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
• 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
1. Review of Progress to date
2. GOLD Lunch, Panel on Robot Operating Systems
3. Review of TCs and DLs: Most Active TC and DL
4. Proposed New RAS Field of Interest (FOI) Statement
5. Proposed Statement of Support for TCs
6. Proposed new category: Technical Communities
7. Proposed Wiki on RAS Research Milestones
8. 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 Majid Nili
Hugh Durrant-Whyte Klas Nilsson
Li-Chen Fu Bruno Siciliano
Shuuji Kajita Roland Siegwart
Frank Park
Yoshihiko Nakamura Americas
Shigeki Sugano Nancy Amato
N. Vishu Viswanadham Mario Campos
Michael Wang Vijay Kumar
Peter Luh
Europe Deirdre Meldrum
Wolfram Burgard Tim Salcudean
Alicia Casals Metin Sitti
Dan Halperin Alfredo Weitzefeld
Jean Paul Laumond
 RAS Distinguished Lecturers
Asia and Pacific Majid Nili
Hugh Durrant-Whyte Klas Nilsson
Li-Chen Fu Bruno Siciliano
Shuuji Kajita Roland Siegwart
Frank Park
Yoshihiko Nakamura Americas
Shigeki Sugano Nancy Amato
N. Vishu Viswanadham Mario Campos
Michael Wang Vijay Kumar
Peter Luh
Europe Deirdre Meldrum
Wolfram Burgard Tim Salcudean
Alicia Casals Metin Sitti
Dan Halperin Alfredo Weitzefeld
Jean Paul Laumond
 Technical Committee TAB Database Last Updated

1. Aerial Robotics and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles September 30, 2006

2. Agricultural Robotics October 22, 2006
3. Bio Robotics January 25, 2007
4. Computer & Robot Vision April 1, 2007
5. Humanoid Robotics October 8, 2006
6. Human-Robot Interaction & Coordination September 30, 2006
7. Intelligent Transportation Systems April 3, 2007
8. Manufacturing Automation April 6, 2007
9. Micro/Nano Robotics and Automation February 11, 2007
10. Networked Robots March 1, 2007
11. Programming Environments January 8, 2007
12. Prototyping for Robotics and Automation March 12, 2006
13. Rehabilitation Robotics April 6, 2007
14. Robo-Ethics January 25, 2007
15. Safety Security and Rescue Robotics August 31, 2005
16. Service Robotics January 12, 2007
17. Semiconductor Manufacturing Automation January 16, 2007
18. Surgical Robotics January 25, 2007
19. Underwater Robotics March 5, 2006
20. Planning and Control of Robot Motion January 18, 2007
21. Space Robotics February 27, 2007
22. Haptics 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.
A novel bio-inspired articulated
Remote-controlled surgical robotic probe (HARP) was
robots promise to save lives by developed based on a snake-like
The WABIAN-2R reproduces more closely the
imitating surgeons’ dexterity mechanism for minimally
human-like walking with stretched knees,
in cases where patient cannot invasive surgery. Reference: S.
heel contact and toe-off motions. Reference:
be transferred to the hospital. Au, P. Dilworth, H. Herr. “An
Y. Ogura, K. Shimomura, H. Kondo, A.
Reference: J. Rose and B. ankle-foot emulation system for
Morishima, T. Okubo, S. Momoki, H. Lim, A.
Hannaford, “DOC at a the study of human walking
Takanishi. “Human-like walking with knee
distance”, IEEE Spectrum, Vol. biomechanics”, In Proc. ICRA
stretched, heel-contact and toe-off motion by
43, No. 10, pp. 28-33, October 2006, pp. 2939-2945.
a humanoid robot,” In Proc. IROS 2006, pp.
2006.
3976-3981.

TC Co-Chairs:
Atsuo Takanishi, Waseda University
Contact email to join: 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 Applications in Molecular Biology:
investigate sensor-based Protein folding kinetics (Texas A&M,
planning and associated Stanford); Simulating large-amplitude
mathematical and algorithmic molecular motion (LAAS); Protein structure
challenges; others: Penn, U of prediction (UMass Amherst); other results
Chicago, Rochester, Carnegie- at CMU, Rice, …
Mellon, Melbourne University,
Arizona State, and Bell
Labs/Lucent
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)
.
.

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: 2006 conferences best papers:

Q. Wang and V. Hayward, “Compact, Portable, Modular, High-

New consumer level performance Distributed Tactile Display Device Based on Lateral
low-cost haptic interface Skin Deformation”, Haptic Symposium, pp. 10-16, 2006.
(Novint Falcon)
Y.-S. Lee, S. Lai-Yuen, “Energy-Field Optimization and Haptic-
Based 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 hongtan@purdue.edu
Matthias Harders mharders@vision.ee.ethz.ch
Hiroyuki Kajimoto 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 Leonardo sharing attention during
collaborative tasks at MIT Media
– HRI frameworks have successfully been applied to traditional Lab
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 DB learning by demonstration
human factors, psychology, robotics, etc. for diverse areas of to play air-hockey at ATR
HRI such as Urban Search and Rescue, Social Robotics, H-R
teams for Space Exploration, and more.
• 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, Human-
robot 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 succeed

in this extremely complex task.
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
 "Steady-State Throughput and
Scheduling Analysis of Multi-Cluster
Co-Chairs: Tools for Semiconductor
• Michael Yu Wang Manufacturing"
Jingang Yi, (Lam Research
Chinese University of Hong Kong Corporation), Shengwei Ding,
• Zexiang Li (University ofCalifornia at Berkeley)
Hong Kong University of Science and Dezhen Song, (Texas A&M
& Technology  University, USA)
• Kin Huat Low
Nanyang Technological University,  "Geometric Computation for Assembly
Singapore 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
To join: Approach"
Jingshan Li and Dennis E. Blumenfeld
• Kin Huat Low (General Motors Research &
mkhlow@ntu.edu.sg 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
Spherical actuator
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)
Reconf. automation
• To Join: I-Ming Chen
(michen@ntu.edu.sg)
Flexure linear actuator
 Rehabilitation Robotics
Michelle J. Johnson Eugenio Guglielmelli Takahori Shibata
Marquette University, USA Università Campus Bio-Medico, Italy AIST, Japan
(From RAS Area 1: Americas) (From RAS Area 2: Europe, Middle Est & Africa) (From RAS Area 3: Asia & Oceania)

