Technical%20Activities%20Report

1
Technical ActivitiesReport
Ken Goldberg, VP Technical Activities Spring
2007, ICRA, Rome
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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
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• 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

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• Agenda, TAB Meeting, ICRA, Rome, April 2007
• Review of Progress to date
• GOLD Lunch, Panel on Robot Operating Systems
• Review of TCs and DLs Most Active TC and DL
• Proposed New RAS Field of Interest (FOI)
  Statement
• Proposed Statement of Support for TCs
• Proposed new category Technical Communities
• Proposed Wiki on RAS Research Milestones
• Increasing TC's role in ICRA, IROS, CASE Session
  Assignments
• "Birds of a Feather" meetings during conferences
• Other Topics

5

• TAB Report, ICRA, Orlando, 20 May 2006
• Approved Establish 2 New TCs
• Algorithms for Planning and Control of Robot
  Motion
• Space Robotics
• Approved Expanding DL program from 15 to 24 DLS
• Approved Most Active DL Award (1000/year)
• Approved Expand Young Professionals Lunch to
  IROS (5000/year)
• Approved Approve TAB Charter

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• TAB Report, IROS, Shanghai, Oct 2006
• Proposal Name Change
• Young Professionals Lunch
• GOLD Lunch (Graduates of the Last Decade)
• Proposal Establish New TC
• Technical Committee on Haptics (TCH)
• New DL Candidates from Under-Represented Areas
• Future Work RAS Focus of Interest (FOI)

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• GOLD Lunch
• Wednesday, 1240-200pm

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Microsoft Robotics StudioReleased Fall 2006
Panel on Future of Robot Operating
Systems Thursday, 510-630pm
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IEEE CASE 2007 Scottsdale, Arizona, USA 22-25
September, 2007 Submissions Due 30 April 2007
www.ieee.org/t-ase
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RAS Distinguished Lecturers
Majid Nili Klas Nilsson Bruno Siciliano Roland
Siegwart Americas Nancy Amato Mario Campos Vijay
Kumar Peter Luh Deirdre Meldrum Tim
Salcudean Metin Sitti Alfredo Weitzefeld
Asia and Pacific Hugh Durrant-Whyte Li-Chen Fu
Shuuji Kajita Frank Park Yoshihiko
Nakamura Shigeki Sugano N. Vishu
Viswanadham Michael Wang Europe Wolfram
Burgard Alicia Casals Dan Halperin Jean Paul
Laumond
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RAS Distinguished Lecturers
Majid Nili Klas Nilsson Bruno Siciliano Roland
Siegwart Americas Nancy Amato Mario Campos Vijay
Kumar Peter Luh Deirdre Meldrum Tim
Salcudean Metin Sitti Alfredo Weitzefeld
Asia and Pacific Hugh Durrant-Whyte Li-Chen Fu
Shuuji Kajita Frank Park Yoshihiko
Nakamura Shigeki Sugano N. Vishu
Viswanadham Michael Wang Europe Wolfram
Burgard Alicia Casals Dan Halperin Jean Paul
Laumond
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• Technical Committee TAB Database Last Updated
• Aerial Robotics and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
  September 30, 2006
• Agricultural Robotics October 22, 2006
• Bio Robotics January 25, 2007
• Computer Robot Vision April 1, 2007
• Humanoid Robotics October 8, 2006
• Human-Robot Interaction Coordination September
  30, 2006
• Intelligent Transportation Systems April 3,
  2007
• Manufacturing Automation April 6, 2007
• Micro/Nano Robotics and Automation February 11,
  2007
• Networked Robots March 1, 2007
• Programming Environments January 8, 2007
• Prototyping for Robotics and Automation March
  12, 2006
• Rehabilitation Robotics April 6, 2007
• Robo-Ethics January 25, 2007
• Safety Security and Rescue Robotics August 31,
  2005
• Service Robotics January 12, 2007
• Semiconductor Manufacturing Automation January
  16, 2007

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• 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_at_coe.drexel.edu

