MIT Professor Daniela Rus, director of CSAIL, said the goal of a new SystemsThatLearn@CSAIL initiative is “to create a new generation of AI tools that are deeply rooted in systems.” Photo: Jason Dorfman/MIT CSAIL

From self-driving cars to the internet of things, artificial intelligence (AI) has reached new levels of sophistication in recent years. With that in mind, this week MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) launched an industry collaboration focused on using machine learning to create functional human-like systems.

Nearly 40 senior researchers will participate in the new “SystemsThatLearn@CSAIL” (STL) initiative alongside a range of organizations that include founding members BT, Microsoft, Nokia Bell Labs, Salesforce, and Schlumberger. Member companies will work with CSAIL scientists to suggest new lines of research and develop real-world applications.

“Developing capabilities in AI and machine learning are key to the future of fields like finance, energy, manufacturing, and health care,” says STL Executive Director Lori Glover. “While the demand for expertise is great, the supply of talent remains small and unevenly distributed. By democratizing the field of AI, SystemsThatLearn@CSAIL is an effort to address that skills gap.”

STL builds on CSAIL’s Big Data Initiative, which developed tools for handling complex datasets. While many machine-learning solutions are trained and deployed in separate phases, STL aims to integrate these processes, focusing on a range of resources to handle distributed data and computing power.

Another goal is to make key aspects of data science less laborious. A 2016 report found that data scientists spend 80 percent of their time collecting and organizing data, and only 20 percent analyzing it.

“By promoting industry interaction with academia, we’re hoping to create new tools and systems that can increase productivity by automating much of the tedious work of data science,” says MIT Professor Samuel Madden, one of STL’s two faculty leads alongside Professor Tommi Jaakkola. “We are already seeing that areas like autonomous vehicles and personalized health care have the potential to transform entire industries.”

In her opening remarks, CSAIL Director Daniela Rus described AI and systems researchers as two communities that would benefit from stronger collaboration.

“Our grand vision is to create a new generation of AI tools that are deeply rooted in systems and that can make those systems better,” Rus said. “My aspiration is to get to a place where machine learning becomes a normal part of what an operating system does.”

One STL project is the data discovery tool “Data Civilizer,” which allows organizations to discover related datasets from thousands of distinct business databases and files. Another is “Model DB,” a machine-learning management system that saves time for data scientists and lets them easily correlate performance on particular training examples with specific model features.

According to STL Technical Director Stephen Buckley, many of the software tools they develop will be released under MIT’s open source license.

“The ultimate aim is to democratize access and use of machine learning tools, without requiring advanced knowledge of the underlying technologies,” says Buckley.

