Conference Sessions
The RoboBusiness 2009 Conference program will take place April 15-16, 2009. The Conference will feature dozens of sessions focused on the business development and technical issues involved with the commercial application of mobile robotics and intelligent systems technology to develop entirely new markets and product categories, open additional lines of business, and enhance existing product lines.
Below are details on the RoboBusiness Conference Sessions presented in 2008.
2008 KEYNOTE PRESENTATIONS
8:00AM Tuesday, April 8, 2008 - Special Breakfast Keynote
| | The Growth of Robotics in the Consumer Market Paolo Pirjanian President and Chief Executive Officer Evolution Robotics |
Breakthrough technologies are coming to market that are being incorporated into the next generation of smarter products for the consumer market. From mobile phones and toys that recognize what they see, to vacuum cleaners that can intelligently navigate around your home, the number of such consumer products are growing rapidly. In this enlightening breakfast keynote Evolution Robotics CEO, Paolo Pirjanian, will speak to the major trends and market needs for consumer robotics and demonstrate the latest advances in visual pattern recognition and autonomous navigation as examples of technologies that are changing the landscape of products and services we experience in our everyday lives.
9:00AM Tuesday, April 8, 2008
| | Military Robotics Evolution... From Technology to Concept... From Concept to Saving Lives Kevin Fahey Program Executive Officer, Ground Combat Systems Department of the Army |
Prior to the current Global War On Terrorism (GWOT), the military was struggling to specifically identify the role of robotics and how to integrate this technology into the current force. Most of the previous analysis on where this capability would fit and how would we conceptually utilize this capability was focused on the future force and the Future Combat System (FCS) Brigade Combat Team (BCT). Now with the current conflicts around the world and the maturation of this technology we have been able to quickly integrate this capability into our fighting forces. These robots are saving Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marine lives every day and the more we use this capability the more we find additional needs for this evolving technology. Robots are here to stay as a vital capability for our fighting forces and we have just scratched the surface on how valuable this capability will be for our future forces. The evolution of quickly integrating this capability has truly been a team effort between the Government, Industry and Academia. As the Department of Defense identified the growing need for this technology, industry quickly responded in delivering this capability to our fighting forces. The process of integrating this technology into our fighting forces is not easy. It requires training the units on how to use this capability and more importantly how do we sustain this equipment once fielded in a war zone. Though it has not been easy, it has been a tremendous success story.
10:00AM Tuesday, April 8, 2008
| | The Business of Robots Colin Angle Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer iRobot Corporation |
'Open Door Keynote' - this session is open to ALL ATTENDEES
In this keynote session, Colin Angle, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of iRobot, will present a no bull, no holds barred look at robots and how they will be changing our lives in the future. From making sushi, to entertaining our parents, to helping firefighters – robots will scramble, roll, and hop into our lives. And the world will never be the same.
8:00AM Wednesday, April 9, 2008 - Special Breakfast Keynote
| | Microsoft and Robotics – 2008 Update Tandy Trower General Manager, Microsoft Robotics Group Microsoft |
At RoboBusiness 2006, Microsoft first entered the robotics market with the preview of Microsoft Robotics Studio, a platform and toolset designed to provide a common ground and catalyst for application development for wide variety of users and robot hardware. Released to the Web in December of that same year, Microsoft then followed with a new 1.5 release in July 2007 which included a number of new features and enhancements. With a user base of more than 200,000 users worldwide and over 50 supporting third party hardware and software vendors, Microsoft continues to improve its commitment to further address the growing needs of the emerging robotics community. Microsoft General Manager, Tandy Trower, will talk about what exciting new things are coming up.
