Amidst a climate of fiscal austerity and vibrant debates over the growing importance of unmanned vehicles in foreign policy and homeland security, the 2013 AUVSI Unmanned Systems Conference returned to Washington, D.C., last week after hosting the 2012 event in Las Vegas. The event was not without controversy, however, as activist group Code Pink held a demonstration outside the venue and disrupted a keynote address. The show itself was a tale of two storylines as the exhibit hall demonstrated that applications for defense and law enforcement are still the lifeblood of the unmanned systems industry, while the technical program and panel discussions pointed to a growing interest to move into commercial industries. Here’s what you missed:

UAVs as economic drivers

As expected, the Federal government’s booth presence was minimal among the nearly 600 exhibitors compared to previous years due to limited budgets. Interestingly, several states including Ohio, Minnesota, Nevada, North Dakota, Utah, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arizona were present to promote their economic programs and bids as one of six test sites under the FAA’s UAS integration program. Approved sites will attract unmanned aerial vehicle manufacturers as the FAA begins to open U.S. airspace in 2015. North Dakota Lieutenant Governor Drew Wrigley and U.S. Congressman Mike Turner (R-Ohio) made special visits to the conference to further promote their respective states. States will become increasingly important for manufacturers as Defense procurements slow and commercial markets are opened.

Big and small vendors showcase new platforms

Among exhibitors, the vast majority of platforms continue to be fixed-wing aerial vehicles of various sizes. The big players of General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman showed the latest in drone technology, including a model of Northrop’s X-47B, which just this past July achieved a historic result by autonomously landing on the flight deck of the USS George H.W. Bush. Several quadrotor vendors were also present to market easy-to-use and agile systems for law enforcement. I was particularly impressed by systems from Aeryon Labs and navigation systems from Airware. While last year we were introduced to the unique ground platforms from Boston Dynamics such as the LS3 and RHex, no particular system stole the show this year. It was nice to see iRobot’s RP-VITA out and about with live telepresence demonstrations, however. Among maritime systems, California-based Liquid Robotics brought along “Benjamin Franklin,” recently returned from a Guinness World Record-setting 14,703 km data collection journey across the Pacific Ocean.

Self-driving cars, the future?

But it was the push toward applications in agriculture and self-driving cars that attracted the most attention and excitement among technical program attendees. The automated driving panel featured a lively discussion from panelists Chuck Thorpe, Clarkson University Provost and former Carnegie-Mellon University Robotics Institute head; Virginia Tech researcher Myra Blanco, and consultant Annie Lien. Chief among the discussion topics was the role of states in regulating self-driving cars. While California, Nevada, and others are helping get these vehicles onto roads, this approach will hinder progress and development, according to Ms. Lien. “Safety requirements are normally defined at the federal level,” she noted. Different regulations for each state will eventually create a logistical and legal headache for manufacturers and consumers alike.

Though Google and car manufacturers are making significant progress in developing and testing the necessary technologies for fully autonomous systems, the panelists noted that they are taking very different approaches toward market introductions. Among the four defined levels of autonomous cars, with level 0 being manual and level 4 being full autonomy in unstructured road conditions, panelists suggested Google is aiming directly for level 4 within five years while BMW, Mercedes and others are gradually introducing new features in time-tested industry fashion. For example, some 2014 year models will feature traffic jam assistance that will facilitate self-driving with minimal intervention in stop-and-go situations.

So where will we be by 2020? The panelists seemed to converge on the certainty of level 3 market availability, but with complex socio-technical systems such as transportation, that is still anyone’s guess. Thorpe summed it up fairly well by suggesting it is always more difficult to transform an existing industry than creating a new one. Aside from the technology and safety regulations, we are only now considering the larger societal questions such as urban sprawl: if you could work or sleep while the car autonomously drove during your commute, would you live farther away?

Georgia Tech’s Dr. Henrik Christensen introduces the 2013 edition of the U.S. Robotics Roadmap.

