In this episode, Audrow Nash speaks to Christian Fritz, CEO and founder of Transitive Robotics. Transitive Robotics makes software for building full stack robotics applications. In this conversation, they talk about how Transitive Robotic’s software works, their business model, sandboxing for security, creating a marketplace for robotics applications, and web tools, in general.
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Over the past decade, camera technology has made gradual, and significant improvements thanks to the mobile phone industry. This has accelerated multiple industries, including Robotics. Today, Davide Scaramuzza discusses a step-change in camera innovation that has the potential to dramatically accelerate vision-based robotics applications.
Davide Scaramuzza deep dives on Event Cameras, which operate fundamentally different from traditional cameras. Instead of sampling every pixel on an imaging sensor at a fixed frequency, the “pixels” on an event camera all operate independently, and each responds to changes in illumination. This technology unlocks a multitude of benefits, including extremely highspeed imaging, removal of the concept of “framerate”, removal of data corruption due to having the sun in the sensor, reduced data throughput, and low power consumption. Tune in for more.
Davide Scaramuzza is a Professor of Robotics and Perception at both departments of Informatics (University of Zurich) and Neuroinformatics (joint between the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich), where he directs the Robotics and Perception Group. His research lies at the intersection of robotics, computer vision, and machine learning, using standard cameras and event cameras, and aims to enable autonomous, agile, navigation of micro drones in search-and-rescue applications.
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Photo credits: Studio Number One (SNO)
On March 8, International Women’s Day (IWD) we celebrate the political, socioeconomic and cultural achievements of women and the women right’s movement towards gender equality. “Whilst the social and political rights of women are greater in some places than others, there is no country where gender equality has been achieved” says Mary Evans, professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science in her book “The persistence of gender inequality” (Polity Press 2017). In 2022 this situation has not changed either globally or at the European level as indicated in the EU Gender Equality index for 2020 where the average of the EU is 67.4% and the maximum is Sweden with 83.8%. Although there has been a clear commitment from the European Union on gender equality (specially in innovation and science), there are still structural forms of inequality that must be challenged and changed. It is not the aim of this article to analyse or comment on those, but to show what is being done and is available, especially in the European Union, for us to contribute as individuals and as a community towards gender equality in the field of robotics.
Any journey starts with a first step, so I asked Maja Hadziselimovic, member of the Board of Directors of euRobotics and active United Nations (UN) Generation Equality champion of women and girls in STEM, how a person (no matter the gender) can contribute to gender equality. She told me “There are three actions you can take to be part of Generation Equality: Empower women and girls in science; raise awareness about gender equality and raise the visibility of women in science”. So, let’s explore different activities linked to those actions.
Maja Hadziselimovic (Photo Credits: Marijana Bicvic / UN Women)
Although inequalities still exist, the EU has a well-established regulatory framework on gender equality and has made significant progress over the last decades. In March 2020, the European Commission published the EU Gender Equality Strategy for 2020-2025, setting out their commitment towards “a Union where women and men, girls and boys, in all their diversity, are free to pursue their chosen path in life, have equal opportunities to thrive, and can equally participate in and lead our European society.”
Thus, it is not surprising that the EC is making an eligibility criterion for all public bodies, higher education institutions and research organisations to have a Gender Equality Plan (GEP) in order to participate in Horizon Europe. Those looking for extra information on GEPs, can take a look at the work of EU-H2020 project SPEAR (Supporting and Implementing Plans for Gender Equality in Academia and Research) which provides the SPEAR’s compass guide, to help you draft and implement gender equality measures in your Research Performing Organisation (RPO); and GEARING ROLES: Gender Equality Actions in Research Institutions to traNsform Gender ROLES with examples of implementation of GEPs in universities and research organisations, because ensuring effective implementation and avoiding resistance is not always easy.
