Archive 19.05.2022

We will have a variety of robotic demonstrations featuring the latest ATI Tool Changers, Material Removal Tools and Force/Torque (F/T) Sensors as well as technologies from our automation partners.

About 5 years ago we proposed that all robots should be fitted with the robot equivalent of an aircraft Flight Data Recorder to continuously record sensor and relevant internal status data. We call this an ethical black box (EBB). We argued that an ethical black box will play a key role in the processes of discovering why and how a robot caused an accident, and thus an essential part of establishing accountability and responsibility.

Since then, within the RoboTIPS project, we have developed and tested several model EBBs, including one for an e-puck robot that I wrote about in this blog, and another for the MIRO robot. With some experience under our belts, we have now drafted an Open Standard for the EBB for social robots – initially as a paper submitted to the International Conference on Robots Ethics and Standards. Let me now explain first why we need a standard, and second why it should be an open standard.

Why do we need a standard specification for an EBB? As we outline in our new paper, there are four reasons:

1. A standard approach to EBB implementation in social robots will greatly benefit accident and incident (near miss) investigations. 
2. An EBB will provide social robot designers and operators with data on robot use that can support both debugging and functional improvements to
   the robot. 
3. An EBB can be used to support robot ‘explainability’ functions to allow, for instance, the robot to answer ‘Why did you just do that?’ questions from its user. And,
4. a standard allows EBB implementations to be readily shared and adapted for different robots and, we hope, encourage manufacturers to develop and market general purpose robot EBBs.

And why should it be an Open Standard? Bruce Perens, author of The Open Source Definition, outlines a number of criteria an open standard must satisfy, including:

• “Availability: Open standards are available for all to read and implement.
• Maximize End-User Choice: Open Standards create a fair, competitive market for implementations of the standard.
• No Royalty: Open standards are free for all to implement, with no royalty
  or fee.
• No Discrimination: Open standards and the organizations that administer them do not favor one implementor over another for any reason other than the technical standards compliance of a vendor’s implementation.
• Extension or Subset: Implementations of open standards may be extended, or offered in subset form.”

These are *good* reasons.

The most famous and undoubtedly the most impactful Open Standards are those that were written for the Internet. They were, and still are, called Requests for Comments (RFCs) to reflect the fact that they were – especially in the early years, drafts for revision. As a mark of respect we also regard our draft 0.1 Open Standard for an EBB for Social Robots, as an RFC. You can find draft 0.1 in Annex A of the paper here.

Not only is this a first draft, it is also incomplete, covering only the specification of the data and its format, that should be saved in an EBB for social robots. Given that the EBB data specification is at the heart of the EBB standard, we feel that this is sufficient to be opened up for comments and feedback. We will continue to extend the specification, with subsequent versions also published on arXiv.

Let me know encourage comments and feedback. Please feel free to either submit comments to this blog post – this way everyone can see the comments – or by contacting me directly via email. All constructive comments that result in revisions to the standard will be acknowledged in the standard.

 

 

If you want to be at DeepMind, go for it. Apply, interview, and just try. You might not get it the first time but that doesn’t mean you can’t try again. I never thought DeepMind would accept me, and when they did, I thought it was a mistake. Everyone doubts themselves – I’ve never felt like the smartest person in the room. I’ve often felt the opposite. But I’ve learned that, despite those feelings, I do belong and I do deserve to work at a place like this. And that journey, for me, started with just trying.

Somewhere in the labyrinth of Patrick F. Taylor Hall, there sits a disembodied head that will provide the answers to life's greatest mysteries, provided he is presented with the proper offering. His glowing eyes change color as he rewards you or disappoints you in a booming voice at the end of your long quest in search of knowledge.

A team of researchers led by University of Toronto Professor Tim Barfoot is using a new strategy that allows robots to avoid colliding with people by predicting the future locations of dynamic obstacles in their path.

Automate is the largest and most inspiring showcase of robotics, motion control, vision, artificial intelligence and related automation technologies in North America. Bringing together 550+ exhibiting automation innovators, manufacturers and suppliers.

The Bovay Civil Infrastructure Laboratory Complex, located in the basement of Thurston Hall, has a new tenant: a roughly 6,000-pound industrial robot capable of 3D printing the kind of large-scale structures that could potentially transform the construction industry, making it more efficient and sustainable by eliminating the waste of traditional material manufacturing.

They function as normal hives, but apiaries built at a kibbutz in Israel's Galilee are decked out with high-tech artificial intelligence systems set to ensure longevity for these vital pollinators.