Following opening remarks from caucus co-chair Congressman Phil Gingrey, editor Dr. Henrik I. Christensen of Georgia Institute of Technology briefed the audience on the report’s updates. With a clear emphasis placed on innovation and job creation, Christensen reported updates to the manufacturing, services, and healthcare sections while introducing two new sections for space and defense robotics, a clear signal to the rise of NASA successes Robonaut and Curiosity, and the growing significance of unmanned systems. To come up with these updates, the National Science Foundation supported five topical workshops last year hosting approximately 25 participants from academia, industry, and government at each event. Lacking from the last report was a particular focus on human-robot teams, whereas this revised version stresses the importance of co-worker (manufacturing/service), co-inhabitant (healthcare), co-defender (defense/security), and co-explorer (space) applications.

Building on the release of its highly publicized Baxter manufacturing robot, Rethink Robotics‘ founder and CEO Dr. Rodney Brooks energized the room with his discussion of the growing “in-shoring” movement where robots are having a significant impact on reducing manufacturing costs in the U.S. when compared to Asian markets. He noted Baxter’s ease of use, as evidenced by its integration and useful output at a plastics factory outside of Philadelphia just one day after taking delivery.

Following the much-hyped acquisition by Amazon for a whopping $775 million last year, Kiva Systems CTO Dr. Pete Wurman highlighted the continued double-digit growth in e-commerce, as its swarm of logistics robots help workers save time where they would typically “walk miles in a factory” to retrieve inventory. Today, Kiva robots help operate distribution centers across the U.S. for companies like Staples (their first customer), Crate & Barrel, and Walgreens, and they’re just beginning to expand into Europe. Wurman noted that a typical installation can feature 500 robots, with their largest boasting 1,000: “too many to fit into a photo,” he said.

Ekso Bionics’ Russ Angold (right) looks on as a paralyzed Army veteran uses the exoskeleton to walk again.

Finally, the briefing closed with a memorable presentation from exoskeleton pioneers Ekso Bionics. Company co-founder and CTO Russ Angold reported that in the past year their exoskeleton system has helped over 500 individuals take 1.8 million steps during rehabilitation sessions following partial and complete spinal paralysis. In a rare live robot demonstration in a Congressional office building, a 30-year Army veteran paralyzed in a helicopter crash in Iraq, used the Ekso system to stand and then walk to the center of the room. It was a remarkable concluding statement for the dozens of staffers, professional society representatives, government officials and robotics engineers in attendance.

A Roadmap for U.S. Robotics: From Internet to Robotics–2013 edition can be viewed here.

10. Robot and Frank Film looks toward elderly care future

Among films like Real Steel and I, Robot, Robot & Frank emerged from the Sundance Film Festival as a refreshing film that offered roboticists a realistic vision for robots in elderly care.

9. First robotics ethics and law conference

The University of Miami School of Law hosted the first conferenceon legal and policy issues relating to robotics, a sign of things to come as unique enable robotics technologies raise new philosophical and legal concerns for lawyers and policymakers.

8. Baxter brings manufacturing robotics to small businesses

For four years, Rodney Brooks’ Heartland Robotics (now called Rethink Robotics) remained in stealth mode as many wondered what the acclaimed researcher and iRobot co-founder was plotting for the “manufacturing” domain. Finally, we met Baxter, a two-armed robot that can be programmed by demonstration to perform pick-and-place tasks. But it’s the small $20,000 price tag that is turning heads.

7. Amazon acquires Kiva for $775M

Amazon shocked the robotics world with its $775 million acquisition of Kiva Systems, maker of the automated warehouse logistics robots. It may not be a price we’ll see again any time soon, but the purchase signals a maturation of mobile robots that have become an integral part of business logistics.

6. Robonaut, Curiosity pave the way in space, WAVE glider robot traverses Pacific

With recent news in Washington considering the future of NASA, 2012 was a great year for the agency’s robotics program. First, Robonaut aboard the International Space Station began the year with an iconic handshake with the ISS commander. Since then, it has performed a variety of tasks in flipping switches, turning knobs, and grabbing handrails. b. Of course there was the “terrifying” Mars landing of the Curiosity rover in July. Armed with an arsenal of tools and laboratory equipment, Curiosity is turning out to be a successful robotic explorer. And just this month we learned that an autonomous wave glider robot from Liquid Robotics completed its one-year, 9000-mile Pacific voyage from California to Australia.