9:00AM Wednesday, April 9, 2008
| | Quality of Life Technology Takeo Kanade Professor of Computer Science and Robotics, and Director, Quality of Life Technology Engineering Research Center Carnegie Mellon University |
We define Quality of Life Technology (QoLT) as intelligent systems that augment body and mind for self-determination for older adults and people with disabilities. QoLT systems take many forms: they could be a device that a person carries, a mobile system that accompanies a person, or a technology-embedded environment in which a person lives. While QoLT R&D yields intelligent systems, it is a departure from traditional robotics research aimed at “more intelligent”, “more autonomous” systems for which reducing human involvement is an implicit goal. In contrast, QoLT systems work in the daily environment with a person and for the person; it is not just an artificial “system”, but person-system symbiosis in which the person and the artifact components are mutually dependent and work together. QoLT is the first serious attempt to make intelligent systems work with people in the most natural, unstructured, changing everyday-life environments. In addition to the techniques for robust perception, safe mobility and manipulation, and dynamic interface, we must develop understanding of how people act and behave in everyday life – or science of everyday living, a domain that science has not yet targeted. The presentation discusses the challenges, opportunities and progress of QoLT.
10:00AM Wednesday, April 9, 2008
| | Field Robotics in Australia Hugh Durrant-Whyte Research Director Australian Centre for Field Robotics |
'Open Door Keynote' - this session is open to ALL ATTENDEES
'Field Robots' is concerned with the automation of vehicles and systems operating in unstructured outdoor environments. Field robotics is of major significance to Australian primary sector industries such as mining, cargo handling and agriculture. This talk will describe developments in field robotics in Australia including essential research in high-integrity navigation, sensor and system development, and successful commercial applications in autonomous cargo handling and in mining automation. This presentation will also highlight a number of technical and business challenges facing robotics in general, and field robotics in particular.
GENERAL SESSIONS - TUESDAY APRIL 8, 2007
2:00PM Tuesday April 8, 2008 - Business Development Track
| | Educational Robotics as an Op-Amp for Consumer Robots David Miller Professor of Intelligent Systems University of Oklahoma |
The Botball program involves approximately 5,000 students/year in designing, building and programming a team of autonomous robots to compete in that year's game. For the 2008 season, an iRobot Create was added to the Botball kit. The Create's open interface allowed for C libraries to be constructed and distributed to the participants. The Create allowed teams to bypass issues of mobility for one of their robots, and for them to spend more time on manipulation and overall robot software -- programming being the more transferable long-term skill they get from working with robots. A new platform independent C IDE was designed to ease the programming for Botball students. This IDE is now being used in a number of universities to teach engineering programming, and thus are now also are incorporating the Create into their curriculum. This is an example of some of the benefits of creating robot products with clean open interfaces with links to education. The product gets exposed to thousands of people who might otherwise be unfamiliar with it. Educators (and the students) construct tools to increase the utility/functionality of the product over a larger application domain. As those tools get picked up by more users, so does the original product.
2:00PM Tuesday April 8, 2008 - Applications and Products Track
| | URBI: A Universal Software Platform and its Applications Jean-Christophe Baillie CEO and Founder Gostai |
With Urbi, Gostai has created a universal software platform which can be used to design applications working seamlessly with a large variety of robots, and with significantly reduced development times. Today, more than 10 different robots are already compatible with Urbi and several industrial companies and more than 30 research labs in the world are using Urbi. Jean-Christophe Baillie, CEO and founder of Gostai, will present the new applications available on Urbi, the business opportunities offered to Gostai partners, and will also give a preview of the upcoming Urbi 2 release.
2:00PM Tuesday April 8, 2008 - Achieving Autonomy Track
| | A Platform for Autonomous Mobile Manipulation R&D: Modular Hardware and Open Source Software Keenan Wyrobek Co-Director, Personal Robotics Program Willow Garage |
Willow Garage is currently developing a hardware and software platform for mobile manipulation research and development targeted for release at the end of 2008. The general availability of such an integrated platform will transform the development of autonomous robotics applications where robots do tasks for humans in human environments, much as PCs and DOS enabled a new set of computing applications two decades ago. This presentation will cover the design approach to the modular hardware and open source software as well as how we are structuring our effort to support an industry of hardware and software players moving forward. Keenan's business opportunities focused presentation at RoboBusiness will complement technical presentations on the Personal Robotics Platform program at ICRA and elsewhere in 2008.