Empowering women can also be done outside the EC sphere, at a national or local level. This is the case with the work of Ana-Maria Stancu, CEO of Bucharest Robots, founder of the association E-Civis, and member of the Board of Directors of euRobotics. She has a personal and professional mission to empower women and girls in the field of robotics in Romania: “One of the hashtags we are using in our work in Romania is #vinrobotii (robots are coming). We are not using this as a threat, but as a reminder that the robots are here and will develop further. So far, what I can see in my day-to-day work is that women are generally perceived as outsiders in this industry. Every time I talk to a potential client or public authority, the general discussion is led by me, but the minute they have a technical question, they unconsciously turn to my male colleagues. The main problem I see is that most of them do this unintentionally – which makes it even more problematic. It means that this perception is deeply rooted in people’s minds.” This probably sounds familiar to you and gender bias can be found in different fields. A good read in this regard is the book of “Invisible Women” (Chatto & Windus 2019) by Caroline Criado Perez.
Ana-Maria Stancu (Photo Credits: Scuola di Robotica)
Ana-Maria underlines how is important to be persistent in bringing women into the field of robotics: “There is no doubt that the robotics industry will see a tremendous growth in the very near future and will need lots of specialists. We have to make sure that this development will not include only men but will also reflect the activity of women. I believe this day – International Women’s Day – should be a reminder that we have to do more for more women in technical fields like robotics.”
To make sure women are not left behind in the robotics industry, Ana -Maria promotes robotics classes to all children and encourages girls to participate. The E-Civis association also organises robotics and programming summer schools just for girls, so they can learn in a pressure-free environment. From her experience in teaching programming and robotics in public schools in rural areas, she has no doubt that “girls are as interested as boys in this field. Every child loves robots! Let’s use this love to teach and encourage all of them to build them!”
Programming summer school for girls by E-Civis (Photo credits: E-Civis)
For those who do not have the time or opportunity to be involved in mentorship or for this level of commitment, there is one activity that all of us can do in our everyday life, this is to fight micro-aggressions, correct unconscious bias, and avoid what Rebecca Solnit calls “mansplaining” in her book “Men Explain Things To Me” (Haymarket Books, 2014), and provide a sexist-free workplace. An easy and hilarious read for women and men that offers different tools to fight sexism in the workplace is “Feminist Fight Club” by Jessica Bennet (Harper Wave, 2016). Of course, there is a multitude of excellent research papers, policy reports and books you can read, and just having a coffee and listening to or supporting your female colleagues can be already of great help.
If you are a member of euRobotics, I would like you to encourage your female colleagues or employees to present themselves as candidates for the next elections. Our research board is screaming for some women power!
Integrating the gender dimension in research ensures that researchers question gender norms and stereotypes and address the evolving needs and social roles of women and men. It is a matter of improving scientific excellence and increasing the number of women in science, research and innovation. Networks and portals born as FP7 and Horizon 2020 projects, are still in place nowadays to raise awareness on gender equality, provide training and share knowledge. This is the case of GENDERACTION, GE Academy: Gender Equality Academy, GENDER-NET PLUS and GENPORT.
Since 2013, the European Commission publishes every three years the “She Figures” report that monitors the state of gender equality in research and innovation in Europe. The ERA Progress report also monitors the implementation of the objectives set by the EC: gender equality in scientific careers, gender balance in decision making and integration of the gender dimension in R&I.
As an individual you can publicly show your support to gender equality. You can join the Women’s Day march in your city or raise awareness in your social media or your workplace. You can download women’s rights posters and square images by Studio Number One for free here. Be part of the wave of change today.
In 2014 a new grassroots community was started to support women in robotics across the world – the Women in Robotics network. Since 2020, the network founded by Andra Keay and Sabine Hauert has grown exponentially and become a non-profit organisation in the U.S. This global community supports women working (or interested in working) in the field of robotics. Their activities include local networking events, outreach, education, mentoring and the promotion of positive role models in robotics. They also publish every year the “list of women in robotics you need to know” on Ada Lovelace Day (13 October). Why not to join the network today? https://womeninrobotics.org/
On International Women’s Day (8 March) The European Commission celebrates the #EUWomen4future campaign and the EU Prize for Women Innovators with a seminar co-hosted by Commissioner Mariya Gabriel and President Roberta Metsola. The event highlights women’s professional achievements in culture, education, sport and science. You can attend the event online here and still use the hashtag.
