Weeks ago I posted about the first deployment of armed robots into urban combat in Iraq with the goal of actually replacing their human counterparts in the worst of situations. These modularly armed robots, dubbed SWORDS, represent both a tactical and technological paradigmatic shift for the US military. Tactical in that the Pentagon did not seem so keen on robot warriors not so long ago, and technological insofar as once the Pentagon, with the foresight of DARPA, suddenly discovered the value of robotic soldiers they began assigning generous budgets, contracts, and programs to move things along expeditiously. SWORDS was deployed around three months ago, maybe as long as six, and we are already seeing the platform “improved” upon. Naturally, with robotics technology the Pentagon would be remiss to not employ continuous improvement… and so we already have the next generation (pictured above and below) of semi-autonomous, modularly armed robotic soldiers ready for deployment.

Improvements on this military platform, from Foster-Miller, include enhanced friendly fire avoidance and more powerful weaponry. From the video, it also seems to have more fluid and precise motion coupled with improved speed. All of this to say, as we continue to discuss the state of robotics here on Schneiderism, we are consistently seeing the gravity of innovation move from research institutions and industry to the military. This compresses the improvement and advancement cycle for robotics technology, as the Pentagon controls significant budgets and resources to maximize any given technology. The upside is that we will see exponential developments in robotics, especially as it relates to autonomy, over the next few years. The downside is that these developments will be biased toward military aims for the foreseeable future. Honestly, it would be irresponsible to predict how this shift in innovation focus will play out, but I think it is safe to say that five years from now we will be looking at a dramatically different range of tactical options for the US military than we would have thought to be such an imminent reality seven years ago.

More information at Wired, story via Engadget

Though you may mistake the image above to be that of a bedpan of the future, it is in fact a telepresence robot from the consumer robotics company, iRobot. It is called the “ConnectR,” and described by iRobot as a “virtual visiting robot.” Not long ago we investigated the homegrown telepresence robot IvanAnywhere, and the potential for that technology in the workplace. IvanAnywhere was created in a garage, so to speak, by inspired and creative tinkerers. iRobot now takes the concept of telepresence to an entirely new level, by mass producing the technology, and making it incredibly accessible. This is completely in alignment with their mission of creating the “robot home,” but I think that is an incredibly limiting way to review this technology as a device such as ConnectR has potential in a diversity of non-home applications. ConnectR allows for a virtual presence by enabling control of the robot via WiFi. It utilizes live video and audio with the built in camera that can zoom into a high resolution mode for reading text. Remarkable. You can also communicate and speak to your audience through ConnectR, and even display your mood by controlling an LED light.

All of that may sound unimpressive, but it is actually quite amazing. You will be able to purchase a telepresence robot (it launches in 2008) off the shelf of your local robot store and then be in two places at once. I am excited to see creative uses of this technology in the workplace, and guarantee that we will see a proliferation of telecommuters now leveraging telepresence. When ConnectR launches next year it is expected to sell for $499. There are innumerable times that I have dreamed of this technology.

via Engadget

In 1995 Neal Stephenson published “The Diamond Age, or A Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer.” This book is excellent and still, twelve years later, prescient. It presaged, in an eerily descriptive and accurate manner, many of the technologies that are either commonplace today or under intense research and development with hopes of eventually becoming commonplace. Specifically, Stephenson elaborated on the ubiquitousness of nanotechnology, expressed as a wide variety of miniature, microscopic robots and machines that fulfill an incredible diversity of uses… to the extent that some cities have entire impenetrable defensive grid “immune systems” comprised of networked nanomachines that can defend against air pollution, air borne viruses, and criminals. This is only one of many impressive aspects of the story, but it should be noted how thoroughly Stephenson intertwined nanotechnology with our own existence. In 1995 this was incredible, other worldly, and seemingly unreachable. Actually, not so unreachable. Nanotechnology would work its way onto the evening news and into our newspapers before the year 2000. Today, it is a major technological force that receives funding largesse, and for some is a panacea.