Knight Optical (KO) has provided discerning engineers, designers, and the like from the automation sector with dependable, premium-quality optics for over three decades. Throughout this time, the leading supplier has helped refine the precision of some of the world's most innovative technologies and partnered with a wide range of companies throughout the industry. In this article, Automation talks to KO about its involvement in the sector and, ultimately, finds out more about how the optical brand can help your supply chain process.

Researchers at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, University of Oxford, and the Tencent Robotics X Lab have recently introduced a configuration-aware policy for safely controlling mobile robotic arms. This policy, introduced in a paper pre-published on arXiv, can help to better guide the movements of a robotic arm, while also reducing the risk that it will collide with objects and other obstacles in its vicinity.

The popularity of machine vision for quality assurance (QA) is increasing, but conventional systems lack the flexibility that most manufacturers need.

We can now offer you a telepresence robot tour of the ICRA 2022 expo hall, competitions and poster sessions, thanks to generous support from our friends at OhmniLabs. OhmniLabs build human-centric robots that elevate quality of life for billions of people worldwide, and they build all the robots right here in Silicon Valley using advanced additive manufacturing.

Join more than 5000 roboticists, researchers and industry from 89 different countries in Pennsylvania for a fascinating showcase of robotics thought leadership. There will be 12 keynote speakers, 6 industry and entrepreneurial forums, 10 competitions, almost 60 workshops and 1500 papers presented. And on top of that there are more than 80 robotics companies demoing their technologies, ranging from Agility Robotics to Zebra Technologies/Fetch Robotics. 

There are many things that can make it difficult to attend an in person conference in the United States and so the ICRA Organizing Committee, the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society and OhmniLabs would like to help you attend ICRA virtually. Priority of access will be for robotics researchers and students who are unable to travel, particularly if you are an author of a paper or poster, but we welcome applications from people who are simply curious about robots as well. 

Three OhmniBots will be in the main exhibition hall (with all the other robots) from opening to closing on Tuesday May 24th, Wednesday May 25th and Thursday May 26th, with time slots aligning with Poster Sessions, networking breaks and Expo Hall hours. The application form allows you to select several time slots, and we’ll give you feedback as soon as possible about your application, but we won’t be able to confirm your final booking time(s) until Monday May 23.

Telepresence Robot access is also available for media tours, ICRA sponsors, and members of Black in Robotics, Women in Robotics or Open Robotics who’d like to join the networking events. Generally, the robots are limited to the Expo Floor but we might be able to make special arrangements  

Contact one of the Accessibility Chairs: AndraKeay@ieee.org with subject [telepresence tour]

Or one of the Media Chairs: danicarzap@scientificagitation.com with subject [media]

Let us know why you need to tour ICRA by telepresence robot!

At ICRA 2022, Competitions are a core part of the conference. We shine a spotlight on influential competitions in Robotics. In this episode, Dr Liam Paull talks about the Duckietown Competition, where robots drive around Rubber Ducky passengers in an autonomous driving track.

Dr. Liam Paull

Liam Paull is an assistant professor at l’Université de Montréal and the head of the Montreal Robotics and Embodied AI Lab (REAL). His lab focuses on robotics problems including building representations of the world (such as for simultaneous localization and mapping), modeling of uncertainty, and building better workflows to teach robotic agents new tasks (such as through simulation or demonstration). Previous to this, Liam was a research scientist at CSAIL MIT where he led the TRI funded autonomous car project. He was also a postdoc in the marine robotics lab at MIT where he worked on SLAM for underwater robots. He obtained his PhD from the University of New Brunswick in 2013 where he worked on robust and adaptive planning for underwater vehicles. He is a co-founder and director of the Duckietown Foundation, which is dedicated to making engaging robotics learning experiences accessible to everyone. The Duckietown class was originally taught at MIT but now the platform is used at numerous institutions worldwide.

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The robot grippers designed by Professor Stefan Seelecke and his team at Saarland University can grip and manipulate objects with complex geometries. The system can adapt almost instantaneously to changes in form, switching seamlessly between differently shaped parts. The articulated gripper is driven electrically, is lightweight and accelerates rapidly and is even able to tell whether it is holding the object securely enough. The ultrafine nickel-titanium wires that control the motion of the four fingers of the prototype can rapidly generate and release a powerful vacuum via suction cups located on the fingertips of the artificial hand. The engineers will be showcasing the potential of their technology at Hannover Messe (30 May—2 June, Hall 2, Stand B28).

When developing new technologies, computer scientists and roboticists often draw inspiration from animals and other living organisms. This allows them to artificially replicate complex behaviors and locomotion patterns to enhance their systems' performance, efficiency and capabilities.