The Second Edition of the award-winning Springer Handbook of Robotics edited by Bruno Siciliano and Oussama Khatib has recently been published. The contents of the first edition have been restructured to achieve four main objectives: the enlargement of foundational topics for robotics, the enlightenment of design of various types of robotic systems, the extension of the treatment on robots moving in the environment, and the enrichment of advanced robotics applications. Most previous chapters have been revised, fifteen new chapters have been introduced on emerging topics, and a new generation of authors have joined the handbook’s team. Like for the first edition, a truly interdisciplinary approach has been pursued in line with the expansion of robotics across the boundaries with related disciplines. Again, the authors have been asked to step outside of their comfort zone, as the Editorial Board have teamed up authors who never worked together before.

No doubt one of the most innovative elements is the inclusion of multimedia content to leverage the valuable written content inside the book. Under the editorial leadership of Torsten Kröger, a web portal has been created to host the Multimedia Extension of the book, which serves as a quick one-stop shop for more than 700 videos associated with the specific chapters. In addition, video tutorials have been created for each of the seven parts of the book, which benefit everyone from PhD students to seasoned robotics experts who have been in the field for years. A special video related to the contents of the first chapter shows the journey of robotics with the latest and coolest developments in the last 15 years. As publishing explores new interactive technologies, an App has been made available in the Google/IOS stores to introduce an additional multimedia layer to the reader’s experience. With the app, readers can use the camera on their smartphone or tablet, hold it to a page containing one or more special icons, and produce an augmented reality on the screen, watching videos as they read along the book.

For more information on the book, please visit the Springer Handbook website.

RoDyMan will be an innovative mobile platform with a torso, two lightweight arms and a sensorized head that will execute complex manipulation movements similar to the ones humans carry out on a daily basis. The tasks will be carried out in the presence of humans, hence requiring human-robot cooperation.

Siciliano and his team are working an a very specific goal for this project and the inspiration came from their home city of Naples: a platform for performing all the phases of making a pizza. They plan to present this application by May 2018, and to find out more why this date was chosen, we invite you to watch Siciliano’s video lecture in its entirety.

Download the full presentation here. 

Bruno Siciliano is a Professor of Control and Robotics, and Director of the PRISMA Lab in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology at the University of Naples. His research interests include: identification and adaptive control, impedance and force control, visual tracking and servoing, redundant and cooperative manipulators, lightweight flexible arms, aerial robots, human-centered and service robotics.

He has co-authored 11 books, 70 journal papers, 200 conference papers and book chapters; his book Robotics: Modelling, Planning and Control is one of the most widely adopted textbooks worldwide. He has delivered more than 100 invited lectures and seminars at institutions worldwide.

Siciliano B. IJARS Video Series:  Human Motion Mapping to a Robot Arm with Redundancy Resolution – The RoDyMan Project [online video]. International Journal of Advanced Robotic Systems, 2015, 12:V5. DOI: 10.5772/61194

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Aerial manipulation is generally defined as the grasping, transporting, positioning, and assembly or disassembly of mechanical parts, measurement instruments, and objects, performed by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) with a gripper or robotic arm.

Aerial robotics has become a new frontier in the service industry and is equally useful in rescue, patrolling and localisation operations that seriously put at risk human lives. It’s also proved to be an attractive business opportunity, famously captured by Amazon’s plans for drones to deliver online ordered packages. There are, in fact, numerous industrial applications for drones in inspection and manipulation.

Siciliano and his team at PRISMA have been researching this area for the past seven years and, in this lecture, he focuses on their AIRobots, ARCAS and SHERPA projects, funded by the EU:

• AIRobot (2010-2013) – impedance control techniques for aerial manipulation.
• ARCAS – in its second of four years of planned development and validation of the first cooperative free-flying robot system for assembly and construction
• SHERPA – in its first year of developing a mixed ground and aerial robotic platform to support search and rescue activities in a real-world hostile environments, such as alpine rescue.

Download the full presentation here.

Bruno Siciliano is a Professor of Control and Robotics, and Director of the PRISMA Lab in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology at the University of Naples. His research interests include: identification and adaptive control, impedance and force control, visual tracking and servoing, redundant and cooperative manipulators, lightweight flexible arms, aerial robots, human-centered and service robotics.

He has co-authored 11 books, 70 journal papers and 200 conference papers and chapters. His book, Robotics: Modelling, Planning and Control, is one of the most widely adopted textbooks worldwide. He has delivered more than 100 lectures and seminars.

Siciliano B. IJARS Video Series: Aerial Manipulation [online video]. International Journal of Advanced Robotic Systems, 2015, 12:V4. DOI: 10.5772/60874

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See all the latest robotics news on Robohub, or sign up for our weekly newsletter.