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IEEE Robotics Automation SocietyAgricultural
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_at_usq.edu.au
John Billingsley billings_at_usq.edu.au
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TC on Bio Robotics
Recent Advances
TC Co-Chairs Atsuo Takanishi, Waseda
University Blake Hannaford, University of
Washington

• Contact email to join
• Jorge Solis (Waseda University)
• TC_contact_at_takanishi.mech.waseda.ac.jp

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Algorithms for Planning and Control of Robot
Motion
Integration of Planning and Control Planning
based on local feedback control policies (Connor,
Choset, Rizzi, CMU) others results at UIUC,
UMass Amherst,
Funding SToMP 7.8 million DARPA program headed
by UIUC to investigate sensor-based planning and
associated mathematical and algorithmic
challenges others Penn, U of Chicago,
Rochester, Carnegie-Mellon, Melbourne University,
Arizona State, and Bell Labs/Lucent
Applications in Molecular Biology Protein
folding kinetics (Texas AM, Stanford)
Simulating large-amplitude molecular motion
(LAAS) Protein structure prediction (UMass
Amherst) other results at CMU, Rice,
Real-World Implementation Motion planning
algorithms are being implemented on real-world
humanoid robots at U Tokyo, AIST, CMU,
To Join Oliver Brock (oli_at_cs.umass.edu) Tsutomu
Hasegawa (hasegawa_at_irvs.is.kyushu-u-ac.jp)
Steve LaValle (lavalle_at_uiuc.edu) Thierry Simeon
(nic_at_laas.fr)
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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_at_nada.kth.se
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Haptics Technical Committee
2006 conferences best papers Q. Wang and V.
Hayward, Compact, Portable, Modular,
High-performance Distributed Tactile Display
Device Based on Lateral Skin Deformation, Haptic
Symposium, pp. 10-16, 2006. Y.-S. Lee, S.
Lai-Yuen, Energy-Field Optimization and
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.
Recent advances
New consumer level low-cost haptic interface
(Novint Falcon)
Contact co-chairs to join Hong Tan
hongtan_at_purdue.edu Matthias Harders
mharders_at_vision.ee.ethz.ch Hiroyuki
Kajimoto kajimoto_at_hc.uec.ac.jp
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Human-Robot Interaction and Coordination
Co-Chairs Cecilia Laschi , Cynthia Breazeal,
Yasushi Nakauchi

• Recent Technical Developments
• Computational models of core human
  socio-cognitive skills (such as perspective
  taking and shared attention) have been
  successfully demonstrated to improve the quality
  of human-robot teamwork and interaction
• HRI frameworks have successfully been applied to
  traditional machine learning methods to enable
  humanoid and mobile robots to learn from natural
  human interactions via imitation, demonstration,
  and tutelage.
• The HRI community has embarked on developing
  evaluation metrics that embrace
  multi-disciplinary perspectives such as human
  factors, psychology, robotics, etc. for diverse
  areas of HRI such as Urban Search and Rescue,
  Social Robotics, H-R teams for Space Exploration,
  and more.
• To Join tchric-all_at_hri.iit.tsukuba.ac.jp

Leonardo sharing attention during collaborative
tasks at MIT Media Lab
DB learning by demonstration to play air-hockey
at ATR
Robonaut (teleop)-astronaut teams at NASA JSC
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• 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/th
  eory), 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_at_waseda.jp)
• Hirukawa, Hirohisa (hiro. Hirukawa_at_aist.go.jp)
• Lee, C. S. George (csglee_at_purdue.edu)

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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_at_isr.uc.pt
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Manufacturing Automation

• "Steady-State Throughput and Scheduling Analysis
  of Multi-Cluster Tools for Semiconductor
  Manufacturing"Jingang Yi, (Lam Research
  Corporation), Shengwei Ding, (University
  ofCalifornia at Berkeley) and Dezhen Song, (Texas
  AM University, USA)
• "Geometric Computation for Assembly Planning with
  Planar Toleranced Parts"Yaron Ostrovsky-Berman
  and Leo Joskowicz (The Hebrew University of
  Jerusalem, Israel)
• "Analysis of Andon Type Transfer Production
  Lines A Quantitative Approach"Jingshan Li and
  Dennis E. Blumenfeld (General Motors Research
  Development Center, USA)

