Article View: comp.robotics
Article #1690comp.robotics Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) part 1/2
From: Kevin Dowling
Date: Mon, 06 Dec 1993 04:40
Date: Mon, 06 Dec 1993 04:40
2746 lines
97141 bytes
97141 bytes
Archive-name: robotics-faq/part1
Last-modified: Sun Dec 5 23:38:02 1993
This is part 1 of 2 of the comp.robotics Frequently Asked Questions
(FAQ) list. This FAQ addresses commonly asked questions relating to
robotics.
____________________________________________________________________________
This FAQ was compiled and written by Kevin Dowling with numerous
contributions by readers of comp.robotics. Acknowledgements are listed
at end of part2 of this FAQ.
This post, as a collection of information, is Copyright 1993 Kevin
Dowling. Distribution through any means other than regular Usenet
channels must be by permission. The removal of this notice is
forbidden.
This FAQ may be referenced as:
Dowling, Kevin (1993) "Robotics: comp.robotics Frequently Asked
Questions" Usenet news.answers. Available via anonymous ftp from
rtfm.mit.edu in pub/usenet/news.answers/robotics-faq/part1 and
part2. 70+ pages.
Changes, additions, comments, suggestions and questions to:
Kevin Dowling tel: 412.268.8830
Robotics Institute fax: 412.682.1793
Carnegie Mellon University net: nivek@cmu.edu
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
___________________________________________________________________________
Contents:
[use +++ to search quickly]
Part 1
+++Where to find this FAQ and comp.robotics archives
+++What is Robotics?
+++Robotics Related Organizations
+++Robotics Associations of Many Countries
+++Robot Societies
+++Conferences and Competitions
+++Robotics Publications
+++Mobile robot companies
+++Manipulator companies
+++Small Inexpensive Robots
+++Architectures for Robots
+++Organizations doing robotics
+++Graduate programs in robotics
Part 2
+++Sensors
+++Wireless communication
+++Suppliers and sources for parts
+++Hero Robots
+++Puma Manipulators
+++Simulators
+++Real-Time Operating Systems
+++Robot Controller Survey
+++What is the miniboard?
+++Books
+++Acknowledgements
_____________________________________________________________________________
+++Where to find this FAQ and comp.robotics archives:
If you haven't done so, new users on the net should read
news.announce.newusers. In particular, the following posts are a good
idea:
A Primer on How to Work With The Usenet Community
Answers to Frequently Asked Questions About Usenet
Hints on Writing Style for Usenet
This FAQ is currently posted to news.answers and comp.robotics. All
posts to news.answers are archived and are available via anonymous
FTP, uucp and e-mail from the following locations:
FTP:
FTP is a way of copying file between networked computers. If
you need help in using or getting started with FTP, send
e-mail to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with
send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/faq
as the body of the message.
location: rtfm.mit.edu [18.70.0.209]
directory: /pub/usenet/news.answers/robotics-faq
filenames: part1, part2
location: ftp.uu.net [137.39.1.9]
directory: /archive/usenet/news.answers/robotics-faq
filenames: part1.Z, part2.Z [use uncompress]
location: nic.switch.ch [130.59.1.40]
directory: info_service/Usenet/periodic-postings
filenames: [Check info_service/Usenet/00index]
location: ftp.cs.cmu.edu [128.2.206.173]
directory: /user/nivek/ftp/robotics-faq
filenames: part1, part2
UUCP:
location: uunet!/archive/usenet/news.answers/robotics-faq/
filenames: part1.Z, part2.Z
E-mail:
Send email to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu containing these lines:
send usenet/news.answers/robotics-faq/part1
send usenet/news.answers/robotics-faq/part2
comp.robotics archives
You can find a dozen or more sites in the US, Europe and Japan that
store the FAQ and archives for comp.robotics by using the Internet
search programs, Archie or Wais.
One location is:
location: wilma.cs.brown.edu:
filenames: pub/comp.robotics/
Other sources:
Also check the ai-faq for additional source and questions
related to AI. Additionally sci.electronics may also provide useful
information for design, construction and debugging of robot systems.
____________________________________________________________________________
+++What is Robotics?
A reprogrammable, multifunctional manipulator designed to move
material, parts, tools, or specialized devices through various
programmed motions for the performance of a variety of tasks"
Robot Institute of America, 1979
Whew! Obviously this was a committee-written definition. It's rather
dry and uninspiring. Better ones might include:
Force through intelligence.
Where AI meet the real world.
I know it when I see it.
Webster says:
An automatic device that performs functions normally ascribed
to humans or a machine in the form of a human.
Origins of the word 'robot'
The word 'robot' was coined by the Czechloslovakian playwright Karel
Capek (pronounced "chop'ek") from the Czech word for worker or serf.
Capek was reportedly several times a candidate for the Nobel prize for
his works and very influential and prolific as a writer and
playwright. Mercifully, he died before the Gestapo got to him for his
anti-Nazi sympathies in 1938.
The use of the word Robot was introduced into his play R.U.R.
(Rossum's Universal Robots) which opened in Prague in January 1921.
The play was an enormous success and productions soon opened
throughout Europe and the US. R.U.R's theme, in part, was the
dehumanization of man in a technological civilization.
There is some evidence that the word robot was actually coined by
Karl's brother Josef, a writer in his own right. But I cannot find
the article I once read on this subject. [I believe it was in SigART
in the late 1970's - if anyone has this reference please send a pointer]
____________________________________________________________________________
+++Robotics Related Organizations:
There are a number of organizations and societies related to
robotics. Some are related specifically to industry, several to
academia and a number of hobbyist groups. In addition, a number of the
groups, such as the ASME or IEEE, are very large organizations and
robotics is one of many sub-disciplines in their respective fields.
Advanced Robot Technology Research Association (Japan)
Kikai-shinko Bldg
3-5-8 Shiba-Kohen, Minato-ku, Tokyo
tel: (03) 434-0532
fax: (03) 434-0217
Has joint research programs with member companies.
Members are 20 or so Japanese companies including:
Ishikawajima-Harima, Oki Electric, Kawasaki Heavy Industry, Kobe
Steel, Komatsu, Sumitomo Electric Industries, Toshiba, JGC, NEC,
Hitachi, Fanuc, Fujitsu, Fuji, Matshushita Research Institute, Mitsui,
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Electric, Yaskawa
American Society of Mechanical Engineers, (ASME)
345 E. 47th Street
New York, NY 10017
Mechanical Engineering magazine, like the IEEE's Spectrum, is an
excellent general publication on aspects of mechanical engineering.
There are often publications on robotics and the ASME sponsors a
number of other publications and conferences that are relevant to
robotics.
Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems (AUVS)
1101 14th Street, NW
Suite 100
Washington, DC 20005
tel: 202.371.1170
fax: 202.371.1090
Also publish Unmanned Systems Magazine.
Center for Autonomous and Man-controlled Robotic and Sensing Systems
Charles Jacobus, CAMRSS director
ERIM
PO Box 8618
Ann Arbor, MI 48107
tel: 313.994.1200 X2457
Member companies include: Ball Aerospace, Coulter Electronics, ERIM,
Fairchild, Ford Aerospace, Geospectra, Grumman, Industrial Technology
Institute, KMS Fusion, Michigan State, UofM.
American Insitute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA)
370 L'Enfant Promenade, SW
Washington, DC 20024
tel: 202.646.7400
tel: 212.247.6500 (Technical Information Service)
Conferences and publications, several cover automation technologies
for servicing on the ground and in space as well as exploration.
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
Service Center
445 Hoes Lane
Piscataway, NJ 08854-4150
tel: 201.981.0060
tel: 800.678.IEEE
A large organization with hundreds of publications including journals,
transactions, Spectrum, sponsoring conferences, workshops and meetings.
IEEE membership is $95 regular ($23 students)
For membership in the IEEE Computer Society, add $22.
$20 for IEEE Expert (Intelligent Systems and their Applications)
$12 for Transactions on Neural Networks
$12 for Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics
$15 for Transactions on Robotics and Automation
$19 for Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering
$24 for Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine IntelligenceIEEE
The International Society for Optical Engineering, (SPIE)
P.O.Box 10
Bellingham, Washington 98227-0010.
SPIE has publications, meetings and conferences in the
field of intelligent robots, mobile robots, teleoperation,
machine vision, etc.
The Material Handling Institute
8720 Red Oak Blvd, Suite 201
Charlotte, NC 28217
Primary robotics focus is on AGV's.
National Service Robots Association (NSRA)
900 Victors Way
PO Box 3724
Ann Arbor, MI 48106
tel: 313.994.6088
An organization devoted to robots other than on the factory floor.
Robotics Industry Association (RIA)
(same address as NSRA)
Society of Manufacturing Engineers, (SME)
One SME Drive
PO Box 930
Dearborn, MI 48121
tel: 313.271.1500
Utility/Manufacturer Robot Users group (UMRUG)
Contact:Harry T. Roman
MC: 16-H
Public Service Electric and Gas Company
80 Park Plaza
PO Box 570
Newark, NJ 07101
tel: 201.430.6646
+++Robotics Associations of Many Countries
______________________________________________________________________________
Compilied from a list provided by the British Robot Association.