The European Robotics Challenge (EuRoC) 

Central to this event will be the presentation of the three challenges and their platforms by the EuRoC consortium. Special emphasis will be given to the challenger teams and the simulation stage of the three challenges. Nonetheless, the roles and participation of End Users, Technology Developers and System Integrators will be vital to the event – see the agenda for details.

Follow us @EuRoCproject, or like us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/eurocproject to stay on top of all the latest EuRoC news.

About the EuRoC Challenges

The European Robotics Challenge (EuRoC) aims to spur the development of new applicable innovations in European manufacturing. It consists of three industry-relevant Challenges within the scenarios of 1) Reconfigurable Interactive Manufacturing Cell, 2) Shop Floor Logistics and Manipulation and 3) Plant Servicing and Inspection.

The EuRoC consortium consists of 9 beneficiaries: 5 academic/research, 3 companies and 1 SME. The five academic beneficiaries (CREATE, CNRS, DLR, ETHZ, IPA) have been selected so all of EuRoC’s challenges are covered at a very high scientific level, while the three industrial beneficiaries (AIR, ASC, KUKA) cover the most promising technologies for potential end‐users. In addition, a beneficiary with a strong expertise on challenges (INNO) has been included in the consortium to ensure the professional design and execution of the challenges.

Each Challenge is launched via an open call and is structured in 3 stages of increasing complexity, from simulation contest to real experiments at end user sites. Over the next 4 years, EuRoC will grant a cumulative sum of € 7 million, provide access to the leading hardware and robotics platforms in Europe and offer excellent research, networking and business opportunities to participants.

There are two options for participation:

1) Option 1 is dedicated to Challengers. These are research organizations, companies or even private individuals, which fulfil the eligibility criteria, and are willing to tackle the EuRoC challenges.

2) Option 2 is dedicated to:

a. End Users: Manufacturing companies, either SMEs or large Enterprises, looking for robotic solutions for their production environment.

b. Technology Developers: Companies or research organizations developing innovative technologies (e.g. new vision system, cloud-based control software, etc.) and looking for an application of their technology in the industrial robotics domain.

c. System Integrators: Companies that specialize in bringing together robotic components/subsystems, and developing and commissioning whole robotic systems.

The fundamental difference between the two options is the fact that challengers have to undergo the simulation contest to qualify for advancement to stage II, whereas end users, technology developers and system integrators need only submit descriptions of their respective use case/ technology/ expertise as system integrator.

Challengers have the advantage that they are “the architects of their own fortune” because their advancement to the next stage depends on their performance in the simulation contest, whereas end users, technology developers and system integrators have to rely on challengers to invite them to join their team for stage II.

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[ youtube.com/watch?v=iJDjJ02lYjw ]

With the goal of involving whole supply chains and fostering collaboration among application experts, technology suppliers, system integrators, service providers and potential end users, the three separate challenges ultimately aim to spur innovation in areas that are important to the future of the EU manufacturing industry. Says EuRoC Project Coordinator Bruno Siciliano: “For the first time in public-funded research, teams of challengers and end-users will work hand in hand on common platforms and compete to achieve technology transfer where performance success is keenly benchmarked.”

• Challenge 1: Reconfigurable Interactive Manufacturing Cell
  • e.g. multi-role multi-arm cooperative robot systems, perception and cognitive skills, and safe and effective human-robot collaboration
• Challenge 2: Shop Floor Logistics and Manipulation
  • e.g. navigation on dynamic shop floor, coping with uncertainties by means of 3D vision and compliant manipulation and grasping, and true mobile manipulation to improve cycle time
• Challenge 3: Plant Servicing and Inspection
  • e.g. highly reliable vision-only navigation, dynamic control of MAVs in challenging industrial environments, and high-level task allocation by mission expert

The three challenges will take place in successive stages that will increase in complexity from simulation to real work environments. In the first stage, up to 45 applicants will compete in a simulation challenge, allowing new players to compete with established robotics teams. The most promising applicants will be paired with industrial end-users at a match-making event, and 15 of these “challenger teams” (5 per challenge) will be admitted to the second stage of the competition. The second stage will focus on realistic lab testing, and qualifying teams will each receive up to € 375K to further develop their solutions. Only six teams (2 per challenge) will move to the final stage, where they will each receive an additional  € 210K to compete at a public event where they will demonstrate their solutions in practical field tests. A single EuRoC winner will be chosen from this group.

Four distinct calls have been announced, each addressing a different target group:

• Call for Challengers (Deadline: 2014-06-30)
• Call for End-Users (Deadline: 2014-11-15)
• Call for Technology Developers (Deadline: 2014-11-15)
• Call for System-Integrators (Deadline: 2014-11-15)

More information about the challenges and how to apply can be found on the EuRoC website and at: info (at) robotics-challenges.eu.