Women in Robotics publication on Ada Lovelace’s Day. (Photo credit: Women in Robotics)
This article shows a peak of a long list of projects, activities and work concerning gender equality in the area of science and technology (mainly in the EU), and some specifically in robotics. We are in a period of changes, of “Me too”, of breaking ceilings and structural inequality, of building the future we want for our sisters, our daughters, our partners, and most important of all, for ourselves. Don’t be afraid to be challenging, don’t be afraid to be loud.
During the pandemic, members of the reddit & discord r/robotics community rallied to organize an online showcase for members of our community. What was originally envisioned as a half-day event with one mildly interesting guest speaker turned out to be a two day event with an incredible roster of participants from across the world. You can watch last year’s showcase here.
This year, we are planning an event which anticipates the enthusiasm we’ve had from our community, continuing to provide a unique opportunity for roboticists around the world to share and discuss their work, regardless of age or ability.
A small selection of last year’s robot’s.
We are delighted to receive support from Wevolver, Robohub, The National Robotarium, and the IEEE-RAS Soft Robotics Podcast, who are helping us to reach more people from academia industry, and ensure we are proactive with our representation of diversity.
“It’s great to see the reddit showcase is happening again! I presented last year, and it was a pleasure to see hobbyists, professionals, academics and students all together in one place sharing their passion for robotics. It’s important to see a diverse community, so I really encourage everyone to apply!
– Sabine Hauert, President of Robohub –
The showcase is free and online, and is to be held on July 30th & 31st 2022, livestreamed via the Reddit Robotics Showcase YouTube channel.
We extend an open invitation to those keen to share their robotics with the world. Please apply via this online form link. Successful applicants will be offered a timeslot of 10, 15, or 30 minutes, which includes both presentation and Q&A time. The committee will form presentation categories based on the applications. If you wish to register your interest as a keynote speaker, please email RRS chair Olly Smith directly.
This is not a formal academic conference, and alongside academic and industry professionals we encourage hobbyists, undergraduates, early career academics etc to apply, even if their work is still in progress. To that end, speakers are recommended to present their work in a public friendly manner.
To apply, please submit an application via this link before the deadline of April 30th.
The primary purpose of this event is to showcase the multitude of projects underway in the r/Robotics Reddit community. Topics range across all focuses of robotics, such as simulation, navigation, control, perception, and mechatronic design. We will use this showcase to present discussion pieces and foster conversation between active members in the robotics community around the world. The showcase will feature invited roboticists in research and industry to discuss what they see as technical challenges or interesting directions for robots. We will focus on the following topics and showcase some of the amazing work being done by amateurs and academics, students and industry professionals alike.
Axel Krieger is the Head of the Intelligent Medical Robotic Systems and Equipment (IMERSE) Lab at Johns Hopkins University, where Justin Opfermann is pursuing his PhD degree. Together with H. Saeidi, M. Kam, S. Wei, S. Leonard , M. H. Hsieh and J. U. Kang, they recently published the paper ‘Autonomous robotic laparoscopic surgery for intestinal anastomosis‘ in Science Robotics. Below, Axel and Justin tell us more about their work, the methodology, and what they are planning next.
Our research is focused on the design and evaluation of medical robots for autonomous soft tissue surgeries. In particular, this paper describes a surgical robot and workflow to perform autonomous anastomosis of the small bowel. Performance of the robot is conducted in synthetic tissues against expert surgeons, followed by experiments in pig studies to demonstrate preclinical feasibility of the system and approach.