Alphabatized by English spelling of country.
Australian Robot Association Inc
G.P.O. Box 1527
SYDNEY 2001
New South Wales
Australia
Contact: Mr Michael Kassler
tel: +61-2-959-32-39
fax: +61-2-959-46-32
Osterreichisches Forschungszentrum
Seibersdorf GmbH
Hauptabteilung Fertigungstechnik und Automation
A-2444 SEIBERSDORF
Austria
Contact: Mr Erwin Fugger
tel: +43-2254-80-22-13
fax: +43-2254-80-21-18
SOBRACON - Sociedade Brasileira de Comando
Numerico, Automazacao e Computacao Grafica
Rua General Jardim, 645-7 andar, cjto.72
01223 011 - Sao Paulo, SP
Brazil
Contact: Mr. Arnaldo Pereira Ribeiro
tel: +55-11-256-1192 / 258 3320
fax: +55-11-256-94-96
British Robot Association (BRA)
BRA Aston Science Park
Love Lane
Birmingham B7 4BJ
England
tel: +44 (0)21-628 1745
fax: +44 (0)21-628 1746
Meetings, newsletters, information, contacts, sponsor of several
events in the UK. Individual and Student rate is 60 pounds UK.
"Robot" Interindustry Research and Production Association
(MNTK "Robot")
Izmailovskaya sq.,7
MOSCOW - Russia
CIS
Contact: Mr. Vladimir P Stepanov
tel: +7-095-367-85-36
fax: +7-095-367-88-81
China Society of Industrial
Automation & Automated Industries
8, 7F, Tun Hwa N. Rd.
TAIPEI - China
Contact: Mr. Chen, Chen-Chang
tel: +886-2-751-34-68
fax: +886-2-781-77-90
Danish Industrial Robot Association (DIRA)
Teknologiparken
DK-8000 AARHUS C
Denmark
Contact: Mr. John Nielsen
tel: +45-86-14-24-00
fax: +45-86-14-43-55
Robotics Society in Finland
c/o Suomen Automaation Tuki Oy
Hameentie 6 A 15
SF-00530 HELSINKI
Finland
Contact: Mr. Kaarlo Talvinen
tel: +358-0-701-56-57
fax: +358-0-773-15-70
Fachgemeinschaft MHI im VDMA
P.O. Box 71 08 64
D-6000 FRANKFURT (MAIN) 71
Germany
Contact: Mr. Berndt Knoerr
tel: +49-69-66-03-466
fax: +49-69-66-03-459
IPA
Nobelstrasse 12
D-7000 STUTTGART 80
Germany
Contact: Mr Rolf D Schraft
tel:+49-711-970-12-00
fax: +49-711-970-13-99
Association Francaise de Robotique
Industrielle (AFRI)
Tour 66
4, Place Jussieu
F-75252 PARIS CEDEX 05
France
Contact: Mr. Arnauld Laffaille
tel: +33-1-44-27-62-12
fax: +33-1-44-27-62-14
Hungarian Robotics Association
c/o Tungsram T.H. Co.Ltd.
Centre of Robotics and Automation
H-1340 Budapest
IV., Vaci ut 77
Hungary
Contact: Dr. Jozsef K. Tar
tel: +36-1-169-6144
fax: +36-1-169-6144
Government of India
Ministry of Science & Technology
Dept. of Science & Technology
Technology Bhavan
New Mehrauli Road
New Delhi-110 016
India
Contact: Mr. A.N.N. Murthy, Director
tel: +91-11-662-260, 654-793
fax: +91-11-616-2418
SIRI - Associazione Italiana di Robotica
c/o ETAS Periodici
Via Mecenate 91
I-20138 MILANO
Italy
Contact: Mr Daniele Fabrizi
tel: +39-2-580-842-24
fax: +39-2-554-003-88
Japan Industrial Robot Association
c/o Kikaishinko Bldg
3-5-8, Shibakoen, Minato-Ku
TOKYO
Japan
Contact: Mr Kanji Yonemoto
tel: +81-3-3434-2919
fax: +81-3-3578-1404
KIST - Korea Institute of Science and Technology
P.O. Box 131, Cheongryang
Seoul
Korea
Contact: Mr. Chun Sik-lee
tel: +82-2-967-3505, 963-4497
fax: +82-2-969-1763
Meininger Automation bv
P.O. Box 743
NL-2280 AS RIJSWIJK
Netherlands
Contact: Mr Jack B Eijlers
tel: +31-70-340-17-80
fax: +31-70-340-1602
Federation of Norwegian Engineering Industries (TBL)
Box 7072 - H
N-0306 OSLO 3
Norway
Contact: Mr Johan Ulleland
tel: +47-2-46-58-20
fax: +47-2-46-18-38
Polish Federation of Engineering Associations (NOT)
Czackiego Str 3/5
PL-00950 WARSZAWA
Poland
Contact: Mr. Kazimierz Wawrzyniak
tel: +48-22-26-87-31
fax: +48-22-27-29-49
Singapore Industrial Automation Association (SIAA)
151 Chin Swee Road
#03-13 Manhattan House
SINGAPORE 0316
Singapore
Contact: Mr Stephen Teng
tel: +65-734-69-11
fax: +65-235-57-21
MVVZ Robot
Nam. Legionarov 3
CZ-080 01 PRESOV
Slovakia
Contact: Mr Vladimir Cop
tel: +42-91-235-77
fax: +42-91-231-95
"J. Stefan" Institute
Jamova 39
61000 Ljubljana
Slovenia
Contact: Mr Jadran Lenarcic
tel: +38-61-159-199
fax: +38-61-161-029, 273-677
Asociacion Espanola de Robotica
Rambla de Catalunya 70, 3r 2a
E-08007 BARCELONA
Spain
Contact: Mr Luis Basanez
tel: +34-3-215-57-60
fax: +34-3-215-23-07
Swedish Industrial Robot Association (SWIRA)
Box 5506
S-114 85 STOCKHOLM
Sweden
Contact: Mr Thomas Hardenby
tel: +46-8-783-80-00
fax: +46-8-660-33-78
Schweizerische Gesellschaft fur
Automatik, Arbeitsgruppe Robotik
Postgasse 17
CH-3011 BERN
Switzerland
Contact: Mr Charles Giroud
tel: +41-31-21-22-51
fax: +41-31-21-12-50
British Robot Association (BRA)
Aston Science Park, Love Lane
Aston Triangle
BIRMINGHAM B7 4BJ
United Kingdom
Contact: Mr. Donald Pitt
tel: +44-21-628-17-45
fax: +44-21-628-17-46
Robotic Industries Assoc (RIA)
P.O. Box 3724
ANN ARBOR, MI 48106
USA
Contact: Mr. Donald A. Vincent
tel: 1-313-994-6088
fax: 1-313-994-3338
Secretariat of IFR
c/o Sveriges Verkstadsindustrier
Box 5506
S-114 85 STOCKHOLM
Swden
Contact: Mr Lennart Djupmark
Mrs Kerstin Teglof Delgado
tel: +46-8-783-80-00 or
+46-8-783-82-08
fax: +46-8-660-33-78
__________________________________________________________________________
+++Robot Societies
The original computer club in Silicon Valley was the Homebrew computer
club, out of which evolved a major portion of the personal computer
industry. In that spirit, if not the hope for history repeating
itself, a number of robotics societies and clubs have sprung up.
[This list as posted had several typos - if you find an error please
let me know]
Atlanta Hobby Robotics Association
P.O. Box 2050
Stone Mountain, GA 30086
Austin Robotics Group
608 Garden Path Cove
Round Rock, TX 78736
tel: 512.244.6707
Connecticut Robotics Society
P.O. Box 127
Canaan CT 06018
tel: 203.824.0542
The Dallas Personal Robotics Group
P.O. Box 1626
Hurst, TX 76053
Robot Society of Southern CA
10471 S. Brookhurst
Anaheim, CA 92804
tel: 714.535.8161
Seattle Robotics Society
P.O. Box 30668
Seattle, WA 98103-0668
tel: 206.782.5989
Triangle Amateur Robotics
P.O. Box 17523
Raleigh, NC 27619
tel: 919.782.8703
__________________________________________________________________________
+++Conferences and Competitions
There are a wide variety and number of conferences related to robotics
and automation. Some are focused on industrial applications, many are
researchy in nature and most are a mixture of both. Proceedings
should be available in most good libraries or by interlibrary loan.
-----------------
SPIE Mobile Robots IX
3-4 October 1994
Hynes Convention Center
Boston, MA
First day - major theoretical aspects of mobile, autonomous, and
remotely controlled systes. Second day - working systems and their
design, integration, and appliation. This includes autonomous systems
for factory floors, guided path, roads, fence following, and other
uses.