2:00PM Tuesday April 8, 2008 - Workforce Development Track
| | Workforce Development Panel - Part 1 (Part 2 scheduled for 3:00PM) Moderator: David Landis Vice President, Education and Training The Technology Collaborative |
Diverse skills are needed to design, develop, manufacture, and support modern robotics systems. Successful products must not only perform actions, but also sense their environment, map it, interact with it, adapt to it, and learn from it. This panel session will consider robotics workforce skill needs, and address questions such as: What are the gaps between new-hire skills and company needs? How do skills needs vary between small and large companies? Between early-stage and more mature companies? Across applications and market segments? What are the highest demand skill sets? Does demand exceed supply? (now? 5 years from now?) What actions are needed to bring robotics workforce needs into alignment with available trained / skilled workers? What is unique about robotics company workforce needs compared to traditional embedded computer systems companies, advanced electronic systems companies, defense contractors, electro-mechanical systems companies, advanced / automated vehicle systems companies, etc… Are graduates of traditional engineering degree programs adequately prepared? (How) Will new Robotics degree programs at the Associate, Bachelors, and Masters levels create a better prepared robotics workforce? Are there workforce needs that are unique to the robotics industry supply chain?
2:00PM Tuesday April 8, 2008 - RoboMedicus Track
| | Current and Future Trends in Quality of Life Technology Jim Osborn Executive Director, Quality of Life Technology Center Carnegie Mellon University |
Future Quality of Life Technology (QoLT) systems will not be just machines for convenience or saving labor, but intelligent assistants. They will allow people to independently perform valued and necessary activities of daily living so that they can fully participate in society. They will delay or prevent the manifestation of functional impairment, and will enhance and augment the capabilities of both professional and informal caregivers. Many previous attempts to use sophisticated technology to enhance functionality for people with special needs have failed for reasons that include limited understanding of human disability and aging, weak integration of technical and clinical expertise, and incomplete knowledge of people’s true needs and wants. This talk will present emerging QoLT systems including instrumented environments and wearable sensors that are aware of a person’s capabilities and intentions; robots and intelligent systems devices that reactively and proactively assist with daily activities; mobility systems that provide safe transportation for people with physical or cognitive impairments. It will current and future research challenges by profiling both technical and non-technical barriers to realizing such capabilities.
3:00PM Tuesday April 8, 2008 - Business Development Track
| | Focus Japan: Partnering Opportunities in Service Robotics Bill Townsend President & CEO Barrett Technology Matthew Fisher President & CEO KumoTek Robotics |
In the coming years, technological advances coupled with the increased personal use of robots for both entertainment and services will create a new market for robotics, and the opportunities will be numerous for American companies in Japan. JETRO Chicago and the City of Osaka would like to introduce two case studies of the emerging business opportunities between American and Japanese service robotics companies. In this session, attendees will learn from two American companies - Barrett Technologies and Kumotek - how they have already discovered the future of robotics through their working partnerships with Japanese robotics companies. Attendees will also learn how to establish relationships and expand business in Japan.
3:00PM Tuesday April 8, 2008 - Applications and Products Track
| | What's A Robotics Processor? Alexandra Dopplinger Industrial Segment Marketer, Power Architecture Technology Freescale Semiconductor |
In this innovative session, attendees will hear Freescale Semiconductor’s Alexandra Dopplinger describe how a variety of processor types are being employed for integrated motion control, machine vision, image processing, pattern matching, networking and sensing. Attendees will then participate in an interactive whiteboard session to help define the "ideal" next processor for (i) low-cost, low-power mobile robots, and (ii) robots performing complex, processor-intensive applications.
3:00PM Tuesday April 8, 2008 - Achieving Autonomy Track
| | Delivering Innovative Mobile Robotic Solutions 'The Old Fashioned Way' Lloyd Spencer CEO Coroware |
Over the past 10 years, the field of mobile robotics has evolved its focus from researching underlying robotics technologies - such as localization, mapping, navigation and image recognition into the application of mobile robots in new markets. Just as importantly, mobile robotics holds great potential to revolutionize existing business processes, such as data center monitoring and warehouse management , and revolutionize entire industries such as transportation and automotive. During this talk, Lloyd Spencer, CEO of CoroWare, will discuss how flexible and affordable robotic simulation applications and mobile robot platforms are being used by researchers to prototype and develop new robotic applications and platforms in a manner that is both scalable and affordable.
