, mathematics,
mechanical engineering, and other fields. Robots and intelligent machines
and systems are critical in areas such as industrial applications; service
and personal assistants; surgical operations; space, underwater, and
remote exploration; entertainment; safety, search, and rescue; military
applications; agriculture applications; and intelligent vehicles. Special
emphasis in the T-RO is placed on intelligent machines and systems for
unstructured environments, where a significant portion of the environment
is unknown and cannot be directly sensed or controlled.