Elbit Systems’ unique VIPeR Robot

• AAR Corp (AIR:NYSE) – a diversified provider of products and services to the worldwide aviation and government and defense markets. Is developing unmanned aerial refueling and other UAV systems.
• API Technologies (ATNY:NASDAQ) – provides UAVs, aiming systems and secure communications products to defense and industry.
• AeroVironment (AVAV:NASDAQ) – designs, develops, produces and supports a portfolio of unmanned aircraft systems.
• BAE Systems (BA/:LON) – a UK-based global defense provider with a marine and unmanned aerial vehicle division.
• CAE Inc (CAE:TSE) – a Canadian company that provides pilot simulation and modeling to the civil aviation and defense forces worldwide.
• Dassault Aviation (AM:FP) – a French aircraft manufacturer that also makes UAVs and other systems and components for UAVs for the military.
• Elbit Systems Ltd (ESLT:NASDAQ) – an Israeli-based international defense and electronics company with a line of unmanned land, naval and aerial systems.
• European Aeronautic Defense and Space (EADS:IX) – an aerospace conglomerate with a group providing robotic space vehicles, UAVs and UA Copters.
• Exponent, Inc. (EXPO:NASDAQ) – a science and engineering consulting firm that designs UAV communications and complete systems.
• Finmeccanica Spa (FINMF:PINK) – an Italian military/aerospace conglomerate with a series of unmanned robotic surveillance devices.
• FLIR Systems, Inc. (FLIR:NASDAQ) – a designer, manufacturer and marketer of thermal imaging systems.
• General Dynamics (GD:NYSE) – an aerospace defense conglomerate with a Robotics Systems line of products.
• Honeywell International (HON:NYSE) – a diversified technology and manufacturing company that makes accelerometers, MAVs and force sensors.
• Inrob Tech, Ltd. (IRBL:PINK) – an Israeli provider of engineering and services to the military for UVRs.
• iRobot Corp (IRBT:NASDAQ) – Packbots, SUGVs, Warriors and Seagliders from iRobot’s Defense & Security division.
• ITT Exelis (XLS:NYSE) – a provider of command, control, UAV communications and other secure systems to the military.
• L3 Communications (LLL:NYSE) – has an Unmanned Systems division and manufactures small UAS and component parts and secure communications systems.
• Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT:NYSE) – an aerospace and security conglomerate with a full range of unmanned aerial and underwater products as well as exoskeletons and other robotic systems.
• MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA) (MDA:TSE) – a Canadian provider of secure communications systems including space and unmanned robotics systems and UAVs.
• Moog Inc. (MOG.A:NYSE) – a designer, manufacturer and integrator of precision motion control systems and sensors for aerospace and defense.
• Northrop Grumman Corp (NOC:NYSE) – provides products, services and integrated solutions in aerospace and defense; unmanned aerial, underwater and land vehicles as well as bomb disposal robots are just a part of a wide range of robotic products and services.
• QinetiQ Group PLC (QQ/:LON) – a UK-based science and technology research company working closely with the British Government for defense research; makes competing robotics products to iRobot.
• Raytheon Company (RTN:NYSE) – a technology company specializing in defense, homeland security and other government markets; robot snakes, arms and exoskeletons and an unmanned aircraft systems framework are just a few of their robotic products.
• Rockwell Collins (COL:NYSE) – a provider of optics, navigation and guidance systems and controls for unmanned military vehicles of all types.
• Teledyne Technologies Inc (TDY:NYSE) – provides electronic subsystems, instrumentation and digital imaging for marine and environmental applications for aerospace and defense systems.
• Textron Inc. (TXT:NYSE) – UAVs and unmanned copters and systems integration of different vendor’s robots and devices.
• Thales Group (THLEF:PINK) – a French military conglomerate that produces camcopters and other UAVs as well as their secure communications systems.
• The Boeing Company (BA:NYSE) – an aerospace company with a defense and security division that makes UAVS and support systems.
• United Technologies (NYSE:UTX) – an aerospace conglomerate that also produces autopilot systems for UAVs.

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

The Eisenhower quote, and what I wrote in 2010, are just as appropriate today as we sit on the cusp of allowing potential spy drones into our civilian airspace along with all the good that commercial aerial robots can also provide. It was in 2009 that Hong Kong police began arresting burglars who were casing prospective condos to rob by sending camera-studded aerial drones up to the windows for a look-see.

While not yet a shipping product, AlwaysInnovating’s MeCam appears to be close to being so.

Operating under voice command, the MeCam can be set in a mode where it keeps its camera focused on you and follows you around, streaming the video to a phone or tablet, from which it can easily be shared on the social media site of your choice.

The design is available to manufacturers and social media companies for licensing now.

Gizmag has more detail.

Released yesterday by the Human Rights Watch (HRW) organization, the report Losing Humanity: The Case against Killer Robots (herein: the report) and associated press release and video (below), warn of the increasing governmental interest in autonomous, “killer” robots, and the dangers that such technology would pose if ever allowed onto the battlefield.

As mentioned on Robohub before (Rise of the robots: The robotization of today’s military), today’s military is becoming increasingly robotic. In its current iteration, all military strikes carried out by robots are authorized by a human operator, meaning that military decisions – decisions to end human lives – are supported by and traceable through a human chain of accountability.