5. U.S. Government flexes muscle with DARPA ROBOTICS challenge and NRI

Back in 2004 when DARPA announced its first Grand Challenge in robotics, a reliable driverless car was a dream. Now, well, see the #4 story of the year below. The blue sky agency is at it again with the Robotics Challenge, a $34 million effort with the goal of producing a capable humanoid robot for disaster response scenarios. An added innovation to the challenge is an open-source simulator being developed by the Open Source Robotics Foundation (OSRF), which will serve as a contribution to the community but also permit a software-only team to earn a humanoid hardware platform and advance to the second phase of the challenge.

A year after the Obama Administration announced the National Robotics Initiative, the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced $50 million in funding toward collaborative robots. While the amount is small compared to programs in Europe, Japan, and South Korea, the NRI is the first coordinated research funding focus in the U.S. for non-military robotic applications. For that, U.S. efforts come in at number five.

4. Driverless car legislation becomes law

The Google self-driving car has racked up 300,000 miles on the road as California, Florida and Nevada (last year) passed legislation setting up the procedures and requirements that will be needed for commercial driverless products. Several others, including D.C., are reviewing bills. With car manufacturers now introducing advanced sensors and increasing autonomy features in upcoming models, the legislation is ahead of the technological curve for once.

3. ROS turns 5

The Robot Operating System from Willow Garage. There’s not much more to say than I already have in previous posts. But a five-year anniversary for an open-source robotics software framework that continues to grow is a significant achievement. How fast has it grown? According to Tully Foote’s blog post at ros.org, there are 3699 public ROS packages (up from 1600 three years ago), 90 community-supported robot platforms (up from 50), and people are using ROS on all seven (yes, seven) continents. The recently launched Open Source Robotics Foundation is also a good sign for a sustainable movement.

2. Maker and start-up culture pushes robotics

In the same year that the iRobot Roomba celebrated 10 years on the market, we saw an acceleration of viable robotics businesses and products. For years many said that venture capitalists wanted nothing to do with hardware startups; they were too risky and required upfront capital, manufacturing, and inventory. That has clearly changed now, with increasing investments in robotics startups and entrepreneurs figuring out how to create products and solutions using robotics technology. The prestigious Y Combinator program funded Double Robotics and their price-shattering telepresence robot. Dmitry Grishin, a Russian investor, launched Grishin Robotics with $25 million of his own funds to invest in personal robotics companies. As of this writing, he’s invested in Double and the RobotAppStore. Furthermore, The Robot Report’s detailed map of nearly 1000 companies indicates 173 startups, 89 in the U.S. alone (not including many others still in stealth mode). And lest we forget the crowdfunding movement, which has spawned several robotics products and dozens more related “Internet of Things” devices. Some of our favorites: Romo, Hexy the Hexapod, OpenROV, and Autom.

Feeding into this hardware movement has been the growing maker culture, with a combination of 3D printers, hacker spaces, and inexpensive microcontrollers like the Arduino reducing the barrier to tinkering, building, and experimenting. Similarly, the Do-It-Yourself drone community has taken off with Wired Editor-in-Chief Chris Anderson leaving his post to take over 3D Robotics full-time.

1. Drones take center stage

It seems a week didn’t go by without a major story involving unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as they continue to be used in warzones in Afghanistan and shadow campaigns in Pakistan, Yemen, and the horn of Africa. Regardless of the ethics, sovereignty concerns, and the like, drones have saturated the national discourse and are here to stay on the battlefield, and there is little doubt we will begin to see remote-controlled and semi-autonomous UAVs in domestic surveillance and commercial applications as soon as 2015 in the United States. For these reasons, they take the number one spot.

Have another top story we didn’t list? We’d love to hear them! Let us know in the comments section.

Every week, robots are making 60,000 food deliveries to patients in 150 hospitals across the United States. A lovable robotic baby seal is transforming the lives of hundreds of individuals suffering from dementia in Denmark. For thousands of small business owners in manufacturing and assembly, a $20,000 robot is a welcome competitive edge after years of offshoring. And a self-driving car that has logged 100,000 miles could be commercially available in five years.

Robotics pioneer Rodney Brooks (left), Russian investor Dimitri Grishin, Bosch VC Jan Westerhues, and Robotics Trends’ Richard Erb discuss robotics investment trends

A robotics conference has never been so energizing: three days of talks and demonstrations that collectively signal to a usually cautious robotics community, ‘it’s time to change the world’.