About the same time that the concept of nanotechnology was going mainstream, researchers were working on the idea of “smart dust.” In 1999, James Flint wrote of smart dust:

“It relies on the convergence of three technologies: digital circuitry, laser-driven wireless communications, and something called MEMS (Micro ElectroMechanical Systems) to pack enough equipment into a space no more than one or two cubic millimeters in size.”

The concept of smart dust was conceived by researchers Kris Pister and Randy Katz of UC Berkeley. Both are pioneers of ubiquitous computing and the development of networked motes, or small sensor driven and task linked robotic devices. In 2000, Pister wrote of this technology:

“In 2010 everything you own that is worth more than a few dollars will know that it’s yours, and you’ll be able to find it whenever you want it. Stealing cars, furniture, stereos, or other valuables will be unusual, because any of your valuables that leave your house will check in on their way out the door, and scream like a troll’s magic purse if removed without permission (they may scream at 2.4 GHz rather than in audio).”

Beyond ensuring that your stuff stays your stuff, this technology has unreal potential. For medical technologies alone, smart dust could create a revolution. Then, there are the military and security applications (enter Neal Stephenson). The internet has clearly demonstrated the power of the network, virtually. Smart dust has the potential to bring this same power of connection into a physical manifestation, ideally in a manner that is benevolent and not entirely defined by surveillance. Applications of this technology are already being used, albeit still by motes and not yet on a nanoscale… but if we have learned anything over the past 20 years it is that miniaturization can happen very, very quickly. You will find successful use of networked motes being used in applications like monitoring the micro climates in wine vineyards and for seismic monitoring along fault lines. Seems innocuous, but back in 1999 Pister himself seemed excited, when quoted by James Flint in a piece for Telepolis, saying that…

“Considering the military arena, Smart Dust may be deployed for stealthy monitoring of a hostile environment, e.g. for verification of treaty compliance. [With] acoustic vibration or magnetic field sensors [it] could detect the passage of vehicles … [it] could be used for perimeter surveilliance, or to detect the presence of chemical or biological agents on the battlefield.”

Anybody who has read Isaac Asimov’s 1950 collection of short stories “I, Robot” is going to immediately understand where I am going with this post. In that collection was the short story “Runaround,” originally written in 1942, that provided some unbelievable foreshadowing to our present reality. By way of review, the biggest take-away from that story was the immutable Three Laws of Robotics:

1. A robot may not injure a human being, or through inaction allow a human being to be harmed.

2. A robot must obey orders given to it by a human being, except where those orders come into conflict with the First Law.

3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as this does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

In 1950 Asimov anticipated an imminent dilemma now facing humanity. Benefiting from the incredible advances made in a complicated mix of technologies, robotics has exploded with innovations and advances in the last five years. Historically, robotics has focused on industrial automation tasks, but advances in a diversity of technologies (such as WiFi, sensor arrays, optics, and artificial intelligence precursors) are leading us to new and surreal opportunities… such as human service platforms©. As a result of this, robot populations have exploded. Exponentially. Going back to a NYT’s piece in 1984 titled “Futurists See Growth In Robot Population,” none of us should be surprised by this. The article states (IN 1984!):

“The population of robots in the United States is growing by 30 percent a year, compared to a human population growth rate of only 2 percent annually, according to the World Future Society. The society said there will be 35,000 robots in the United States by 1990.”

So we have Asimov in 1942 eloquently providing a cautious warning of our technological future, and in 1984 we are already seeing predictions of robot population growth outpacing humans in the United States by a factor of 15 times. Believe me, it is more now and at the rate robot populations are increasing we face a reality where there will be more of them than there are of us most probably in my lifetime. That’s interesting to think about. I am not going to waste your time with a parade of lines from science fiction movies or 1960’s television. I am going to lay out some facts regarding robot populations, and projections, that definitely gave me pause… and cause for concern. This in spite of the fact that I am fascinated by robots and optimistic about their relationship with us.