For information contact:
Wendell Chun
Martin Marietta Astronautics
303.971.7945
net: chunw@ssv.den.mmc.com
SPIE Conference
------------------------------------------------
2nd Annual International Unmanned Ground Vehicle Robotics Competition
May 20-22, 1994 at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan
$10,000.00 Prize
Prize money to the university teams for the best Autonomous Unmanned
Ground Vehicles
All Terrain (ATV) Class
Outdoor Natural Terrain Course
Sponsor: Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems
Host: AUVS Great Lakes Chapter
[The National AUVS Convention is held nearby at Cobo Hall in Detroit
on May 23-25, 194]
For Information please contact:
Paul Lescoe
Robotics Office
Army-Tank Automotive Command
tel: 313.574.8678
fax: 313.574.5008
net: lescoep%ccmail@tacom-enmhl.army.mil
Dr. Ka C. Cheok or Barbara Dhalman
Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering
Oakland University
248 Dodge Hall
Rochester, MI 48309-4401
tel: 313.370.2232 or 313.370.2177
fax: 313.370.4261
Candy McLellan
School of Engineering and Computer Science
Oakland University
tel: 313.370.2233
End of 2nd International UGV Competition Description
-----------------
CALL FOR PAPERS
SYMPOSIUM ON AUTONOMOUS UNDERWATER VEHICLE TECHNOLOGY
July 19-20 1994
The IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society is sponsoring a symposium on
Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Technology to be held in the
Boston, MA. area at the Cambridge Center Marriott Hotel on
July 19-20 1994. The objective of the Symposium is to disseminate
knowledge of recent technological advances in the field, to be a
focus for the current state of the art including identification of
technology shortfalls and to provide a forum for discussion of
new relevant ideas.
TOPICS
The Symposium will focus on topics that are related to the
AUTONOMOUS OPERATION OF UNDERWATER VEHICLES. These
include but are not limited to :
Sensors and Multi-Sensor Fusion
Communications and Telemetry
Navigation
Imaging Techniques and Systems
Modeling and Simulation Methods
Mission Control and Software Architectures
Energy Systems
Autonomous Manipulation
Vehicle Design and Control
Launch and Recovery Techniques and Issues
Multiple Cooperating Vehicles
The Symposium will include a VIDEO PROCEEDINGS Session and visits to
area technical attractions including the C. S. Draper Laboratories.
ABSTRACTS
Prospective authors should submit a proposed title and an abstract
(300-500 words) with a cover sheet containing title author(s) names,
addresses with one author named as the point of contact including
phone and fax numbers. Since acceptance is by review of abstracts,
it would be helpful if authors would describe the problem addressed
solutions obtained and its importance to the subject of the
conference. Abstracts should be submitted to :
Professor A. J. Healey, Technical Program Chairman
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Naval Postgraduate School
Monterey, CA 93943 Ph. 408-656-3462 Fax: (408)-656-2238
healey@lex.me.nps.navy.mil
DEADLINES
The following deadlines have been established and it is important
that authors adhere closely to these dates.
Abstracts Due: November 8 1993
Notice of Acceptance January 15 1994
and Authors Kits Distributed
Full Paper Manuscript (Camera Ready) April 15 1994
INSTITUTE OF ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC ENGINEERS
OCEANIC ENGINEERING SOCIETY
---End of SYMPOSIUM ON AUTONOMOUS UNDERWATER VEHICLE TECHNOLOGY
xxxxxx PerAc'94 Lausanne xxxxxxx
From perception to action
A state of the art conference on perceptive processing, artificial life,
autonomous agents, emergent behaviours and micro-robotic systems
Lausanne, Switzerland, 7-9 september 1994
Swarm intelligence
Micro-robotics
Evolution, genetic processes
Competition and cooperation
Learning machines
Self organization
Active perception
Sensory/motor loops
Emergent behavior
Cognition
----------------------------------------------
| Call for Papers, Call for Posters |
| Call for Demonstrations, Call for Videos |
| Contest |
----------------------------------------------
Contributions can be made in the following categories:
-- Papers -- (30 to 45 minutes). 2-page abstracts should be submitted by February 1, 1994.
The conference will have no parallel sessions, and a didactically structured program.
Most of the papers will be solicited.
The submitted abstracts should attempt a synthetic approach from sensing to action.
Selected authors will have to adapt their presentation to the general conference
program and prepare a complete well-structured text before June 94.
-- Posters -- 4-page short papers that will be published in the proceedings and
presented as posters are due for June 1, 1994. Posters will be displayed during
the whole Conference and enough time will be provided to promote interaction with
the authors. A jury will thoroughly examine them and the two best posters will be
presented as a paper in the closing session (20' presentation).
-- Demonstrations -- Robotic demonstrations are considered as posters.
In addition to the 4-page abstract describing the scientific interest of
the demonstration, the submission should include a 1-page requirement for
demonstration space and support.
-- Videos -- 5 minute video clips are accepted in Super-VHS or VHS
(preferably PAL, NTSC leads to a poorer quality). Tapes together with
a 2-page description should be submitted before June 1, 1994. Clips will be
edited and distributed at the conference.
-- Contest -- A robotic contest will be organized the day before the conference.
Teams participating to the contest will be able to follow the conference freely.
The contest will consist in searching for and collecting or stacking 36mm film cans.
One or several mobile robots or robotic arms can be used for this task.
The rules and preliminary registration forms will be sent upon request by air-mail only
as soon as definitive (end of October 93).
For further information:
Prof J.D. Nicoud, LAMI-EPFL, CH-1015 Lausanne
fax ++41 21 693-5263, Email nicoud@di.epfl.ch
Program Committee and referees (September 93)
L. Bengtsson, Uni Halmstad, S. -- R. Brooks, MIT, Cambridge, USA.
P. Dario, Santa Anna, Pisa, I. -- J.L. Deneubourg, ULB, Bruxelles, B
R. Eckmiller, Uni, D|sseldorf, D. -- N. Franceschini, Marseilles, F
T. Fukuda, Uni, Nagoya, JP. -- S. Grossberg, Uni, Boston, USA
J.A. Meyer, Uni, Paris, F. -- R. Pfeifer, Uni, Z|rich, CH
L. Steels, VUB, Brussels, B. -- A. Treisman, Uni, Princeton, USA
F. Varela, Polytechnique, Paris, F. -- E. Vittoz, CSEM, Neuchbtel, CH
J. Albus, NIST, Gaithersburg, USA. -- D.J. Amit, Uni, Jerusalem, Israel
X. Arreguit, CSEM, Neuchbtel, CH. -- H. Asama, Riken, Wako, JP
R. Beer, Case Western, Cleveland, USA. -- G. Beni, Uni, Riverside, USA
P. Bourgine, Cemagref, Antony, F. -- Y. Burnod, Uni VI, Paris, F
J.P. Changeux, Inst. Pasteur, Paris, F. -- D. Cliff, Uni Sussex, Brighton, UK
Ph. Gaussier, LAMI, Lausanne, CH. -- P. Husbands, Uni Sussex, Brighton, UK
O. Kubler, ETH, Z|rich, CH. -- C.G. Langton, Santa Fe Inst, USA
I. Masaki, MIT, Cambridge, USA. -- E. Mazer, LIFIA, Grenoble, F
M. Mataric, MIT, Cambridge, USA . -- H. Miura, Uni, Tokyo, JP
S. Rasmussen, Los Alamos, USA. -- G. Sandini, Uni, Genova, I
T. Smithers, Uni, San Sebastian, E. -- J. Stewart, Inst. Pasteur, Paris, F
L. Tarassenko, Uni, Oxford, UK. -- C. Touzet, EERIE, Nnmes, F
P. Vershure, NSI, La Jolla, USA.
End of PerAc'94 Lausanne
-----------------
AIAA/NASA CONFERENCE ON INTELLIGENT ROBOTS IN FIELD, FACTORY, SERVICE,
AND SPACE (CIRFFSS '94)
March 21-24, 1994
Houston, TX
"SHARING TECHNOLOGY IN THE NATIONAL INTEREST"
The AIAA/NASA Conference on Intelligent Robots for Factory, Field, Service, and
Space is a major national event in intelligent robotics. It provides a unique
forum for engineers and scientists from industry, government, and academia, and
>from a wide range of development and user environments, to exchange knowledge
of the state of the art, unfulfilled requirements, and current research
directions. The conference goals are a) to develop a shared technology base
among the researchers, developers and users of intelligent robots, b) to
understand the commonality and the differences among the requirements for
applications in the different environments of space, service, field, and
factory, and c) to increase the efficiency and synergy of ongoing efforts.
Papers are invited that cover all aspects of the development, and use of
intelligent robots.
CIRFFSS '94 is organized in cooperation with the American Association
for Artificial Intelligence, IEEE Robotics and Automation Society,
National Service Robot Association, Robotic Industries Association,
SPIE-The International Society for Optical Engineering, AIAA Space
Automation and Robotics Technical Committee, Clear Lake Council of
Technical Societies, AIAA Houston Section, and the IEEE Galveston Bay
Section.
TECHNOLOGY TRACKS: Papers are solicited that describe the technology
of building intelligent robotic systems, especially surveys of the
state of the art, subsystem concepts, experimental results in
different environments, system and subsystem metrics, and comparison
of different approaches.
Robotic Sensing, Vision, and Perception: Visible, radar, sonar,IR and
laser sensors, innovative systems; and perception algorithms,
architecture, and integration methods.