Bossa Nova Robotics debuted project mObi, a new platform for HRI research

That was RoboBusiness 2012 — for me, at least. Four-hundred robotics researchers, entrepreneurs, business managers, sales professionals, and analysts descending on a hotel in Downtown Pittsburgh certainly had their own intentions for attending the event, but for me it showed that robotics technology is capable of turning into really great products and successful businesses today, and not just for military and assembly line applications.

If, for a moment, you’re staring at your roomba puttering along your floor with a knack for failing to complete a seemingly simple task while longing for the false promises of a personal robotic butler, please bare with me. Let’s break down the key drivers and enablers that have led me to such an optimistic conclusion:

1)   Open platforms and systems integration
For a long time, most robotics researchers and developers created custom hardware and/or software for each new experiment or product, which required a lot of upfront investment just to pretty much reinvent the wheel. Someone interested in building a remote telepresence robot needed to think about motor control, chassis design, sensor interfaces and signal conditioning, power, processing, communications, and user interfaces. That’s not the case anymore, as previous articles here have discussed. Open source software such as Linux, ROS, OpenCV, and PCL have contributed to a coalescence of practices that are speeding up system development and furthering scientific research at a fascinating rate. Readily available platforms and components like Arduino, Turtlebot, Kinect, PR2, Pioneer, and NAO are doing their part on the hardware side, allowing researchers to build on and validate each other’s results. ROS was a primary topic of discussion in at least three talks at RoboBusiness, while nearly every robot or manipulator arm in the showcase featured ROS compatibility. That didn’t exist only a few years ago. In fact, one talk from CoroWare President Lloyd Spencer focused exclusively on open platforms, and Clearpath Robotics is successfully delivering ROS-running robots to real-world customers.

2)   Workforce Development
For two decades, robotics competitions at all levels of education have inspired students to become engineers. Whether it’s FIRST, VEX, BEST, Botball, the Trinity fire-fighting contest, or the various events funded by professional societies like AUVSI and IEEE, we have a generation of competition graduates who are ambassadors for robotics technology with practical expectations. They are developers, researchers, and future adopters, and that cannot be undervalued. In terms of curriculum and institutionalization within the United States, we are furthering change with efforts like Project Lead the Way that, according to Robotics Education & Competition Foundation Chairman Joe Astroth at RoboBusiness, is serving 5,000 schools and 500,000 students. Three leading universities have robotics Ph.D. programs and dozens more have M.S. and B.S. degrees, which is not an easy task for schools that tend to think along departmental and disciplinary lines. As we move forward, this new workforce with unique talents will infuse existing products and technologies with robotic elements like computer vision and autonomous navigation. Additionally, they’ll be buoyed by the country’s renewed focus on entrepreneurship and maker culture, and follow dreams for new systems borne out of their competition events and formal studies.

3)   Unmanned systems success
As I noted in my report from this year’s AUVSI Unmanned Systems conference, the market for UAVs and UGVs in defense and surveillance applications is incredibly strong. Not a week goes by without hearing a story of how a teleoperated robot on the ground saved a soldier’s or police officer’s life. These systems are delivering results (in addition to raising ethical and legal questions), and a growing ecosystem of component suppliers will continue to benefit commercial robotics applications. Furthermore, advancements in reliable communications and robust system construction will translate to better commercial products.

4) Social and Demographic changes
Several talks at RoboBusiness repeated the same demographic statistics and facts I’ve been hearing at other conferences, reports, blog, and NSF meetings for some time:

• Over 70 million 65 and older by 2030 in the U.S. alone.
• Nursing home costs increasing 10% annually.
• Half of working adults will become informal caregivers.

These numbers paint a picture of a crippled healthcare system without technological adoption that facilitates longer in-home living and more efficient patient care. In the U.S., Europe, and Japan, demographics are quickly becoming a driver for new businesses and products. For example, iRobot and InTouch Health demonstrated their new RP-VITA product, developed out of a partnership between the two companies. In fact, InTouch CEO Dr. Yulun Wang delivered his entire presentation through the telepresence robot with an impressive video quality through the hotel’s standard WiFi network. Off-site specialists can control the robot through an iPad or PC and simply click on patient locations on a map as the robot autonomously navigates to the bedside.