Japan is the best place to start. Japanese companies are far and away the fastest innovators and hardest drivers of robotics technologies. This is partly driven by the reality that their population is shrinking, facing a rapid increase in the elderly and a depleted younger generation not sufficient to replace them in the workforce. The current hope is that robots will mitigate this deficiency in labor force replacement. Back in 2003 410,000 of the world’s 720,000 working robots (around 57%) were in Japan. That is just the “working” robots. The worldwide general robotic population in 2003 was well in excess of 1,000,000. Today, the number of robots in Japan is closer to 40% of the global population, but only because the rest of the world is racing to keep pace. Robotics was, and continues to be, a priority long-term economic strength for the Japanese. You could say that they are the vanguard. During 2003, Honda alone spent in excess of $100 million just to develop the humanoid robot “Asimo,” the goal not being to sell Asimo as a consumer product, but to focus technologies into a prototype to test capabilities, to test limits… and filter them into subsequent products and begin refining for later iterations. A proof of concept for the inception of an intelligent service robotics platform. By 2010 it is anticipated that intelligent service robotics will be a market in excess of $30 billion for Japan. In 2005, it was just over $2 billion. That is a growth market. That is momentum.

This is where concern enters the picture. Robotics are hot everywhere, but Japan is the hot engine at the moment. That engine is posting exponential growth in the market, and paradigmatic shifts in the technologies. There is really no way that we can accurately project where we will be in 2010, 2015 or 2020 both in terms of technological development and in terms of overall robotic populations. If you spend any time researching current robot populations you will be hard pressed to yield any relevant information after 2005. I believe this is because things are happening so quickly. We are definitely seeing this with the deployment of military robotic technologies by the U.S. military. In 2000 robotics were hardly on the agenda at the Pentagon, now it commands enormous R&D budgets and sits at the top of yearly acquisition priorities (in the thousands of robots) for every branch of the military. In 2002 the Pentagon was still debating the virtues of self-propelled artillery. But I digress. In Japan alone you have a nation that is aligning their future with the future of robots. On the one hand, that is truly and genuinely aimed at serving the needs of humanity. On the other, it is what seems to be a rush into a technological arena that is yet undefined, and very much uncharted territory. This brings us back to Asimov’s three laws, which seem almost trite, but are actually of increasing importance as we set about building this semi-autonomous, potentially fully, or even quasi-autonomous workforce. As researchers expend greater effort trying to create robots that develop an autonomous approach to space, time and action we should also expend greater effort understanding what the possible implications of this may mean for humanity. Both good and bad. I am not being alarmist, but advocate for serious consideration by our societies around these issues. Think back to 1990. Think back to 2000. Could you have ever anticipated that we would be facing the situations we face today as they relate to technology, geo-politics, religion and the environment? We face similarly asymmetrical unknowns now, but with implications intensified by our own progress.

I love it when categories intersect. Like design and astrophysics, or as in this instance… robots and the workplace of the future. It makes for such fertile subject matter.

We’ve all imagined being able to work without physically having to be at work. Different from telecommuting or working from a home office, I mean having a presence at work that is not actually you. I believe that I actually think about this every day. Perhaps you’ve imagined a virtual avatar, or maybe thought about having yourself cloned. Both may be viable options at some point in the future (and Herman Miller is probably already researching both), but a software programmer in Canada has beaten everyone to reality. Ivan Bowman works from home, which is 800 miles from his office. Previously, he telecommuted and would be the disembodied voice sitting on the conference table. In some ways, this worked well, but not having an ability to interact properly with his coworkers, to look them in the eye and see their facial expressions, was making it difficult to understand nuance, and sometimes intent.

Ivan now uses a “telepresence” robot, a creative combination of technologies, that allows him to be present at meetings, engage in discussion, and “move” around the office environment physically. All of this occurs while Ivan sits in his underwear on his couch hundreds of miles of away. The robot, built by co-worker Ian McHardy, is made from a wireless webcam, microphone, flat panel monitor, speakers mounted on an armature at about eye level and attached to a four-wheeled chassis. He controls it from home, and moves the robot about the office almost as if he were there in person. The robot is him. Ivan could be a brain in a jar somewhere, as far as his co-workers are concerned. He can cruise the halls, visit people in their offices, and look people in the eye. Sort of. To date, this solution appears to be working very, very well for all involved… and has brought much attention to Ivan. Actually, it has brought attention to the virtual Ivan, named “IvanAnywhere”.