However as documented by the HRW, governments are showing increasing interest in automating this decision process, thus removing the accountable human from the chain. This line of thought raises the question: who is liable if an autonomous robot kills someone? The HRW argues that autonomous robots “would inherently lack human qualities that provide legal and non-legal checks on the killing of civilians”. We’ve discussed some of these ethical issues with Noel Sharkey (also featured in the above video) and Ronald Arkin before in our two part series on robot ethics (part 1, part 2).

Precursor technologies (discussed in detail on page 4 of the report) are already being developed and in some cases, deployed on the battlefield. These technologies have the ability to identify and target a threat, but will wait upon human permission before engaging. These technologies include South Korea’s sentry turrets (with a similar installation being carried out by Israel); the US Military’s missile defense systems; and various autonomous aircraft currently in development.

The US Government has confirmed its interest in autonomous military robots, through the release of military development roadmaps. The Unmanned Systems Integrated Roadmap FY2011-2036 released by the US Department of Defense states that the department “envisions unmanned systems seamlessly operating with manned systems while gradually reducing the degree of human control and decision making required for the unmanned portion of the force structure”.

Similar visions are expressed by the US Army, who state a “current goal of supervised autonomy, but with an ultimate goal of full autonomy”; the US Navy, who state that “while admittedly futuristic in vision, one can conceive of scenarios where UUVs sense, track, identify, target, and destroy an enemy – all autonomously”; and the US Airforce, who foresee that:

Increasingly humans will no longer be “in the loop” but rather “on the loop” – monitoring the execution of certain decisions. Simultaneously, advances in AI will enable systems to make combat decisions and act within legal and policy constraints without necessarily requiring human input.

These excerpts, all taken directly from unclassified military development roadmaps, show a clear governmental interest in reducing the dependence on humans, with a final goal of autonomous decision making and execution. Thankfully, these roadmaps do question the legal, ethical and political ramifications of fully autonomous “lethal systems”, which have “not yet been fully addressed and resolved”.

The report addresses these legal and ethical questions and calls for the following two resolutions to be made:

To All States:

• Prohibit the development, production, and use of fully autonomous weapons through an international legally binding instrument.
• Adopt national laws and policies to prohibit the development, production, and use of fully autonomous weapons.
• Commence reviews of technologies and components that could lead to fully autonomous weapons. These reviews should take place at the very beginning of the development process and continue throughout the development and testing phases.

To Roboticists and Others Involved in the Development of Robotic Weapons:

• Establish a professional code of conduct governing the research and development of autonomous robotic weapons, especially those capable of becoming fully autonomous, in order to ensure that legal and ethical concerns about their use in armed conflict are adequately considered at all stages of technological development.

In closing, I would like to leave you with an extract from page 8 the report:

In training their troops to kill enemy forces, armed forces often attempt “to produce something close to a ‘robot psychology,’ in which what would otherwise seem horrifying acts can be carried out coldly.” This desensitizing process may be necessary to help soldiers carry out combat operations and cope with the horrors of war, yet it illustrates that robots are held up as the ultimate killing machines.

I personally believe we are at the beginning of the era of robotics, during which robots will become increasingly present in our everyday lives. I only hope that this era and that the robots we develop, will be remembered for more than simply being the ultimate killing machines.

The business of unmanned aerial, underwater and ground vehicles — originally funded by DARPA, NSF and other government-sponsored research programs — and the many ancillary businesses involved — has grown quickly and dramatically. Lobbying for its interests has been well-funded by defense contractors and very successful in advancing the defense side of the industry. Movies show the technologies in use: e.g., the latest Bourne movie has a Predator strike and also a drone making a pickup of materials at a specified location.

But when the focus broadens beyond military budgets, Congress often leads the way to other opportunities. The mandated integration of unmanned systems into the U.S. national airspace by 2015 has many unmanned vehicle manufacturers re-marketing their technology for civilian purposes.

Large tank showing tethered ROV with exhibition hall in background.