3:00PM Tuesday April 8, 2008 - RoboMedicus Track
| | Creating Products that Catch the AgeWave: What you Need to Know Curt Stone Executive in Residence Carnegie Mellon University |
In 2030, more than 20 percent of the U.S. population will be 65+ years old. As this age wave approaches and strengthens, institutions that care for older adults, informal caregivers such as friends and family and seniors themselves will increasingly demand products that extend and preserve quality of life. Unlike earlier generations, these consumers will be generally receptive to technological solutions, but there are still significant barriers to success in this emerging and growing market. This talk will profile important considerations of end-user acceptance, distribution channels, payment models and value propositions for two classes of products: home-use and institutional-use. It will present market data and trends, and will present techniques to evaluate the potential of future products.
3:00PM Tuesday April 8, 2008 - RoboMedicus Track
| | An Interactive Robot to Enhance Therapy and Education for Children with Disabilities James Drane Design Engineer AnthroTronix |
In this session attendees will learn of an innovative rehabilitation and education tool that is used to assist children with disabilities. That robot, CosmoBot, is an interactive robot designed to address developmental goals of children with disabilities across therapeutic and educational domains. It is controlled by a child using Mission Control, an adaptive control interface allowing gestural and voice activation, or by a therapist, teacher, or parent via a unique software interface. CosmoBot is being tested in clinical and educational settings throughout the development process and has been shown to enhance physical, occupational, and speech/language therapy, as well as special education.
4:15PM Tuesday April 8, 2008 - Business Development Track
| | Transitioning Robotics Technologies to Commercial Markets: The Software Challenge Parag Batavia Director of Projects and Operations Applied Perception |
To protect the lives and improve the safety of forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, the US defense industry has responded rapidly with unmanned systems to aid reconnaissance, perimeter defense, and the detection and disposal of IEDS. The accelerated development timelines have produced systems which meet critical mission requirements, but will not satisfy specific commercial requirements for long-term low cost, reliability, safety, and supportability. This presentation addresses the tough issues of how to transition new robotics technologies to commercial markets by addressing the specific needs of commercialization. The presentation uses real-world case studies to illustrate the value of standards-based software platforms, automated software tools, rigorous software test, and the long term supportability of component-based software architectures.
4:15PM Tuesday April 8, 2008 - Applications and Products Track
| | New Concepts of Mobile Robot Locomotion Andrew Goldenberg President, Engineering Services Incorporated Professor, University of Toronto |
There are only few distinct concepts of mobility used in mobile robots that have reached the market. The presentation introduces three new concepts that are embodied in recently developed prototypes. The new system provide better capability than small mobile robots available currnelty on the market. One new concept is based on synergy between locomotion and manipulation; the second is based on modular integrated tracks that can be stacked together for higher power mobility; the third is a portable mobile robot for high speed autonomous mobility.
4:15PM Tuesday April 8, 2008 - Achieving Autonomy Track
| | Achieving Autonomy Controlling Multiple Vehicles to Achieve Common Objectives Mel Torrie CEO Autonomous Solutions |
Controlling multiple unmanned vehicles is about more than just making sure they do not run into each other. It is just as important to optimize how different vehicles with different capabilities work together to perform a given task. In this session, Mel Torrie, CEO of Autonomouos Solutions, will present his experience in production environments in agriculture and mining applications to highlight the problems in getting groups of unmanned vehicles to work together effectively. There are several levels to the problem: preventing collisions through, say, a low level reactive planner, preventing deadlocks (where, for example, two unmanned vehicles reach an intersection with no higher level guidance on which vehicle has priority), prioritizing vehicle movements, and, ultimately, solving the dispatch problem and/or interfacing with existing dispatch software. ASI will present a global planning approach which minimizes potential deadlocks and interfaces with higher level scheduling software to set vehicle priorities, and will talk through some of the tougher problems in industrial acceptance of groups of unmanned vehicles.