Planning, Reasoning, and Control: Behavioral and subsumption methods,
deliberative planners, reasoning architectures, combination and
mediation of planning, and reasoning and control elements
Systems Technology and Architectures: Methods for allocating
functions, system and software architectures, and approaches to
modularity and reuse.
APPLICATION TRACKS: Papers are solicited that describe designs and
uses of intelligent robots, especially those related to concepts,
design experiments, operational experience, and requirements.
Factory: Assembly, transport, inspection, warehousing, and
manufacturing.
Field: Underwater, explosive handling, hazardous environments,
military applications, autonomous land vehicles, construction, very
cold environments, mining, and drilling.
Space: On-orbit servicing and assembly, planetary exploration and
operations, spacecraft inspection, and ground-based operations.
Service: Health care, security systems, cleaning systems,
residential/office, facility maintenance, and others.
VIDEO TAPES: Are encouraged in all areas.
Papers should be submitted to the:
Program Chairman:
Dr. Lawrence P. Seidman
The MITRE Corporation
1120 NASA Road 1
Houston, TX 77058-3320
tel: 713-335-8532
fax: 713-333-5147
Email: lseidman@mitre.org
Address other conference inquires:
Conference Chairman:
Dr. Jon D. Erickson
NASA Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center
Mail Code ER
Houston, TX 77058
tel: 713-483-1508
fax: 713 483-7580
Email: erickson@aio.jsc.nasa.gov
-----------------------------------------------------------
IROS '94
FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT
INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP
on
INTELLIGENT
ROBOTIC
SYSTEMS '94
Grenoble, France, 11-15 July 1994
CALL FOR PAPERS
This workshop is organized by :
LIFIA Laboratory of Fundamental Informatics
and Artificial Intelligence, Institute of
Informatics and Applied Mathematics of
Grenoble, Grenoble, France
IPPT-PAN Institute of Fundamental Technological
Research, Polish Academy of Sciences,
Warsaw, Poland
THEME AND TOPICS
The theme for this year workshop will be combining perception and
action. The workshop will combine invited lectures by established
researchers with original presentations by junior scientists about
research in progress. Topics included :
o Learning and Control;
o Neural Network and Fuzzy Techniques for Control;
o Active and Real Time Computer Vision;
o Integration and Control of Perception and Action;
o Planning and Plan Execution for Perception and Action;
ORGANISERS
General Chairman James L.Crowley, LIFIA IMAG, France,
46 av. Felix Viallet, 38031 Grenoble Cedex,
Tel.:(33) 76574655 fax:(33) 76574602,
E-mail: Jim.Crowley@imag.fr
Chairman Adam Borkowski, IPPT PAN, Poland,
of the Programme 21 Swietokrzyska Str., 00-049 Warsaw,
Committee Tel. : (48-22) 261281 ext 250
fax : (48-22) 269815,
E-mail: abork@ippt.gov.pl
Co-Chairman Artur Dubrawski, IPPT PAN, Poland,
of the Programme 21 Swietokrzyska Str., 00-049 Warsaw,
Committee Tel. : (48-22) 261281 ext 250
fax : (48-22) 269815,
E-mail: adubr@ippt.gov.pl
Secretary Patrick Reignier, LIFIA - IMAG, France,
46 av. F'elix Viallet, 38031 Grenoble Cedex,
Tel.:(33) 76574609 fax:(33) 76574602,
E-mail: Patrick.Reignier@imag.fr
Olivier Causse, Lab. of Image Analysis, DK,
Fr. Bajers Vej 7 D, DK-9220 Aalborg
Tel.:(45) 98158522-4940 fax:(45) 98154008,
E-mail: causse@vision.auc.dk
The event is organised in cooperation with the CEC Human Capital and
Mobility Network SMART and the Committee for Automatics and Robotics
of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
LOCATION
The event will take place at Grenoble, in the heart of the French
Alps. Grenoble has many convenient railway and bus connections from
all over France. International flights to Paris or Lyon would be
suitable.
LANGUAGE
The conference language will be English
SUBMISSION
Persons wishing to submit a paper should send an extended abstract of
approximately four pages to the programme chairman (Professor A.
Borkowski, address before)
TIMETABLE
- Extended abstracts must be received by the programme chairman by
January 15 1994.
- Notification of acceptance will be sent before February 28 1994.
- Full papers (8 pages) must be received before April 30 1994
All accepted papers will be published in the Proceedings of the
Workshop. Detailed information regarding programme, conference fee,
accomodation will be given in the second annoucement issued
in January 1994.
End of IROS '94 description
--------------------------------------------------
Many annual conferences are held and here are a few of them:
Annual Conference of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and
Automation (ICARA)
Annual Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems
Annual Symposium on Industrial Robots
Biannual Symposium International Symposium of Robotics Research
Biannual Autonomous Intelligent Systems
International Conference on Computer Vision
British Machine Vision Conference
IEEE Intelligent Vehicles Conference
IMAC/SICE International Symposium on Robotics, Mechatronics and
Manufacturing Systems.
American Association for Artificial Intellignece (AAAI)
Probably the largest and most prestigious conference
on AI. Now sponsoring a robot competition at the annual AAAI
conference.
Competitions:
-------------
There are a number of robot gatherings where robot builders can bring
their creations to show and compete with others.
Hong-Kong ping pong competitions you may
Contact: Robin Bradbeer <EERTBRAD@hk.cphk.cphkvx>
BEAM robot olympics:
Contact: Mark Tilden <mwtilden@math.uwaterloo.ca>
International Robot Games
September 23 - 25 1993 (DELAYED!!!)
Glasgow, Scotland
Organised by
The Turing Institute
Following the success of the First Olympic event which took place in
September 1990, the Turing Institute is now in the process of organizing
the second event in the series. This will take place in Glasgow,
Scotland from 23rd-25th September 1993.
Robot Contest sponsored by the Science Center of Connecticut.
April 17th, 1994. Open to everyone.
$1000 prize. For more information and rules contact:
Jake Mendelssohn, SCoC
950 Trout Brook Drive
West Hartford, CT 06119
tel: 203.231.2824
fax: 203.232.0705
Prodigy: KJRP71A
___________________________________________________________________________
+++Robotics Publications:
There are a number of academic journals and trade magazines devoted to
robotics. There are no magazines currently devoted to the hobbyist or
designer of robotic mechanisms. In the 1980's Robotics Engineering
(nee Robotics Age) lasted for 7-8 years but folded. The one difficulty
I noted as a subscriber was that the magazine attempted to address the
hobbyist, the curious and those whose work was devoted to robotics
without successfully catering to all groups.
This list of periodical covers the academic journals, the trade
magazines devoted to both robotics and relevant sub-areas, and the
lone newsletter for hobbyists.
Automation in Construction
Publisher: Elsevier Science Publisher B. V., Amsterdam.
Desk Editor: Erik de Vries
The Editor of the journal is
Dr. T. Michael Knasel
10324 Lake Avenue
Cleveland, OH 441102-1239.
fax: 216.651.5136.
Industrial Robot
ISSN 0143-991X
Quarterly, $145/year
MCB University Press Ltd.
62 Toller Lane
Bradford, West Yorkshire
England, BD8 9BY
tel: (44) 274 499821,
fax: (44) 274 547143
--in the US
MCB University Press Ltd.
PO Box 10812
Birmingham, AL 35201-0812
tel: 1-800-633-4931 (1-205-995-1567),
fax: 1-205-995-1588
Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE)
The IEEE has a formidable array of journals, transactions and
magazines. Here are a few that are relevant to robotics work:
IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation
IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics
IEEE Control Systems Magazine
IEEE Computer Magazine
IEEN Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence
IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics
Cost: Have to join IEEE and then subscribe. Student rates are
much less expensive than non-student rates.
International Journal of Robotics and Automation
Published 4 times annually. ISSN 0826-8185
ACTA Press, PO Box 354, CH-8053, Zurich, Switzerland or ACTA
Press, PO Box 2481, Anaheim, CA 92814.
Subscriptions: $165 US or 313.50 SFr. ($12 US or 22.80 SFr postage and
handling). A special rate is available to members of IASTED.
International Journal of Robotics Research (IJRR)
MIT Press
28 Carleton Street
Cambridge, MA 02142
Cost: $50/year to individuals
Journal of Intelligent & Robotic Systems
Three issues per volume, $58.50 per volume (individual)
Kluwer Academic Publishers Group
PO Box 322,
3300 AH Dordrecht,
The Netherlands
--in the US:
PO Box 358
Accord Station,
Hingham, MA 02018-0358
Journal of Robotic Systems
G. Beni and S. Hackwood, editors
College of Engineering
University of California, Riverside
Riverside, CA 92521-0425
Publisher:
Interscience Division
Professional, Reference, and Trade Group
John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
605 Third Ave.
New York, NY 10158
Mechatronics (Mechanics, Electronics, Control)
Editors-in-Chief:
Dr. R. W. Daniel
Department of Engineering Science,
University of Oxford,
Parks Road,
Oxford, OX1-3PJ
United Kingdom:
tel: +44-865-273153
fax: +44-865-273153
Professor J. R. Hewit
Engineering Design Institute
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
University of Technology, Loughborough
Leicestershire, LE11 3TU
UNITED KINGDOM
tel: +44-509-222936
fax: +44-509-268103)
Published by Pergamon Press Ltd, Headington Hill Hall, Oxford
OX3 0BW UK. 1993 subscription rates: 193 pounds Sterling (US
$312) Personal subscription rates for those whose library
subscribes at a regular rate are available on request.