• Co-Chairs
• Michael Yu Wang Chinese University of Hong Kong
• Zexiang Li Hong Kong University of Science
  Technology 
• Kin Huat LowNanyang Technological University,
  Singapore

• To join
• Kin Huat Lowmkhlow_at_ntu.edu.sg

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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_at_imech.mech.tohoku.ac.jp Nicholas
Chaillet nicolas.chaillet_at_ens2m.fr Ari Requicha
requicha_at_usc.edu
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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_at_cs.tamu.edu
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Programming Environments in Robotics
AutomationAdvances 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
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Prototyping for Robotics Automation

• TC Chairs
• I-Ming Chen (Nanyang Technological University
• Metin Sitti (Carnegie Mellon University)
• Recent Technical Developments
• Spherical Actuators (3-DOF ball-joint like
  direct-drive actuator)
• Micro- Nano manipulation components
  (Flexure-based Electromagnetic Linear Actuator
  for high precision force control and positioning)
• Reconfigurable Automation (Reconfigurable and
  modular robotics)
• To Join I-Ming Chen (michen_at_ntu.edu.sg)

Spherical actuator
Reconf. automation
Flexure linear actuator
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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
THE WL-16 LEGGED CHAIR FOR MOBILITY OF THE
ELDERLY AND THE DISABLED
ROBOT-THERAPIST CO-OPERATION FOR LOWER LIMB
MOTOR THERAPY
A NEW SIMPLE SYSTEM FOR ROBOT-MEDIATED UPPER LIMB
MOTOR THERAPY

• This robot consists of two Stewart Platform type
  legs and waist with a passenger seat
• Developed by Waseda University (Tokyo) in
  co-operation with the TMSUK company
• Preliminary tests confirmed the stability and
  effectiveness of the system carrying one 60 Kg
  passenger

• MEMOS is a novel low-cost, 2 d.o.f. mechatronic
  system for elbow-shoulder rehabilitation
• Developed by the ARTS Lab of the Scuola Superiore
  SantAnna (Pisa) and experimented at Fondazione
  S. Maugeri (Veruno), Italy
• Preliminary clinical trials on post-stroke
  patients show very encouraging results

• 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

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MEMBERCOUNTER78
Robo-Ethics
Roboethics is Ethics applied to Robotics. It is
the human-centered ethics guiding the design,
construction and use of the robots.
Gianmarco Veruggio ltgianmarco_at_veruggio.itgt
(Corresp. Co-chair) Ronald C. Arkin
ltarkin_at_cc.gatech.edugt (Co-chair)Atsuo Takanishi
lttakanisi_at_waseda.jpgt (Co-chair)

• RECENT DEVELOPEMENTS
• New website http//www.roboethics.org/ieee_ras_tc/
  
• Humanoids06 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.
• ICRA07 Workshop on Roboethics, Rome, 14 April
  2007. http//www.roboethics.org/icra07The 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_at_roboethics.org
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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_at_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_at_rm.is.tohoku.ac.jp)
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Welcome to join us!
TC homepage http//ford.ieor.berkeley.edu/tzhang/
TC/ Contact Mike Tao Zhang, mike.zhang_at_cal.berk
eley.edu 230 members worldwide 2 journal
special issues 7 TC meetings, and 6 conferences
2006-2007
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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_at_usc.edu Giovanni Muscato gmuscato_at_diees.un
ict.it
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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_at_NGC.com

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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_at_coe.drexel.ed
u Frank Tendick, frank.tendick_at_ucsf.edu Mamoru
Mitsuishi, mamoru_at_nml.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp

• To join, please contact Corresponding Chair
• Jaydev P. Desai - desai_at_coe.drexel.edu