4:15PM Tuesday April 8, 2008 - Workforce Development Track
| | Cultivating a Robotics Workforce from Computer Science Majors: Seven Years of Lessons Frank Klassner Associate Professor & Executive Director, Center of Excellence in Enterprise Technology Villanova University |
As with many technical fields, the robotics industry has great ideas and promising directions, but not enough qualified college graduates to carry them to fruition. As a computer science educator interested in growing the pool of students interested in robotics, Frank Klassner will present his experiences and the NSF-sponsored research findings over the last seven years on increasing computer science students' interest and capabilities in robotics topics. This presentation will describe the issues faced by faculty as well as students in integrating robotics concepts into computer science curricula at small and midsize universities. This talk will emphasize opportunities for the robotics industry to develop a workforce pipeline among computer science majors by supporting the integration of robotics platforms throughout computing curricula rather than by supporting the creation of separate robotics courses.
4:15PM Tuesday April 8, 2008 - RoboMedicus Track
| | Trauma Pod: Operating Room of the Future Chetan Kapoor Associate Director, Robotics Research Group, University of Texas Austin Founder and President, Agile Planet |
The Trauma Pod is a DARPA sponsored project to create a rapidly deployable system for performing remote surgical interventions in a teleoperative mode in the battlefield. The teleoperated surgical robot is supported by autonomous arms that carry out scrub and circulating nurse functions. The system demonstrates the feasibility of performing telerobotic surgical procedures with the patient being the only human in the operating room. The speed of tasks performed by robotic systems compares favorably to humans. Phase I of this system was successfully demonstrated in March 2007. IN this session attendees will be provided wiht an overview of the Trauma Pod project, the current state of development and future prospects.
4:15PM Tuesday April 8, 2008 - RoboMedicus Track
| | Prescription for Safety: How Robotics is Transforming Retail Pharmacy David Calderwood Vice President, Engineering Parata Systems |
Today more people are taking more medications than ever before, and with fewer, busier pharmacists available to handle that growth. As a result, pharmacy errors are increasing, and recent media coverage has highlighted several high-profile, life-threatening mistakes. The heat is on retail pharmacy to reassure consumers that they can trust the safety and accuracy of their local pharmacies. Robotics has been used to dispense medications in hospital settings for many years to ensure safe medication practices, but until recently penetration of dispensing automation in the retail pharmacy setting was just 2 percent. This is changing, however, as pharmacy automation solutions become more sophisticated and functional. Attendees in this session will learn of recent advances in the retail pharmacy automation and how they are delivering 100% drug and dose accuracy while reducing labor and operating costs.
GENERAL SESSIONS - WEDNESDAY APRIL 9, 2007
1:45PM Wednesday April 9, 2008 - Security and Defense
| | Intelligent Modular Manipulation for Mobile Robots John Culbertson Senior Robotics Engineer RE2 |
As mobile robots continue to gain acceptance across a variety of applications within the defense and security markets, the number of tasks that these robot platforms are expected to accomplish are expanding. Robot operators are asked to do more with the same platforms - from EOD missions to reconnaissance and inspection operations. Due to the fact that a majority of missions are dangerous in nature, it is critical that users are able to make remote adjustments to the systems to ensure that they are kept out of harm's way. An efficient way to expand the capabilities of existing robot platforms, improve the efficiency of robot missions, and to ultimately improve the operator's safety is to integrate JAUS-enabled Intelligent Modular Manipulation payloads. Intelligent Modular Manipulation payloads include both simple and dexterous manipulator arms with plug-n-play end-effector tools that can be changed based on the specific mission. End-effectors that can be swapped down-range provide an added benefit of decreased time-on-target. In this session, John Culbertson, Senior Robotics Engineer at RE2 will describe the JAUS Intelligent Modular Manipulation platform and how it can be employed.