Subscription rates for Japan are available on request.
Robot (Japanese)
Industrial Robots and Application Systems
published bimonthly
Japan Industrial Robot Association (JIRA)
Kikai-Shinko Building
3-5-8, Shiba-Kohen,
Mina To-ku
Tokyo, Japan
tel: (03) 3434-2919
fax: (03) 3578-1404
Robotica
International Journal of Information, Education and Research
in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence
Quarterly publication, US $179 per year!
Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building
Shaftesbury Road,
Cambridge CB2 2RU (UK)
in the US:
Cambridge University Press
Journals Department
40 West 20th Street
New York, NY 10011-4211
Robotics and Autonomous Systems
-- In Europe --
Elsevier Science Publishers B.V.
Journals Department
PO Box 211, 100 AE Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Editors in Chief:
Prof. F.C.A. Groen
University of Amsterdam
Faculty of Mathematics and CS
Dept. of Computer Systems
Kruislaan 403
1098 SJ Amsterdam
The Netherlands
net: <groen@fwi.uva.nl>
-- In the US and Canada --
Elsevier Science Publishing Co., Inc.
Journal Information Center
655 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10010
Editor in Chief
Prof. T.C. Henderson
University of Utah
Dept. of Computer Science
3160 Merrill Engineering Bldg.
Salt Lake City, UT 84112 USA
net: <tch@cs.utah.edu>
Robotics Today
Published by:
Society of Manufacturing Engineers
One SME Drive
PO Box 930
Dearborn, MI 48121
tel: 313.271.1500
Robotics World
"The end-user's magazine of flexible automation"
Published quarterly
Communication Channels
6255 Barfield Road
Atlanta, GA 30328
tel: 404.256.9800
They also publish the Robotics World Directory $49.95
Don't have addresses for:
Advanced Robotics (in english)
published by
International Journal of the Robotics Society of Japan
Robotics and Computer Integrated Manufacturing
Useful and relevant trade magazines:
------------------------------------
Usually free, mostly ads or industry news. Many articles
written by advertisers. Great sources of product
information. Our lab at CMU receives 50-60 trade magazines and
journals per month and while no one reads all of the articles
and pointers are passed on to people around the lab. This
keeps the group abreast of new products and developments.
Advanced Imaging
445 Broad Hollow Rd.
Melville, NY 11747
tel: 516.845.2700
fax: 516.845.2797
Subscription free to qualified professionals, $50/yr otherwise.
ComputerCraft
CQ Communications
76 N. Broadway
Hicksville, NY 11801
tel: 516.681.2922
fax: 516.681.2926
cost: $18.97/yr
ISSN: 1055-5072
Computer Applications Journal
Circuit Cellar Inc.
4 Park St. Suite 20
Vernon, CT 06066
Subscriptions: P.O. Box 7694
Riverton, NJ 08077
tel: 203.875.2751
cost: $21.95/yr
ISSN: 0896-8985
Excellent for those building hardware, programming
microcontrollers, etc. Also a very good source for companies
who have products in these areas.
Design News
Cahners Publishing Co.
275 Washington Street
Newton, MA. 02158
News and Applications for design engineers.
Cost: Free to qualified recipients; otherwise - ?
EE Times
CMP Publications, Inc.
600 Community Drive
Manhasset, NY 11030
Cost: Free to qualified recipients (in the U.S.); otherwise -
$159/yr (U.S. & Foreign)
Electronic Design
Penton Publishing Inc
1100 Superior Ave
Cleveland, OH 44114-2543
611 Route #46 West
Hasbrouck Heights, NJ 07604
tel: 201.393.6060
fax: 201.393.0204
cost: $95.00/yr (free if qualified)
ISSN: 0013-4872
Electronics Now (formerly Radio Electronics)
Gernsback Publications Inc
Subscription Dept
Box 55115
Boulder, CO 80321-5115
500-B Bi-County Boulevard
Farmingdale, NY 11735
tel: 516.293.3000
cost: $19.97/yr
ISSN: 0033-7862
Embedded Systems Programming
Miller Freeman
600 Harrison St.
San Francisco, CA 94107
tel: 800.829.5537 (customer service)
tel: 415.905.2200
bbs: 415.905.2689.
$49.95 for 12 issues
Machine Design
Penton Publishing Inc.
1100 Superior Ave.
Cleveland, OH 44114-2543
tel: 216.696.7000
fax: 216.621.8469
Cost: Free to qualified recipients in the U.S.; otherwise -
$100.00/yr in U.S.; $140/yr in Canada; $160/yr - all other
Foreign
Midnight Engineering 'Journal of Personal Product Development'
Published by William E Gates, [No, not him...]
111 E. Drake Road
Suite 7041
Fort Collins, CO 80525
tel: 303.225.1410
fax: 303.225.1075
One-year (6 issues) $24, canada and mexico $29, other foreign
$49 (airmail) Perhaps marginal for this list but focus is on
"resources and insight for the entrepreneurial engineer"
Issues and articles on developing hardware, software,
micro-controllers, product development, marketing, patenting
issues, startups, etc etc. Excellent if you need this info.
Modern Materials Handling
44 Cook Street
Denver, CO 80206-5800
tel: 303.388.4511
Trade magazine covering productivity solutions for
manufacturing, warehousing and distribution. Typically
includes articles on factory automation, etc. Cost: Free to
qualified recipients; otherwise - $75 for US subscribers.
Motion Control
Tower Media Corp.
800 Roosevelt Rd.
Bldg. C, Suite 206
Glen Ellyn, IL 60137
Trade magazine for Motion Control applications and Technology.
Cost: Free to qualified recipients in the U.S.; otherwise -
$50/yr in U.S. $90/yr foreign subscriptions.
NASA Tech Briefs
Associated Business Publications Co., Ltd.
41 E. 42nd St.
New York, NY 10017-5391
Contains useful technology transfer information which very
often includes robotics research performed at various NASA
centers. Cost: Free to qualified recipients; otherwise -
$75.00/yr in the U.S., $150.00/yr for Foreign subscriptions
Nuts and Volts
430 Princeland Court
Corona, CA 91719
tel: 800.783.4624
Electronics classifieds and ads. Lots of devices and products
relevant for robot builders. Often features articles on robot
building as well.
Sensors
Helmers Publishing
174 Concord Street
PO Box 874
Peterborough, NH 03458-0874
tel: 603.924.9631
Trade magazine devoted to sensing devices. Publishes directory.
Cost: Free to qualified subscribers, $55/yr otherwise
[To add]
GPS World (Global Positioning System related)
RF Design
Sea Technology
Laser Focus
POB (surveying profession)
Broadcast Engineering (TV and radio engineering)
Other sources:
--------------
Thomas Register
Thomas Publishing Company
One Penn Plaza
New York, NY 10117-0139
tel: 212.695.0500
fax: 212.290.7362
About $250 for a 20-odd volume encyclopedia of US industry.
Concentration on heavier industries - but still an amazing source for
information. No company or lab building products should be without
one. Available on CD-ROM for a much higher price.
EEM - The 'Thomas Register' for Electrical engineers.
[Address to add]
_____________________________________________________________________________
+++Mobile robot companies:
There are a small number of companies targeting the research community
for the mobile robot market. TRC, RWI, and Cybermotion have all sold
and are selling mobile devices for research and real
applications. There are a number of Automatic Guided Vehicle companies
as well and their primary applications are factory operations.
Companies manufacturing Automatic Guided Vehicles (AGV) are listed at
the end of this section.
Bell and Howell
Mailmobile Company
81 Hartwell Avenue
Lexington, MA 02173-3127
tel: 617.674.1110
Mailmobiles were developed by Lear-Siegler in the mid-70's for the
industrial cleaning market. They left this market and
Bell & Howell, the audio-visual company, was refocusing on office
automation products and picked
up this product from Lear-Siegler. There are three models of
Mailmobile, the Packmobile, the Sprint and the Trailmobile. About 3000
systems sold and about 2000 probably in operation. They use a chemical
trail that floureseces under UV light. Payloads up to a couple of
hundred kg. Some systems have been operating for over 15 years.
Cybermotion
5457 Jae Valley Road
Roanoke, VA 24014
tel: 703.982.2641
John Holland's company. Mobile K2 bases making use of ingenious
torque-tube synchronous drive system. Security markets and research
platforms, manipulators for base as well. Map building software too.
Cyberworks
31 Ontario Street
Orillia, Ontario
L3V 6H1 Canada
tel: 705.325.6110
fax: 705.325.8566
Primary product are 'building blocks' for mobile robot
development including controllers, sensors, softare and chassis'.