Anastomosis is an essential step to the reconstructive phase of surgery and is performed over a million times each year in the United States alone. Surgical outcomes for patients are highly dependent on the surgeon’s skill, as even a single missed stitch can lead to anastomotic leak and infection in the patient. In laparoscopic surgeries these challenges are even more difficult due to space constraints, tissue motion, and deformations. Robotic anastomosis is one way to ensure that surgical tasks that require high precision and repeatability can be performed with more accuracy and precision in every patient independent of surgeon skill. Already there are autonomous surgical robots for hard tissue surgeries such as bone drilling for hip and knee implants. The Smart Tissue Autonomous Robot (STAR) takes the autonomous robotic skill one step further by performing surgical tasks on soft tissues. This enables a robot to work with a human to complete more complicated surgical tasks where preoperative planning is not possible. We hypothesize that this will result in a democratized surgical approach to patient care with more predictable and consistent patient outcomes.
Until this paper, autonomous laparoscopic surgery was not possible in soft tissue due to the unpredictable motions of the tissue and limitations on the size of surgical tools. Performing autonomous surgery required the development of novel suturing tools, imaging systems, and robotic controls to visualize a surgical scene, generate an optimized surgical plan, and then execute that surgical plan with the highest precision. Combining all of these features into a single system is challenging. To accomplish these goals we integrated a robotic suturing tool that simplifies wristed suturing motions to the press of a button, developed a three dimensional endoscopic imaging system based on structured light that was small enough for laparoscopic surgery, and implemented a conditional autonomy control scheme that enables autonomous laparoscopic anastomosis. We evaluated the system against expert surgeons performing end to end anastomosis using either laparoscopic or da Vinci tele-operative techniques on synthetic small bowel across metrics such as consistency of suture spacing and suture bite, stitch hesitancy, and overall surgical time. These experiments were followed by preclinical feasibility tests in porcine small bowel. Limited necropsy was performed after one week to evaluate the quality of the anastomosis and immune response.
Comparison studies in synthetic tissues indicated that sutures placed by the STAR system had more consistent spacing and bite depth than those applied by surgeons using either a manual laparoscopic technique or robotic assistance with the da Vinci surgical system. The improved precision afforded by the autonomous approach led to a higher quality anastomosis for the STAR system which was qualitatively verified by laminar four dimension MRI flow fields across the anastomosis. The STAR system completed the anastomosis with a first stitch success rate of 83% which was better than surgeons in either group. Following the ex-vivo tests, STAR performed laparoscopic small bowel anastomosis in four pigs. All animals survived the procedure and had an average weight gain over the 1 week survival period. STAR’s anastomoses had similar burst strength, lumen area reduction, and healing as manually sewn samples, indicating the feasibility of autonomous soft tissue surgeries.
Our group is researching marker-less strategies to track tissue position, motion, and plan surgical tasks without the need for fiducial markers on tissues. The ability to three dimensionally reconstruct the surgical field on a computer and plan surgical tasks without the need for artificial landmarks would simplify autonomous surgical planning and enable collaborative surgery between an autonomous robot and human. Using machine learning and neural networks, we have demonstrated the robot’s ability to identify tissue edges and track natural landmarks. We are planning to implement fail-safe techniques and hope to perform first in human studies in the next few years.
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Axel Krieger (PhD), an Assistant Professor in mechanical engineering, focuses on the development of novel tools, image guidance, and robot-control techniques for medical robotics. He is a member of the Laboratory for Computational Sensing and Robotics. He is also the Head of the Intelligent Medical Robotic Systems and Equipment (IMERSE) Lab at Johns Hopkins University. |
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Justin Opfermann (MS) is a PhD robotics student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. Justin has ten years of experience in the design of autonomous robots and tools for laparoscopic surgery, and is also affiliated with the Laboratory for Computational Sensing and Robotics. Before joining JHU, Justin was a Project Manager and Senior Research and Design Engineer at the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation at Children’s National Hospital. |