RECENT ACHIEVEMENTS
ROBOT-THERAPIST CO-OPERATION A NEW SIMPLE SYSTEM FOR ROBOT- THE WL-16 LEGGED CHAIR FOR MOBILITY
FOR LOWER LIMB MOTOR THERAPY MEDIATED UPPER LIMB MOTOR THERAPY OF THE ELDERLY AND THE DISABLED

• 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
• 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
Superiore Sant’Anna (Pisa) and experimented in co-operation with the TMSUK
at Fondazione S. Maugeri (Veruno), Italy company
• Preliminary clinical trials on post-stroke • Preliminary tests confirmed the stability
patients show very encouraging results and effectiveness of the system carrying
one 60 Kg passenger
 MEMBER

Robo-Ethics 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 moradi@usc.edu
Giovanni Muscato 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
To join, please contact Corresponding Chair:
Credit: Metin Sitti, CMU
Jaydev P. Desai - desai@coe.drexel.edu
 Underwater Robotics To Join: stilwell.vt.edu
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/
 Technical Committee TAB Database Last Updated

1. Aerial Robotics and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles September 30, 2006

2. Agricultural Robotics October 22, 2006
3. Bio Robotics January 25, 2007
4. Computer & Robot Vision April 1, 2007
5. Humanoid Robotics October 8, 2006
6. Human-Robot Interaction & Coordination September 30, 2006
7. Intelligent Transportation Systems April 3, 2007
8. Manufacturing Automation April 6, 2007
9. Micro/Nano Robotics and Automation February 11, 2007
10. Networked Robots March 1, 2007
11. Programming Environments January 8, 2007
12. Prototyping for Robotics and Automation March 12, 2006
13. Rehabilitation Robotics April 6, 2007
14. Robo-Ethics January 25, 2007
15. Safety Security and Rescue Robotics August 31, 2005
16. Service Robotics January 12, 2007
17. Semiconductor Manufacturing Automation January 16, 2007
18. Surgical Robotics January 25, 2007
19. Underwater Robotics March 5, 2006
20. Planning and Control of Robot Motion January 18, 2007
21. Space Robotics February 27, 2007
22. Haptics April 4, 2007
 Technical Committee TAB Database Last Updated

1. Aerial Robotics and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles September 30, 2006

2. Agricultural Robotics October 22, 2006
3. Bio Robotics January 25, 2007
4. Computer & Robot Vision April 1, 2007
5. Humanoid Robotics October 8, 2006
6. Human-Robot Interaction & Coordination September 30, 2006
7. Intelligent Transportation Systems April 3, 2007
8. Manufacturing Automation April 6, 2007
9. Micro/Nano Robotics and Automation February 11, 2007
10. Networked Robots March 1, 2007
11. Programming Environments January 8, 2007
12. Prototyping for Robotics and Automation March 12, 2006
13. Rehabilitation Robotics April 6, 2007
14. Robo-Ethics January 25, 2007
15. Safety Security and Rescue Robotics August 31, 2005
16. Service Robotics January 12, 2007
17. Semiconductor Manufacturing Automation January 16, 2007
18. Surgical Robotics January 25, 2007
19. Underwater Robotics March 5, 2006
20. Planning and Control of Robot Motion January 18, 2007
21. Space Robotics February 27, 2007
22. Haptics April 4, 2007
 Technical Committee TAB Database Last Updated

1. Aerial Robotics and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles September 30, 2006

2. Agricultural Robotics October 22, 2006
3. Bio Robotics January 25, 2007
4. Computer & Robot Vision April 1, 2007
5. Humanoid Robotics October 8, 2006
6. Human-Robot Interaction & Coordination September 30, 2006
7. Intelligent Transportation Systems April 3, 2007
8. Manufacturing Automation April 6, 2007
9. Micro/Nano Robotics and Automation February 11, 2007
10. Networked Robots March 1, 2007
11. Programming Environments January 8, 2007
12. Prototyping for Robotics and Automation March 12, 2006
13. Rehabilitation Robotics April 6, 2007
14. Robo-Ethics January 25, 2007
15. Safety Security and Rescue Robotics August 31, 2005
16. Service Robotics January 12, 2007
17. Semiconductor Manufacturing Automation January 16, 2007
18. Surgical Robotics January 25, 2007
19. Underwater Robotics March 5, 2006
20. Planning and Control of Robot Motion January 18, 2007
21. Space Robotics February 27, 2007
22. Haptics April 4, 2007
Agenda, TAB Meeting, ICRA, Rome, April 2007
1. Past TAB meeting summaries
2. GOLD Lunch, Panel on Robot Operating Systems
3. Review of TCs and DLs: Most Active TC and DL
4. Revisions to RAS Field of Interest (FOI) Statement
5. Proposed Wiki on RAS Research Milestones
6. 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.