Denning Mobile Robotics Inc. [DENNING IS OUT OF BUSINESS]
21 Concord Street
Wilmington, MA 01887
tel: 508.658.7800
Mobile robots - synchronous drive bases for research platforms.
Building automated camera platforms for newsrooms, working on
floor cleaning machines with an industrial partner.
Denning also has a number of products including a position scanner,
and IR beacons. A Denning floor scrubber is working in a post
office in Pittsburgh, Denver and Washington, and at a UPS site.
IS Robotics
4353 Park Terrace Drive
Westlake Village, CA 91361 USA
net: <robots@isx.com>
tel: 818.597.1900
Associated with ISX Robotics of Cambridge.
T-1: tracked robot approx 50cm x 36cm. $5k
R-2: Wheeled machine. Gripper with 7.5cm opening, 18cm lift, 1kg
lift force. $7K
Ghengis II: Six-legged machine with whisker bump sensors and force
detection on legs. About $2k.
Use the ubiquitous MC68HC11E2 microcontrollers. Robots include IR
and bump sensing for obstacle detection. Pyro sensors and color
camera with pan-tilt are optional.
mecos Robotics AG
Technopark
Pfingstweidstrasse
CH-8005 Zurich
Switzerland
tel: + 41 1 445 11 35
fax: + 41 1 445 11 34
email: mecos@ifr.ethz.ch
Contact: S. J. Vestli
Company formed as a spin off of the Institute of Robotics, ETH
(Swiss Federal Institute of Technology). "mecos Robotics"
specialises in modular and adaptive robot manipulators and
robot vehicles (mobile robots). All "mecos Robotics" systems
uses the same type of controller, a VME based computer. This
system comes with high level development tools, and for
research institutions the systems have the advantage of being
open. The overall goals of all "mecos Robotics" systems are
flexility and modularity.
The mobile robot program from "mecos Robotics" follows this
principle. The physical size and the mechanical configuration
can be altered. The standard configuration has three wheels
with air tyres and independant suspension. One wheel is used
for steering and propulsion (imagine a kids tricycle). The
overall size is 0.7 m (W) * 1.0 m (L) * 0.5 m (H). The price
depends on configuration and starts around the 70.000,- Swiss
Franks mark.
Nomadic Technologies
1060-B Terra Bella Avenue
Mountain View, CA 94043
tel: 415.988.7200 ext. 203
fax: 415.988.7201
net: nomad@robots.com
Nomad 200 is an integrated mobile robot system with four
sensing modules including tactile, infrared, ultrasonic, and
2D laser. Integrated software development package for the
host computer includes a graphic interface, robot simulator
and a library of motion planning, motion control and sensory
data interpretation functions. Geared toward teaching and
research in Robotics and AI. The Nomad utilizes a synchronous
steering system (ala Cybermotion and RWI). Speeds up to .5
meters/second and onboard battery power.
Nomad 200 Mobile Base $10,000
Nomad 200 Control System $ 6,000
Sensus 100 Tactile Sensing System $ 1,500
Sensus 200 Fixed Sonar System $ 2,500
Sensus 500 Structured Light Vision System $ 7,000
RF Modem Kit $ 2,000
Digital Compass $ 450
Real World Interface (RWI)
P.O. Box 270
Dublin, NH 03444
tel: 603.563.8871
fax: 603.563.8872
Small synchronous drive bases, primarily for research
purposes. Approx $6K
Remotec
114 Union Valley Road
Oak Ridge, TN 37830
tel: 615.483.0228
fax: 615.483.1426
The ANDROS line of teleoperated mobile robots. These were
designed to be useful in the nuclear industry and in other
hazardous applications, and are very rugged. You can hose them
down. Available in a range of sizes, with a variety of
optional attachments, such as video cameras, arms, etc.
TRC
15 Great Pasture Road
Danbury, CT 06810
tel: 203.798.8988
Labmate research platform - $7500, plus additional optional
sensors etc. Other products for hospital markets and floor
cleaning machines. (Helpmate and RoboKent respectively)
Yamazaki Construction Company, Tokyo Japan.
Intelligent Robot Lab
Kaika Building
2-7-1 Sotokanda
Chiyoda-ku 101 Tokyo
Japan
tel: 81-3-5256-0715
LR1 robot - small research robot, basically a VME cage on
wheels with some ultrasonic sensors and a nice constant force
suspension. Has shown up at IEEE R&A conferences $30K.
RoboSoft SA
, ,
6, allee Paul Cezanne
93360 Neuilly Plaisance
FRANCE
tel: +33 1 4944 3035
fax: +33 1 4944 3297
AGV Companies
-------------
AGV Products
9307-E Monroe Road
Charlotte, NC 28270-1485
tel: 704.845.1110
fax: 704.845.1111
Controls and components for AGV's. Supplier of Schabmuller
motor-in-wheel drives.
Apogee Robotics
2643 Midpoint Drive
Fort Collins, CO 80525
tel: 303.221.1122
fax: 303.221.1774
Standard and custom-designed AGV's
BT Systems
7000 Nineteen Mile Road
Sterling Heights, MI 48314
tel: 313.254.5200
fax: 313.254.5570
Automated Handling Systems (Formerly Volvo Automated Systems)
Caterpillar Industrial
5960 Heisley Road
Mentor, OH 44060
tel: 216.357.2935
fax: 216.357.4410
Manufacturer and distributor of fork lift trucks and guided
vehicles. Cat's SGV's use rotating laser scanner and barcodes
as opposed to traditional wire-guided systems.
Control Engineering Company
Jervis Webb Company
34375 W. Twelve Mile Road
Farmington Hills, MI 48331-5624
tel: 313.553.1220
fax: 313.553.1253
Eaton-Kenway
515 East 100 South
PO Box 45425
Salt Lake City, UT 84145-0425
tel: 801.530.4000
fax: 801.530.4243
AGV's and integrated systems
Elwell-Parker
4205 St. Clair Avenue
Cleveland, OH
tel: 216.881.6200
fax: 216.391.7708
Designs/manufactures rider style, electric, fork and platform
mobile material handling equipment. Line includes AGV's, high
tonnage capacity. Mobile cranes, explosion proof forklifts.
Eskay Corporation
563 West 500 South
Bountiful, UT 84010
tel: 801.295.5315
fax: 801.299.9990
Automated material handling systems including AGVS.
Fata Automation
37050 Industrial Road
Livonia, MI 48150
tel: 313.462.0678
fax: 313.462.0997
Sales and service of AGVs.
FMC Corporation
400 Highpont Drive
Chalfont, PA 18914
tel: 215.822.4300
fax: 215.822.4342
AGVs, Automated Handling Systems, Consulting, Trolley and
Power and Free Converyors, Tow lines, Integrated Systems and
Controls, Roll Handling Equipment.
IDAB Incorporated
1 Enterprise Parkway, Suite 300
PO Box 8157
Hampton, VA 23666
tel: 804.825.2260
fax: 804.825.9307
Automatic handling systems and AGV's
Litton Industrial Automation
2300 Litton Lane
Hebron, KY 41048
tel: 606.334.2033
fax: 606.334.2847
Full service material handling company.
Mannesmann Demag Corporation
29201 Aurora Road
Cleveland, OH 44139-1895
tel: 216.248.2400
fax: 216.248.3086
Overhead cranes, wire rope and chain hoists, AGV systems,
automatic storage and retrieval systems, monorail, aircraft
maintenance equipment.
Mentor AGVS Products
8500 Station Street
PO Box 898
Mentor, OH 44060
tel: 216.255.4051
fax: 216.255.3430
AGV systems and automated transfer cars.
Munck Automation Technology
315 E Street
Hampton, VA 23661
tel: 804.838.6010
fax: 804.826.5651
Manufacturer and integrator of automated material handling
systems. AGVS of many configurations (unitload, forklift,
towing)
The Raymond Corporation
South Canal Street
PO Box 130
Greene, NY 13778
tel: 607.656.2311
fax: 607.656.9005
Material handling equipment.
Roberts Sinto Corporation
3001 West Main Street
PO Box 40760
Lansing, MI 48901-7960
tel: 517.371.2460
fax: 517.372.4930
MGV's (Mechanically guided vehicles)
Professional Materials Handling Co, Inc.
4203 Landmark Drive
Orlando, FL 32817
tel: 305.677.0040
Steinbock fork trucks. Wire guided, use regenerative braking.
_____________________________________________________________________________
+++Robot manipulator companies:
Adept Technology
150 Rose Orchard Way
San Jose, CA 95134
tel: 408.432.0888
fax: 408.432.8707
High speed direct-drive and harmonic-drive SCARA style arms. 0.001"
(.025mm) repeatabiliy. Payloads from 4-25kg Can be used in clean room
and food applications as well. Adept sells vision systems and
controllers also.
Antenen Research
PO Box 95
Hamilton, OH 45012
tel: 800.323.9555
tel: 513.887.4700
fax: 513.887.4703
New and used robots for manufacturing, research and
training. Used at savings of 40% - 70%. Also lots of parts and
accessories.
Asea Brown Boveri (ABB), Vesteraas, Sweden
ABB Robotics
2487 South Commerce Drive
New Berlin, WI 53151
tel: 414.785.3400
fax: 414.789.9235
Now own Cinncinatti Milacron robotics group, Graco and
Trallfa. Many types of larger industrial robots.