So that’s where we are right now, a lot of promising drivers and a small but growing number of successful businesses with increasing product adoption. While the technological challenges are immense but generally doable, we must not underestimate the systems problem – the social, cultural, and policy dynamics that can easily hamper a product’s chances.

Paro responds to touch, recognizes its surroundings, and emits real baby seal sounds

Consider the story portrayed by two back-to-back talks from Nordic countries: Adam Hagman from Sweden’s Robotdalen partnership, and Claus Risager from the Denmark Technological Institute. Robotdalen has created impressive partnerships between academia and industry to translate research into products and get them to the people who benefit most from functions such as augmented hand gripping. In both Sweden and Denmark the Bestic is a small robotic arm that helps users independently feed themselves, and it has been hugely success in transforming lives at the modest price tag of $4,000.

And then you have Paro, the cute robotic baby seal originally developed in Japan that has benefited hundreds of patients suffering from dementia across Denmark alone. Presenter Claus Risager noted that Denmark was one of the first to make a large purchase of the robots even as it didn’t quite catch on in Japan. Its healthcare system and culture have enabled the robots to serve as pet therapy for dementia patients, oftentimes calming tempers and soothing moods. I met the Paro at RoboBusiness, and it’s freaking adorable. Simple, reliable, and effective – that’s where robotics products are going.

This article first appeared on Robots in DC.

The new robot targets the thousands of small manufacturers that rely on simple, repetitive tasks in their assembly line. Baxter aims to augment the tasks human workers perform in product assembly and packaging. As Chairman and CTO Rodney Brooks discussed the company’s and product’s philosophy and features, product manager Mike Bugda removed a white sheet to unveil the red and gray robot with two (right) arms and a moving LCD screen with varying facial expressions.

In the Quality of Life Technology (QoLT) symposium, researchers from Carnegie Mellon, Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, University of Texas at Arlington, Denmark, and Sweden discussed robotic technologies in the areas of assistive care, rehabilitation, therapy, and activities of daily life assistance. We’ll have a longer write-up later in the week, but here are some talking points:

• The QoLT center at CMU has produced 10 technologies, with several entering commercialization: VibeAttire, FPV/Whozat, SleepMedia, Distant Architect, Virtual Valet, Romibo, MemExerciser, PT Coach, Health Kiosk, Ergonomic Lift Chair
• Robotdalen in Sweden is partnering between academia, industry, and the public to accelerate prototype commercialization, which has proven very successful. One demonstrated product was a robotic sleeve that helps individuals with weak grips by augmenting them.
• Similarly, in Denmark, academic-industry partnerships are helping get robots into homes and assistive care centers. An assistive device for eating is changing the lives of hundreds of people (and going for a modest $4,000), and the Paro robot, imported from Japan, has been hugely successful in care centers to help improve positive emotions.

1.  iRobot Roomba or Create
2. ROS Electric installed on Ubuntu Linux and configured according to the tutorials
3. Some way of connecting the robot to your computer (1, 2, or modify a USB-to-serial connector to interface with the mini-DIN port). For teleoperation, you can use the connected computer, another computer, smart phone, tablet, iPad, or anything with a browser supporting web sockets.

Let’s get into the specifics. With ROS installed, you’ll need a few more packages that aren’t included in the base install. Rosbridge is a solid middleware package that is going to enable communication with ROS through a webpage. It can do a lot more, but this satisfies our goal for now. Let’s install that (from Brown screencast):

> sudo apt-get install ros-electric-brown-remotelab

You’ll also need a package to enable ROS to communicate with the robot. The package, at its most basic functionality, will listen for Twist messages (ROS-speak for motor drive commands), and convert it to the low-level serial commands for the roomba. (Though this tutorial focuses on roomba/create, you can use any robot with an existing ROS package, or write your own!) You have three options, based on your roomba model:

1. iRobot Roomba 500 series or up (uses iRobot OI spec [pdf])
2. iRobot Roomba pre-500 series (uses iRobot SCI spec [pdf])
3. iRobot Create (uses iRobot OI spec)

> mkdir ros_workspace
> cd ros_workspace
> mkdir myStacks
> cd myStacks
> git clone https://github.com/dpiet/robotsindc-ros-pkg