This robot represents an important direction in the future of work, in the ways we work, and how we interact. Having a dynamic, mobile virtual presence in the workplace can create all sorts of opportunities for both employees and employers. Think about the difficulty in attracting talent in a particular office due to geographical location. That would be a non-issue. Think about the challenges, due to changed immigration laws and regulations, in company’s abilities to retain foreign residents as staff. They can now work from their home country. Think about the efficiencies this could yield in the physical space that makes up the office environments we work in. If even a small number of people work via telepresence robotics there is a savings in the needed square feet for an office space. That alone has benefits to company overhead, energy usage, waste, and pollution. Could this technology actually be categorized as sustainable? I would argue that it can.

Naturally, this all is a long way off, but is it important that an individual at one company took such an interesting and innovative approach to addressing issues that matter in the workplace. That the potential scale of this approach has so many additional benefits is only supporting of our work realities moving more in this direction over time.

via The Record.com

I could not wait to post about the cute, cuddly little yellow robot pictured above. This is partly because of the the last few robotics posts being about the appropriation of robotics technology by the military for, you know, killing people and such. But there is so much more to what robotics offers beyond being another weapons platform. I was excited to post this also partly because of a post over at our friend The Acme Siren about robots and music. Allow me to introduce Keepon, the name of the cute yellow bugger up there in the photo.

First, a little on biomorphic robotics, a sub-discipline of robotics focused on emulating the mechanics, sensor systems, computing structures and methodologies used by animals. In short, this is the science of building robots inspired by the principles of biological systems. Sounds simple, but obviously it’s not. We “animals” are immensely complex and high maintenance organisms, and as advanced as electronics, processors and robotics might be it is still a challenge to make them more like us. I suppose that is why so many robots still look like wheelbarrows and vacuum cleaners. Researchers involved in biomorphic robotics believe that identifying the underlying rhythm in human communications may help robots to interact in ways that are more natural and acceptable to humans, and less like the dominant overlords they are sure to become.

Keepon was introduced earlier this year and is the result of collaboration between two robotics researchers from different sides of the Pacific, Marek Michalowski at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, and Hideki Kozima of the National Institute of Communications Technology in Japan. Their work was to synchronize the movements of this robot with sound, with rhythm and ultimately with music in an effort to make robots seem less like robots, and perhaps more like cute little yellow anthropomorphic buggers. Anyway, we all recognize that dancing is an engaging activity, it is disarming and fun to both watch and to participate in. Marek and Hideki concluded that the same might well work for robots and make them seem more disarming and fun. You be the judge, but please check out Keepon dancing to Spoon’s “Don’t You Evah”.

There are more videos with Keepon shaking it in the name of research.

This story has already been everywhere and I meant to post about it last week, but have been inundated at work and sadly… Schneiderism takes a back seat to the rest of my life.I looked at my draft post again this morning and thought there was an important perspective, and one I’ve not seen yet approached in the media, on the deployment of heavily armed robots to combat situations that warrants investigation.

First, a summary of the details…The story involves the first armed robots being deployed in Iraq for use in urban combat situations where human soldiers would be dangerously exposed to snipers, ambush, and roadside explosive devices. The robots can be armed with a mix of weaponry, including high-powered M249 machine guns, grenade launchers and automatic shotguns. The robots are called SWORDS, an acronym that stands for “Special Weapons Observation Reconnaissance Detection System”. Presently, the robots are remotely controlled by human operators either on site or located at a distant support base. Soon, though, and reference the previous post about the autonomous robots being tested by the British Military, the armed robots discussed here will be fully automated. According to an interview on CNET with Chief Army Scientist Thomas Killion, this is the ultimate goal of the military robotics program. Said Killion in that interview, “the FCS [Future Combat Systems] program is demonstrating semiautonomous vehicles where they can do a lot of planning and execution on their own and they really only have to essentially call home to a soldier that’s controlling it when it needs additional guidance.”