1:45PM Wednesday April 9, 2008 - Intelligent Transportation Track
| | Consumer Autonomous Vehicle Technology Roadmap: 2010-2020 Jonas Lamis Founder and Executive Director SciVestor Corporation |
Following the completion of two successful DARPA Grand Challenges, the autonomous vehicle development community is at a crossroads. Will innovative technologies created for the Challenges find their ways into consumer vehicle production, or will the sensors, software and strategies reside solely within the defense community? In this presentation from SciVestor Chief of Robotics Research Ray Renteria, you will learn about the Autonomous Vehicle Technology Roadmap that is being pursued by the automotive industry. This presentation is based on ongoing research being conducted across the industry and will cover:
- Carmaker strategies,
- Concepts, technologies and applications in mobile sensing,
- Adoption trend forecasts from 2010-2020, and
- A survey of investments in new companies and concepts.
A companion hardcopy research report will be provided to all attendees of this session.
1:45PM Wednesday April 9, 2008 - First Responder Robotics Track
| | Panel: The Use of Robots by Innovative First Responders Moderator: Martin Foley Global Anti-Terrorism Manager Foster-Miller/QinetiQ North America |
Description Coming!
1:45PM Wednesday April 9, 2008 - Consumer Robotics Track
| | To Birth a Life Form: The Journey of Bringing Technology to Life TBD |
This presentation will focus on the following topics:
- The emerging personal robotics industry and the challenges and opportunities associated with the development of lifelike companion robotics products,
- UGOBE’s own journey in developing its first Life Form, Pleo the robotic dinosaur, and the important discoveries that were made along the way,
- How UGOBE overcame technological hurdles when creating a product that is the first of its kind, including the creation of lifelike motion, Pleo’s skin, and battery issues; and
- The ways that UGOBE tapped into social media and online marketing to raised awareness for the robotics industry in the online community
1:45PM Wednesday April 9, 2008 - RoboMedicus Track
| | Robotic Surgery: State of the Art, State of the Future David Askey, Chief Business Development Officer Energid Technologies |
Surgical robots enable less invasive procedures, reduce surgical error rates, and lead to faster patient recovery. As a result, robotic minimally invasive surgery is becoming widespread. Robotic surgery also opens the possibility for teleoperation, which will connect master surgeons with remote clinics, making lifesaving surgical procedures available to a much wider population. Next generation systems will offer non-invasive surgery, using focused energy under robot control, will offer treatment with no cuts. Available high precision robots coupled with next generation communication and control software will usher in a new era of teleoperated surgical robots—leading to substantially improved healthcare worldwide. This session will cover the benefits of robot-assisted surgery for the patient and hospital, as well as enabling technologies, new capabilities needed, and market direction.
1:45PM Wednesday April 9, 2008 - Achieving Autonomy Track
| | Evolution, Not Revolution: A Roadmap For Achieving Autonomy on Your Robotic Platform Matt Linder CEO and Founder Valde Systems |
Achieving autonomy on a mobile robotic platform is not an all or nothing proposition. In this session, Matthew Linder CEO of Valde Systems will explain how autonomy can be achieved gradually, by evolution, not revolution. Approaches will be proposed that start with simple functions, and gradually increasing in complexity, and level of autonomy. As described in the session, these steps can be taken at a pace dictated by the customer or internal developmental efforts. In addition, autonomy can be achieved with very little changes to the common robotic architecture.
2:45PM Wednesday April 9, 2008 - Security and Defense Track
| | Robust Visual Perception for Collaboration between Robots, Humans and Aerial Systems Rakesh (Teddy) Kumar Senior Technical Director, Vision and Robotics Laboratory Sanorff Corporation |
As robots become more ubiquitous on the battlefield, it is critical that groups of robots can interact amongst themselves and with humans with a higher level of autonomy that is feasible today. More importantly it is critical, that these robots can be brought to market in a cost-effective manner in order for them to be widely adopted. In this session, Rakesh Kumar will discuss the critical issues in sensing and processing perception software/hardware in areas of accurate and precise localization of humans, robots (ground and air) and robot-viewed objects as well as in human-warfighter collaboration. He will also discuss the detection and classification of obstacles, vehicles, pedestrians, and group activities, as well as the capability of robots to detect and avoid existing or dynamic obstacles in its path, in real-time, as they conduct their mission, thus removing (or aiding) the tele-operator from continuous operations. The technologies discussed will include multi-camera visual odometry, geo-registration of video, fusion of multiple sensing streams and other inputs and the creation of a landmark database in real-time to limit robot localization uncertainty.