Be sure to rosmake. Check to make sure the directory (or parent directory) is included in the ROS package path:

> echo ROS_PACKAGE_PATH

If it’s not, add it:

> export ROS_PACKAGE_PATH=$ROS_PACKAGE_PATH:/home/david/ros_workspace

There’s one more piece we need in order to control the robot through a webpage: the webpage. Fortunately, there are plenty of rosbridge examples out there and a javascript novice like me was able to hack together a simple page with keyboard inputs and button inputs. Download the page (or you already have it if you cloned the git repo) to your web server directory (if you’re running one) or to you /home and you need only modify the IP address to point to the computer controlling the robot. And that’s it!

Here’s the procedure for putting this altogether at execution:

In a separate terminal for each line, run the following commands:

> roscore
> rosrun roomba_400_series roomba400_light_node (assumes robot is attached to /dev/ttyUSB0)
> rosrun rosbridge rosbridge.py
(Optional) if you don't have a webserver, cd to your /home directory with the teleop.html file and use the magic of python:
> python -m SimpleHTTPServer

1. Grab your iPad (or other device), make sure it’s on the same wifi local network as the robot computer, and load up the page. If you’re running SimpleHTTPServer, type this in: http://[robot ip address here]:8000/teleop.html
2. If all goes according to plan you’ll get a rudimentary screen with buttons for directional control and a log showing connection status messages
3.  Happy roomba driving!

To recap, we connected a roomba to a laptop running: ROS, the open source Robot Operating System from Willow Garage; Rosbridge, a convenient middleware package from Brown University; and a web server (in this case Python’s SimpleHTTPServer). We were then able to load up a webpage with some javascript from a laptop, android smartphone, or iPad, with each able to drive the roomba with basic forward/reverse/left/right commands. Cool.

By using ROS and a few open source packages, we were able to get going with a moving robot via teleoperation with a simple user interface relatively quickly, or at least much quicker than if we were to program everything from scratch. So the benefit has been the ability to stand up a teleoperation robot in short order through code reuse. A criticism is that we used a fairly heavy framework, with a lot of pieces working under the hood, which means a lot of upfront work to read system documentation/tutorials and review examples. But as I argued above, the upfront cost is worth it, because now the robot is based on software modules with a vibrant community of contributors that facilitates code reuse without you having to reinvent the wheel or become a path-planning expert.

To take advantage of the upfront work we put in to learning ROS, we can now easily extend the first part of the tutorial and add a video feed to our web interface so we can now teleoperate remotely. Here’s what we need to add:
//

• The mjpeg_server ROS package (to install, download the package or svn checkout. cd into the directory and run “rosmake –rosdep-install”)
• Microsoft Kinect ROS package using OpenNI drivers (to install, run “sudo apt-get install ros-electric-openni-kinect”)
• A new html file with some additional javascript

The following video demonstrates the first run after integrating all the components on the robot. Not too bad, but there’s definitely room for improvement. Next steps will be to add a roslaunch file to our repo to simplify startup, accelerometer controls for navigation, and further testing to identify sources of lag.

Here’s the procedure for getting the demo running. Be sure to change the robot’s IP address as appropriate. Please note: this demo is currently compatible with ROS Electric, not the latest version, Fuerte.

In a separate terminal for each line, run the following commands:

> roscore
> rosrun roomba_400_series roomba400_light_node (assumes robot is attached to /dev/ttyUSB0)
> rosrun rosbridge rosbridge.py
> rosrun mjpeg_server mjpeg_server _port:=9091
> roslaunch openni_launch openni.launch
(Optional) if you don't have a webserver, cd to your /home directory with the teleop_video.html file and use the magic of python:
> python -m SimpleHTTPServer

Where can we go from here? We’ve essentially built a Turtlebot, replacing the iRobot Create with the roomba (though we’re obviously missing the convenient mounting hardware). So there are plenty of resources for integrating advanced behaviors like mapping, autonomous navigation, or even a manipulator arm. In particular, the Pi Robot project has done some interesting demonstrations with the Turtlebot platform.

Have a roomba gathering dust and a Kinect sitting next to your Xbox? Then you have all the major components to build a moving robot.