Underwater and ground vehicles are farther along in that process than the aerial segment. This fact is evidenced by the flurry of underwater projects, joint ventures, and acquisitions being undertaken by the oil and gas exploration and mining industries. The recent Schlumberger joint venture with Liquid Robotics is a good example. The initial purpose of the venture will be for surveillance; seep/spill detection; and communications gateway services.

It can also be seen by the steady movement toward driverless trucks and cars by Google and the auto industry and driverless tractors for agri-business. These large-scale projects involve enormous consumer revenues and are overshadowing military UGVs like bomb disposal and military truck convoys and space projects like the Mars rover Curiosity.

Mobile remote presence devices such as iRobot and InTouch Health’s new RP-VITA robot are also taking root and finding multiple uses in the health care sector. iRobot is an example of a robot company diversifying into non-defense endeavors even though their basic research dollars have come from DARPA and the DoD.

As much as aerial “drones” have been in the news for their surveillance and bombing prowess, unmanned aerial systems (UAS) have not made too much headway toward commercialization because they cannot, at present, fly in civilian airspace and, even if the rules were changed, they still couldn’t fly without serious modifications. A recent $2,000 Research & Markets report on the prospects for the global unmanned aerial vehicle market for the next four years shows only limited growth; 4.28% CAGR through 2015.

Thus interest was high and the questions pointed and serious at the AUVSI (Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International) North America’s Conference & Show in Las Vegas this week. Five hundred fifty exhibitor companies manned the show floor and 9,000 industry attendees listened to presentations and strolled the exhibition halls.

FAA Acting Administrator Michael Huerta

At the keynote presentation, Michael Huerta, FAA’s Acting Administrator and Leslie Cary, International Civil Aviation Organization (ICOA) Unmanned Aircraft Systems Study Group Secretary, discussed the timing, process and complexities of the Congressional mandate to provide rules, regulations and facilities which would allow unmanned aircraft into the civil airspace by September, 2015.

The consensus of the people I talked with afterwards was that both the FAA and ICAO, although they “talk the talk” of enabling the transition, are far from where they need to be to truly make it happen.

• The FAA, which is currently understaffed and underfunded, has its hands full because they are in the process of changing their technology from 2D to 3D – an immense and complex transition – and are also searching for a new director. They have yet to mention how they plan to regulate and enforce the new rules or how they plan to underwrite and test collision avoidance and communication systems.
• The FAA isn’t the only player in the Congressional mandate and inter-agency issues are complex,  political and far-reaching. Also involved are the DoD and the FCC and the international ICAO.
• There were many comments about ICAO’s timetables which extended 10 and 20 years from now, and which certainly trails the American deadline of September, 2015. Their insistence that UASs be remotely piloted with a licensed pilot and individually certified aircraft and ground systems was thought to be too stringent. They coined the term RPAS: Remotely Piloted Aerial Systems. The one decision ICAO has made is that model aircraft will not be covered in their new rules even though these aircraft could hinder the airspace.

Because UAS technology is here to stay and will only grow in size, there are steps being taken to comply with what the industry expects the rules to be. These include setting up multiple-state UAS testing centers and establishing two new schools for unmanned flight training, one in the US and the other in Europe. These new entities will be able to customize their curricula and procedures to prepare their clients for various licensing and certification requirements once they are established by the FAA and ICAO.

Along the line of making changes that are inevitable, the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) adopted guidelines for the use of unmanned aircraft systems by law enforcement agencies. The guidelines provide an outline of how to use UAS safely and responsibly and with respect to individuals’ privacy. The adoption of the IACP guidelines follows the recent adoption of AUVSI’s “Code of Conduct” for those who design, test and operate UAS.

Industry executives know they will have to change from the loose and unusually permissive regulatory situation they have had up until now. As the war in Afghanistan scales down, a portion of the industry’s forward-thinking companies are focusing on commercializing their product lines and are attempting to wean themselves away from defense contracts even though there will still be a large business in the civilian first-responder marketplace.