2:45PM Wednesday April 9, 2008 - Intelligent Transportation Track
| | Autonomous Vehicle Development with Commercial Off-the-Shelf Technologies Anu Saha Academic Product Manager National Instruments |
Using commercial off-the shelf technologies (COTS) can reduce the need to create custom hardware and software components and thus lessen development time and costs. This presentation discusses the breadth of COTS technologies available for developing unmanned/autonomous vehicles. In this session attendees wil how to integrate these technologies to create autonomous robotic vehicles.
2:45PM Wednesday April 9, 2008 - First Responder Robotics Track
| | Underwater Remotely Operated Vehicles for Port Security Marcus Kolb Director of Research and Development VideoRay LLC |
Underwater remote operated vehicles (ROVs) are increasingly used for underwater surveys, offshore inspections, search and recovery, science, fish farming and a range of applications in underwater environments. One of the most explosive trends in the underwater ROV market over the past five years is the rapid deployment of microROVs protecting United States Ports. Currently all 13 United States Coast Guard Maritime Safety and Security Team (MSST) units, and several USCG Port Security Units are equipped with microROVs. The New York City Police Department Counter Terrorism Unit and Scuba Team use a fleet of VideoRay ROVs, as does the Port of Long Beach. Port Security ROVs are typically equipped with imaging or scanning sonars, acoustic positioning systems, and other accessories. This talk will give an overview of the current state of the art and future directions in the underwater remotely operated vehicles markets.
2:45PM Wednesday April 9, 2008 - Consumer Robotics Track
| | Domestic Mobile Robots as Assistive Companions Vincent Dupourque CEO Robosoft |
In this presentation, Vincent Dupourque will demonstrate how a mobile robot can be used as a domestic companion to assist people staying at home. Using a multi-purpose generic platform, Vincent will show how hardware and software developments have led to a customized robot, merging Internet functions and advanced mobility capabilities, to provide daily-life services to people having to stay at home. He will also demonstrate many services that can be implemented by service providers: Social interactions (with distant people wherever they are, with relatives who can remotely visit), remote telemedicine (to allow frequent remote visits by doctors while patients stay at home), safeguarding (to check everything is OK, care for relatives well being, record house activity), domestic duties (vacuum cleaners¦), and cognitive prosthesis (robotics companion). He will also explain how the customization can be done, depending on the context and patients needs, as well as how new services can be added over time, in accordance with personal requirements.
2:45PM Wednesday April 9, 2008 - RoboMedicus Track
| | Challenges in Acute Care Automation Bruce Thompson Director of Engineering McKesson Automation Solutions |
Today’s technology advancements provide many opportunities to create automation and workflow improvements within the healthcare industry. In this session, attendees will hear how McKesson Automation is striving to empower healthcare providers to deliver better and more accurate care through automation. Examples of products that provide pharmacy automation solutions, as well as controlled access storage and asset tracking capabilities throughout the hospital will be described. This presentation will also outline two new healthcare automation products under development, as well as cover the challenges of adapting new technology to the hospital environment and staff.
2:45PM Wednesday April 9, 2008 - Achieving Autonomy Track
| | Enabling Wireless Power for the Robotics Industry Joe Barron VP Product Line Management & Corporate Development Powercast |
The concept of broadcasting and then harvesting radio waves to power devices wirelessly has been demonstrated for over 100 years. At the same time, there exist government regulations worldwide that precisely restrict not only the level of power that can be transmitted but the application and use cases under which you can transmit the power. As experts in not only radio frequency technology but also in the rules and regulations which define its use and implementation, Powercast was the first to develop patented technology that enables the harvesting of useable levels of wireless power efficiently and economically. In this session, Powercast executives will describe wireless power technology and solutions, as well as discuss several examples of how wireless power will enable innovation in the robot industry; whether the robot is fully autonomous or simply looking for a charge.