Credit Metin Sitti, CMU
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Underwater Robotics Co-Chairs J. Yuh and Dan
Stilwell
To Join stilwell.vt.edu
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.hawa
ii.edu/asl/
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• Technical Committee TAB Database Last Updated
• Aerial Robotics and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
  September 30, 2006
• Agricultural Robotics October 22, 2006
• Bio Robotics January 25, 2007
• Computer Robot Vision April 1, 2007
• Humanoid Robotics October 8, 2006
• Human-Robot Interaction Coordination September
  30, 2006
• Intelligent Transportation Systems April 3,
  2007
• Manufacturing Automation April 6, 2007
• Micro/Nano Robotics and Automation February 11,
  2007
• Networked Robots March 1, 2007
• Programming Environments January 8, 2007
• Prototyping for Robotics and Automation March
  12, 2006
• Rehabilitation Robotics April 6, 2007
• Robo-Ethics January 25, 2007
• Safety Security and Rescue Robotics August 31,
  2005
• Service Robotics January 12, 2007
• Semiconductor Manufacturing Automation January
  16, 2007

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• Technical Committee TAB Database Last Updated
• Aerial Robotics and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
  September 30, 2006
• Agricultural Robotics October 22, 2006
• Bio Robotics January 25, 2007
• Computer Robot Vision April 1, 2007
• Humanoid Robotics October 8, 2006
• Human-Robot Interaction Coordination September
  30, 2006
• Intelligent Transportation Systems April 3,
  2007
• Manufacturing Automation April 6, 2007
• Micro/Nano Robotics and Automation February 11,
  2007
• Networked Robots March 1, 2007
• Programming Environments January 8, 2007
• Prototyping for Robotics and Automation March
  12, 2006
• Rehabilitation Robotics April 6, 2007
• Robo-Ethics January 25, 2007
• Safety Security and Rescue Robotics August 31,
  2005
• Service Robotics January 12, 2007
• Semiconductor Manufacturing Automation January
  16, 2007

37

• Technical Committee TAB Database Last Updated
• Aerial Robotics and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
  September 30, 2006
• Agricultural Robotics October 22, 2006
• Bio Robotics January 25, 2007
• Computer Robot Vision April 1, 2007
• Humanoid Robotics October 8, 2006
• Human-Robot Interaction Coordination September
  30, 2006
• Intelligent Transportation Systems April 3,
  2007
• Manufacturing Automation April 6, 2007
• Micro/Nano Robotics and Automation February 11,
  2007
• Networked Robots March 1, 2007
• Programming Environments January 8, 2007
• Prototyping for Robotics and Automation March
  12, 2006
• Rehabilitation Robotics April 6, 2007
• Robo-Ethics January 25, 2007
• Safety Security and Rescue Robotics August 31,
  2005
• Service Robotics January 12, 2007
• Semiconductor Manufacturing Automation January
  16, 2007

38

• Agenda, TAB Meeting, ICRA, Rome, April 2007
• Past TAB meeting summaries
• GOLD Lunch, Panel on Robot Operating Systems
• Review of TCs and DLs Most Active TC and DL
• Revisions to RAS Field of Interest (FOI)
  Statement
• Proposed Wiki on RAS Research Milestones
• Increasing TC's role in ICRA, IROS, CASE Session
  Assignments
• "Birds of a Feather" meetings during conferences
• Technical Communities
• Other Topics

39
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
40
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.
41
Proposed Assertion ofSupport 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

42
Proposed Assertion ofSupport 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.

43
Proposed Assertion ofSupport for TCs(Dick Volz)

• The society shall encourage TCs and be willing to
  invest financially in TCs that demonstrate
  exceptional initiative

44
TECHNICAL COMMUNITIES

• A Subject For Consideration
• Dick Volz

45
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

46

• Create a class of technical activity groups that
  have greater responsibility/authority than
  typical technical committees
• Possible qualifications
• Size, e.g. gt 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

47

• 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

48

• 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?

49
Better Coordinating RAS Research
Efforts Benchmarks, Metrics, and Milestones
50
New opportunities TC Chairs role in ICRA, IROS,
CASE Session Assignment? TCs organizing
informal Birds of a Feather meetings (lunches,
dinners, gatherings at the hotel bar, etc) during
conferences RAS Wiki on Research Milestones
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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.
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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.