CRS Plus,
PO Box 163, Station A
830 Harrington Court
Burlington, Ontario
Canada L7R 3Y2
tel: 416.639.0086
fax: 416.639.4248
Sells several manipulators. 5-DOF around $25K, 6DOF around $33K.
Sell end-effectors as well (electric, vacuum and penumatic)
Wrist can be bought separately. Controllers use RAPL, a VAL-like
language. Fairly open architecture. 3Kg payloads +/- 0.05mm
repeatability.
Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd.
24402 Sinacola Court
Farmington Mills, MI 48331
tel: 313.474.6100
fax: 313.474.6101
Kawasaki was the first Japanese mfg to lead in the production
of industrial robots. They licensed the former Unimation line
of robots and now make about a dozen types of electric arms
for welding, painting and assembly.
Kraft Telerobotics
11667 W. 90th Street
Overland Park, KS 66214
tel: 913.894.9022
fax: 913.894.1363
Nice telerobotic arms for underwater work.
mecos Robotics AG
Technopark
Pfingstweidstrasse
CH-8005 Zurich
Switzerland
tel: + 41 1 445 11 35
fax: + 41 1 445 11 34
net: <mecos@ifr.ethz.ch>
Contact: E. Nielsen
Spin-off of the Institute of Robotics, ETH (Swiss Federal
Institute of Technology). modular and adaptive robot
manipulators and robot vehicles (mobile robots). All "mecos
Robotics" systems use a VME based computer as controller. The
system comes with high level development tools, and are open
systems. The manipulator's mechanical configuration can be
changed at will (number and type of joints, length of links,
etc.) Manipulators use linear aluminum extrusions with
integral motions for joints. The controller accounts for
configuration changes. With this principle of modularity and
flexibilty hybrid force / position controllers have been
realised on "mecos Robotics" arms. Price depending on
configuration (50.000,- Swiss Franks and upwards).
Motoman [Hobart/Yaskawa]
3160 MacArthur Boulevard
Northbrook, IL 60062-1917
tel: 708.291.2340
fax: 708.498.2430
Large industrial manipulators for welding, painting, palletizing,
dispensing, etc. Can be floor, ceiling or wall mount units. Payloads
for the 8 robots in the K-series range from 3kg to 100kg and
repeatability of 0.1 to 0.5 mm over that same range. They are vertical
jointed-arm type manipulators. (i.e. 4 bar linkage to reduce arm
intertias). 3 S-series robots are SCARA-type manipulators with
payloads of 50-60kg and varying workspace sizes
Yaskawa also has bought the rights to RobotWorld, Vic Schienman's unique
gantry design robot system. This system allow a number of mobile
modules in the same workspace to zip around at speeds up 80"/sec (3G
accel). RAIL and C can be used in a multilevel programming
environment. 0.002" Accuracy, 0.0005" repeatability. Neat stuff.
Salisbury Robotics, Inc.
20 Pemberton St.
Cambridge, MA 02140
tel: 617.661.8847
net: <jks@ai.mit.edu>
Sells the three-fingered Salisbury hand and force sensing fingertips.
Contact: Ken Salisbury,
Sarcos Research Corporation
390 Wakara Way,
Suite 44, Salt Lake City, Utah 84108
tel: 801.581.0155
Spinoff of University of Utah's Center for Engineering Design (CED).
Teleoperated systems, manipulators. Audio-animatronic work as well.
Beautiful force reflecting work and systems. High performance and
small hydraulic valves and actuators.
Schilling
1632 Da Vinci Court
Davis, CA 95616
tel: 916.753.6718
fax: 916.753.8092
Electro-mechanical engineering and manufacturing company
specializing in telerobotics. Various remote manipulator and
telerobotic manipulator systems.
Sony Corporation of America
Factory Automation Division
542 Route 303
Orangeburg, NY 10962
tel: 914.365.6000
fax: 914.365.6087
Several SCARA type manipulators including a double armed
manipulator. This model is used for the assembly of 8mm
camcorders!
Robotics Research Corp.
P.O. Box 206
Amelia, OH 45102
tel: 513.831.9570
fax: 513.381.5802
RRC offers a variety of dexterous manipulators which can be
operated individually or in dual-arm mode. Their second
generation, denoted the "i-Series", is lighter and provides
great dexterity. They are currently building
"spaceflight-qualified" manipulators for NASA (GSFC) using
this new generation of their product. They have also been
doing some work developing sensor-based automatic obstacle
detection and avoidance technology which uses a patented
algorithm with arm-mounted sensors. They have also built two
massively-redundant 17-DOF Anthropomorphic systems for Grumman
and JPL to serve as testbeds for researching "man-equivalent"
robots for space applications.
UMI Microbot
12665 Richfield Ct.
Livonia, MI 48150
tel: 313.464.9500
fax: 313.464.3276
Originally known as the Microbot teachmover. A small cable
driven manipulator for desktop robotics. Excellent teaching
tool. Microbot was bought out by the British company UMI two
years ago. In May, 1991 they moved from Silicon Valley to
Detroit, MI.
USA Robot
PO Box 4018
Portland, ME 04101
tel: 207.774.3822
Maxym production robots for business. Simple accurate 3D
linear motions coupled with power tooling. Workspaces up to
60cmx120cmx15cm. IBMPC software for designing parts and
production path. Units come with 2200W Porter- Cable router
and vacuum foot. This is not a machine like the giant
production turning and routing machines used by large
furniture makers but is a nice small machine for small
production shops.
Western Space and Marine
111 Santa Barbara St.
Santa Barbara, CA 93101
tel: 805.963.3831
fax: 805.963.3832
Telerobotic manipulators for space and undersea applications.
Zebra Robotics
Jeff Kerr
Menlo Park
tel: 415.328.8884
Small manipulators with integral force control.
Zymark Corp
Hopkinton, MA
Robots for laboratory automation. Zymate
Other companies: (no addresses, yet)
International Submarine Engineering (ISE)
Robotic Systems International (RSI)
Furukawa
Sumitomo
Chubu
Beckman Biomark
HP ORCA
_____________________________________________________________________________
+++Small Inexpensive Robots
One of the most common discussions on the net are related to
finding, building and working on small and low cost robots. There are
a few small robots on the market and a number of construction kits
that robots can be built from such as Lego, FischerTechnik and
Capsula. None of these require large investments. These systems are at
most a few hundred $US and can run on a desktop.
Angelus Research
6344 Sugar Pine Circle
Angelus Oaks, CA
tel: 714.794.8325
A small differentially-steered mechanism (no casters!) utilizing a
68HC11 controller w/ 32K RAM and RS-232 interface. Four visible
collision sensors (range 3-12 inches depending on ambient light) and
two whiskers. On-board battery (Pb- acid and built in charger)
monitors current as well for stall current. Software included with
easy-to-use command set. A lot of features for a very affordable
device. $395, controller board available separately and basic kit
available for $325
Capsula
Capsula is a robot construction set. Looks like a series of bubbles
connected together. Some intriguing modules including IR control,
voice commands, motorized clutches etc. Edmund Scientific sells this
as do many toy stores.
FischerTechnik
Model Technology
2420 Van Layden Way
Modesto, CA 95356
tel: 209.575.3445
fax: 209.527.6016
Like Lego, Fischertechnik is a european-developed construction kit
but much more comprehensive in scope. Electro-mechanical parts
galore including a wide variety of switches, relays, slip rings,
contacts, etc. Many types of building block units as well and
computer interfaces available. More expensive than Lego. Model
Technology, listed above, is one distributor. See also the Robot
Explorer in the publications section.
Khepera Support Team
LAMI - DI - EPFL
INF Ecublens
1015 Lusanne
Switzerland
tel: ++41 21 693.52.65
fax: ++42 21 693.52.63
net: <khepera@di.epfl.ch>
contact: Franscesco Mondada
A VERY small mobile robot. Motorola 68331 Processor with 256K RAM
and 256 or 512K ROM. Serial port. Six 10bit analog inputs. DC motor
powered with incremental encoders. Eight IR proximity and light
sensors. NiCd batteries. Additional capabilities can be added by
using stackable K-extension bus. Software environments: Calm
assembler (PC or MAC), Gnu C compiler (on all machines supported by
GNU) and LabView (PC, Mac or Sun).
Size: 55mm diameter, 30mm high
Weight: 70grams
Cost: 3000 Swiss Francs [About $2K US]
Vision and Gripper modules under development.
Reference:
Mondada et al. Mobile Robot Miniaturisation: A Tool for
Investigation in Control Algorithms. Third International
Symposium on Experimental Robotics, Kyoto, Japan, Oct 28-30,
1993
LEGO
Lego Dacta
555 Taylor Road
PO Box 1600
Enfield, CT 06083-1600
tel: 800.527.8339
fax: 203.763.2466
LEGO Dacta is the educational branch of the LEGO company. Dacta
sells the LEGO Technic product line. These are the geared and
motorized versions for the LEGO system.