The realization of modern science fiction aside, this marks serious progress in the field of robotics… and unfortunately this innovation is being driven by the military. No doubt, these robots will save lives. Saving lives is a very, very good thing regardless of your stand on the war in Iraq. No doubt these robots will also take lives, and therein lies the rub.

Robotics is a major human undertaking, and one that creates as much optimism as it does dread, concern and fear. Robotics and AI programs driven by science, by engineering, and by academics seek to use robotics as a way to address human needs. There are enormous implications for huge segments of our society not normally served by technology, or not normally those to access it or to seek it out. Think about the robotic benefits to the elderly or the differently abled? Think about the implications of robotics to commerce and logistics? Really, the ways that they can enhance our lives are only limited by our imagination. The reality that many of the advancements in robotics are now under the aegis of DARPA or the Pentagon saddens me only because this means that essentially they will be the first to benefit from the latest advancements in the field. Nothing new, there, really. But in the field of robotics so much has been driven by erstwhile humanitarian focused goals. This is a tedious distraction.

Original story via Wired

I think the fact that the military is beginning to increasingly utilize robots for some of its dirty work can officially be filed under “BORING.” We’ve been hearing about pilotless drones that can fire Hellfire missiles for what feels like forever. We’ve been hearing about bomb disposal robots since S.W.A.T was a popular television show (and that is a long freaking time). Quick, if you have no idea what S.W.A.T is, go to YouTube for this retro enjoyment. That was such a cool show.

So, clearly, robots are not new on the battlefield. But this story is. The UK’s Ministry of Defence is taking things further with its goal to bring autonomous, information-gathering robots to urban warfare situations. You read that correctly:

Autonomous robots in warfare situations… Autonomous robots.

Now, that is science fiction coming to an urban area near you. These technologies will be in testing over the next few years, but the UK MoD hopes to develop robots that can identify potential snipers, enemy vehicles and other human threats, with a minimum of human guidance, and then report that information back to ground troops gearing up for an assault. The robots being developed include miniature unmanned planes and tiny helicopters equipped with high-definition cameras that will work in combination with ground units utilizing radar and thermal detection. They won’t be arming these robots just yet, which is probably very, very wise of them.

Story via BBC News

This post is more about the fact that I need to get a life than anything else. Yes, it involves robots. Yes, it involves innovation in the building industry. And yes, it even has bricks. That’s about all it takes to get me excited these days.

Anyway, I found this story via Monocle, the new magazine put out by Tyler Brulee of Wallpaper fame. It is a good magazine, content rich and incredibly diverse in its coverage. I highly recommend checking it out. The story involves researchers at the Architecture and Digital Fabrication laboratory at ETH Zürich and their innovations in using robots for the laying of bricks. This is not bricklaying in the traditional sense, as these robots are tasked with laying the bricks in precise patterns that are actually not achievable by humans… patterns that are both stunningly beautiful and structurally supportive. Interestingly, I stumbled upon this video shortly after touring the robotic brickworks that I mentioned in an earlier post. There is definitely something here, and it relates to the stories last year about robot built homes in Japan (which I can’t locate… but will shortly). So, robots are making the bricks and robots are laying the bricks. Soon, I think, they will also be delivering the bricks. This is fascinating, and not least of all because it involves a building method largely unchanged for the last 250 years, and before that for the previous 1500 years. This bodes incredibly well for innovation (especially involving robots) in a number of other seemingly mundane and arcane fields. It is stories like this, that may go overlooked, that really make me think about our world twenty years from now.

Sensational headlines aside, I was excited to read that the European Space Agency’s Eurobot passed its weightless environments test. Now, it is that much closer to joining its human counterparts at the International Space Station to support astronauts by holding things, putting things away, getting things out, and holding things. Not too deep a talent set, there, but nonetheless valuable in a weightless environment. Eurobot has three arms about the size of a human being’s, but they are articulated in seven places to allow it to move and pivot in ways that we cannot, unless you are an adherent of bikram yoga or some such.

My question is, shouldn’t we have had robots doing cool things in space like thirty years ago? What happened? Somewhere along the line the various space agencies totally let down the science fiction infused dreams of anybody born between WWII and 1985. Penalties should be assessed.

More via New Scientist