Also, since most of the current UASs do not have the systems or maneuverability to safely fly in civilian airspace, the industry needs to enhance its products to be more robust, incorporate redundant systems, situational awareness and other collision avoidance sensors and communication systems. These are not insignificant modifications and there have been a few notable recent incidents of lost-link and mid-air collisions, including the recent clamor when a UAV lost its link and was on a direct course for Washington, DC. Present-day payload systems used in manned aircraft, although very capable, are also big and heavy. They will need to be miniaturized in order to be able to fit into the limited payload capacities of UASs.

A Few Companies Transitioning to the Civilian Marketplace

Canadian start-up Eqquera UAVs for forest fire fighting and tanker operations.

• AeroVironment’s has repurposed it’s Qube portable UAV for use in public safety applications such as law enforcement and first response. The system provides a portable aerial vantage point to help public safety workers perform their duties more safely and effectively.
• Canadian start-up Eqquera demonstrated their novel and creatively designed UASs for forest fire fighting and nuclear and arctic surveillance.
• HDT and The Johns Hopkins University presented their MK2 robotic arm for rehab purposes and a two-armed version with significant torque and lift capabilities for general purpose shop and factory work.
• i2Tech, one of many electronic and vision systems providers at the show, has a line of light weight, low-power, stabilized camera and thermal imaging systems for health care, industrial testing and surveillance.
• Both Kairos Autonomy and Brock Technologies have low-cost kits which are able to convert any existing ground vehicle into an unmanned system and Autonomous Solutions just received a patent for a kit-based autonomous clip-on tethered unmanned convoy system.
• Israel’s RoboTeam‘s multi-purpose line of mobile tactical ground robots were described as solutions for homeland security and public safety.
• MDL‘s displayed their tiny 43-gram USB-powered micro laser module for distance metering.

• HDT, a predominately military provider, is partnering with Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab to build advanced prosthetic and robotic health care prototype systems. At the show they displayed their two-armed MK-2 robot, a portable, lightweight and reasonably-priced device with high torque and lift capabilities capable of holding and using portable hand tools.
• Many additive 3D printing systems had booths and showed how their machines were able to work with exotic metal substances and to provide specialized capabilities well beyond the MakerBot 3D printers we all know and love:
• ExOne Digital Part Materialization
• Harvest Technologies Stereo Lithography
• Morris Technologies additive metal manufacturing
• Finally, TOR Robotics provided a long list of civilian uses for their quad-copter that are also valid for the whole UAS industry:

This year’s AUVSI show was transitional in the sense that the majority of the exhibitor’s businesses has come from governments around the world, and those governments —like the U.S. — are facing significant cuts in spending. Hence the need to step up the lobbying to keep spending high (as appears to be the case of the large aerospace conglomerates), or seek ways to modify products and transition to the commercial marketplace (as can be seen by the short list of companies described above).

Last week, SenseFly and Pix4D announced deals with drone maker Parrot, in which Parrot will invest in both companies, 5 million Swiss francs in SenseFly and 2.4 million in Pix4D. Both spinoffs of EPFL, SenseFly and Pix4D have a history of cooperation, with SenseFly providing the camera-equipped UAVs for which they have also developed navigational software that allows them to fly complete missions autonomously, and Pix4D providing the software that transforms the thousands of images produced by the drones into unified geographical information. (Kudos to Engadget for their prompt reportage.)

The above video, by Erico Guizzo and Evan Ackerman of IEEE Spectrum, and shows Patrick Rowe, of RE2 (RE-squared), the firm hired by DARPA to build the standard platform for their ARM program, putting a completed unit through its paces at ICRA.

A small omni-roller suitable for use as one or more fingers of a robotic hand…

An autonomous robotic fish for detecting and finding the source of pollution…
http://youtu.be/z-XI9MrU1iM

MIT 6.141 Robotics Class Final Challenge for 2012…

Back to ICRA to watch an Adept mobile robot navigating the show floor…

Another Adept robot being used in research at Cornell…

And finally, Georgia Tech’s Travis doing a little dance…