4:00PM Wednesday April 9, 2008 - Security and Defense Track
| | Safety Issues Affecting Large Robot Fielding Mike Wagner Commercialization Specialist, National Robotics Engineering Center Carnegie Mellon University |
This session discusses the need for progress on issues surrounding the safety of unmanned ground vehicles. Many believe that in the next decade, unmanned ground vehicles will become as important to the armed forces as pilot-less aerial vehicles are today. While technology is advancing rapidly toward capabilities that will save lives and make our armed forces more effective, serious concerns are looming about safety that have yet to be addressed.
4:00PM Wednesday April 9, 2008 - Intelligent Transportation Track
| | Autonomy Achieved in a Pathology Lab Courier Robot Anthony Diodato Chief Technical Officer CCS Robotics |
In this case study, Anthony Diodato, CTO of CCS Robotics, wil describe ‘Frances’ – an autonomous mobile robot that delivers specimens in the healthcare space for over a year. In that year, Frances traveled 2000 miles, in over 32,000 delivery runs, and opened a door 50,000 times without human intervention (Total up time for Francis was 98% for a 24 x 7 availability criterion). In this session, Anthony will provide a definition of ‘autonomy’ as it is related to a robot deployed in an actual customer site, as well as discuss ROI of the Francis system. He will also discuss the 2% of downtime that Francis encountered and what needs to be done to achieve 100% autonomous service.
4:00PM Wednesday April 9, 2008 - First Responder Track
| | DoD Robotics Technology for First Responders Allen Jones Operations Manager FirstLink |
The Department of Defense (DoD) has numerous venues to enable inventors, companies and first responders to leverage DoD research, development and testing. Robotic platforms for emergency response and security, as well as payloads and system integration for these applications, are among the technologies that are addressed by various DoD Science and Technology programs and sought by the First Responder market. In this illuminating session, attendees will be provided with a sampling of Department of Defense robotics programs, which will be presented with a focus on technology development paths and the utilization of technology transfer mechanisms.
4:00PM Wednesday April 9, 2008 - RoboMedicus Track
| | Robotic Exoskeletons for Gait Assistance and Training of the Motor Impaired Sunil Agrawal Director, Mechanical Systems Laboratory University of Delaware |
Robotics is emerging as a promising tool for training of human functional movement. The current research in this area is focused primarily on upper extremity movements. This talk describes novel designs of three lower extremity exoskeletons, intended for gait assistance and training of motor-impaired patients. The design of each of these exoskeletons is novel and different. Force and position sensors on the exoskeleton provide feedback to the user during training. The exoskeletons have undergone tests on healthy and stroke survivors to assess their potential for treadmill training. These results will be presented. Salient technologies include:
- GBO is a Gravity Balancing un-motorized Orthosis which can alter the gravity acting at the hip and knee joints during swing.
- ALEX is an Actively driven Leg Exoskeleton which can modulate the foot trajectory using motors at the joints.
- SUE is a bilateral Swing-assist Un-motorized Exoskeleton to propel the leg during gait.
4:00PM Wednesday April 9, 2008 - Achieving Autonomy Track
| | Enabling Technologies for 3D Mapping Omead Amidi Co-Founder, SkEyes Unlimited Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University |
Mapping the world will be a very lucrative business in the next decade. Yet, these mapping services demand a huge effort in collecting and processing images, therefore not scaling well when the areas to be mapped increase rapidly or are far from main roads; and they are mostly confined to 2D views of the world. This means that one can easily find a route from, but she cannot yet ‘fly’ the route in anticipation of actually driving through it. New tools are needed to fill in these gaps to bring mapping services to a new level of interactivity and usefulness. This session will describe sensing and robotics technologies which can significantly contribute to this application, including georeferenced laser rangefinders and stabilized cameras; as well as UAV navigation and autonomous control system. How these technologies will evolve and how they can be commercially applied in the future wil also be discussed.