Use anonymous ftp to obtain a list of a variety of lego information
and application programs from:
location: earthsea.stanford.edu
directory: /pub/lego
filenames: <see below>
Directory Structure: ~ftp/pub/lego/
CAD/ contains several languages for specifying models
faq/ contains latest faq sheet for alt.toys.lego
games/ Rules for games using lego people and pieces
images/ Pictures and drawings of sets and instructions
sets/ Database listings of lego sets and catalog numbers
upload/ Place your files here!
Lego kits recommended for robotics work include:
1038 Technical Universal Buggy - dual drive vehicle. $60
1032 Technic II w/ motorized transmission - $76
9605 Technic Resource Set - general parts kits - $200
Lego-to-Mac software:
Paradigm Software 617.576.7675
Bots 415.949.2126
MIT has papers on LEGO projects available via FTP from:
site: kame.media.mit.edu.
dir: pub/el-memos
file: memo8.* "LEGO/LOGO: Learning Through and About Design"
Meccano/Erector
[I have no address - but it seems like a candidate for this group.
Please send any contact information if you have it. Thanks]
Mondotronics
524 San Anselmo Ave.,
#107
San Anselmo, CA 94960
tel: 415.455.9330
800.374.5764
fax: 415.455.9333
net: <mondo@holonet.net>
A number of muscle wire (nitinol) projects including a small walking
machine. Book and sample kit with 1m each of 50, 100 and 150 um
wire, enough to build all 14 projects in the book.
OWI (Movit robots)
tel: 310.638.4732
fax: 310.638.8347
Available from:
Kelvin Electronics 800.645.9212
Pitsco 800.835.0686
Edmund Scientific (See Robot Parts section for address)
These are small toy-like robots that reflexively respond to
obstacles, sounds or light depending on the model. They're cute and
show what can be done with a relatively small amount of hardware.
They now also have a Robotic Technology Curriculum with lessons and
tests. Cirriculum is $65 from Edmund Scientific.
QuikShut (?)
Circuit Specialists Inc
PO Box 3047
Scottsdale, AZ 85271-3047
tel: 800.528.1417
tel: 602.464.2485
Sold by Circuit Specialists for $259. Appears to be a nice low cost
5 axis arm for education. IBM (or compatible) interface, kit
including all components and board, power supply kit, software
package, logic probe and experiments and instructions. If anyone has
information as to who actually makes this please send me email.
Stiquito
A small nitinol-based mobile robot is available from Indiana
University in a technical report and as a kit. Send your request for
the report with payment to:
Computer Science Department
215 Lindley Hall
Indiana University
Bloomington, IN 47405
To receive the technical report only:
Send $5.00 PRE-PAID and add ATTN: TR363A
To receive the technical report and a complete kit:
Send $15.00 PRE-PAID and add ATTN: TR 363A Squito Kit
Tomy Armatron
Sold by Radio Shack in the US, the Armatron was a popular small
plastic manipulator and later a mobile version was sold. A number
of articles appeared in the hobbyist press regarding linking the
Armatrons to computers. The mobile version is still being sold in
Japan and is called the "GO ROBO ARM" You might be able to pick one
up at a flea market or garage sale. Buy it - they are neat clever
devices and fun.
_____________________________________________________________________________
+++Other organizations doing robotics:
What companies and government laboratories are doing robotics work?
This list is a small fraction of companies and other organizations
that are actively working in robotics. By searching through
proceedings of conferences, by noting member companies of many of the
organizations listed in previous FAQ sections a significant number of
companies can be generated. Industrial robotics is used widely
throughout a number of companies. Most large aerospace companies have
groups working in or looking into robotics. Martin Marietta (Denver),
Rockwell International (Downey, CA), Boeing (Seattle) to name a
few. Mitre Corporation of McLean VA and Houston TX, is also doing
quite a bit in robotics.
Advanced Robotics Research Centre
Salford, UK.
The Advanced Robotics Research Ltd (incorporating the National
Advanced Robotics Research Centre, UK) is a joint UK Government and
UK Industries funded research organisation involved in the research
of enabling technologies for the advanced robotics systems.
Mechanical Engineering Lab (MEL)
Tsukuba City
Kazuo Tanie: Robotics and cybernetics
NASA Centers
------------
There are a number of NASA Centers that are researching and using
robotics for lab prototypes, flight, ground servicing and many other
applications.
NASA Jet Propulsion Labs (JPL)
Pasadena, CA
Hazardous-environment robots, teloperation, control, space and
planetary missions. Currently responsible for MESUR Pathfinder
rover.
Contacts: Tony Bejczy, Chuck Weisbin, Brian Wilcox, Larry Mathies,
Henry Stone, Rajiv Desai.
NASA Ames Research Center (ARC)
Moffett Field, CA
Contact: Butler Hine III <hine@ptolemy.arc.nasa.gov>
Terry Fong <doctor@tardis.arc.nasa.gov>
Telepresence and virtual user interfaces, vision (optical and
parallel processing), free-flyers, task planning, agents.
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)
Greenbelt, MD 20771
Contact: Stephen Leake <nbssal@robots.gfsc.nasa.gov>
Since the cancellation of the Flight Telerobotic Servicer
(FTS), the Robotics Lab has been concentrating on work in the
area of automated space craft servicing. The goal is to
replace or supplement Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA) with
teleoperated or semiautonomous robotic systems for external
vehicle maintenance. Current project includes a robot to
assist in second Hubble servicing mission.
NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC)
Houston, TX
Contact: Charles Price
More of an operations house but lots of shuttle RMS work. A number
of robot projects including testing of space station manipulator
systems happens at JSC.
NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC)
Robotics Group
Contact: Bill Jones
Like JSC, KSC is an operations house with responsibility to keep
shuttles flying and integrate payloads. There is a small but
growing robotics group that is emplacing ground support robotics
applications. Recent work includes filter inspector for launch pad
payload areas, shuttle radiator inspector and a mobile system for
thermal protection system tasks.
NASA Langley Research Center, (LaRC)
Hampton, VA
Contact: Jack Pennington - vision, inspection, 3-D sensors
National Laboratories
---------------------
The US National Laboratories are large complexes with a number of
robotics efforts. One current focus is the enormous and costly cleanup
of the weapons complexes throughout the country. Remediation, removal
and cleanup of hazardous materials will require hundreds of billions
of $$$ and many years. Robotics will be a key in much of this.
Sandia National Laboratories,
Albuquerque, NM
Sandia is a DOE National Laboratory with a substantial program in
robotics at its Intelligent Systems and Robotics Center. The Center
has interests in manufacturing, hazardous material handling, site
remediation, and research to support these
applications. Consequently areas of focus include assembly planning,
robotic interfaces, control theory, motion planning, sensor
fusion, sensor development, mobile vehicles, telemanagement, mobile
vehicles, and so on. At the time of writing (2/15/93) the center has
nearly 100 full-time staff with degrees in computer science,
mechanical engineering, mathematics, electrical engineering, as well
as a few in other fields. The mix is about 30% PhD, 40%MS, and 30%
BS. Recent hires have come from Cornell, Stanford, Berkeley, CMU,
Illinois, Penn, ... The center operates over 20 fully equipted labs
including robots from Puma, Adept, GCA, Cincinnati Millacron, and
Schilling. The virtual reality lab includes stereoscopic viewers
from Fake Space, audio, speech recognition and synthesis, and big
boxes from SGI to drive the graphics. In addition to the normal
complement of departmental computing we have use of other compute
resources at Sandia including a 1000 node N-cube, a 1000+node Intel
Paragon, several crays, a CM-200 (16K procs).
Contacts: Randy Brost, Pat Xavier, Sharon Stansfield, Pang
Chen, David Strip, Jim Novak, Ray Harrigan, Pat Eicker, Bob
Anderson.
Oak Ridge National Lab
ORNL/CESAR
PO Box 2008, MS-6364
Oak Ridge, TN 37831-6364
tel: 615.574.6126
Contact: Alex L. Bangs <BangsAL@ornl.gov>
Center for Engineering Systems Advanced Research (CESAR)
Research in mobile and manipulator robotics, including redundant
and multiple manipulators, cooperating mobile robots, parallel
vision systems, sensor fusion, real-time quantitative reasoning
and behavior based control, and machine learning. Current
applications include robots for nuclear power stations,
environmental restoration and waste management, material
handling, and space exploration.
Researchers: Alex Bangs, Marty Beckerman, Judd Jones, Reinhold Mann,
Ed Oblow, Francois Pin, Michael Unseren
Redzone Robotics
2425 Liberty Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15222-4639
tel: 412.765.3064
fax: 412.364.3069
A spin-off of CMU, Redzone has focused on hazwaste and nuke
manipulator applications but is also developing mobile
applications. Primarily protoypes and not multiple unit
manufacturing.
Southwest Research Institute
San Antonio, TX
Robotics and Automation Department
Some large systems for servicing aircraft (painting, spraying,
deriveting etc)
+++Architectures for Robots
______________________________________________________________________________
A robot 'architecture' primarily refers to the software and hardware
framework for controlling the robot. A VME board running C code to
turn motors doesn't really constitute an architecture by itself. The
development of code modules and the communication between them begins
to define the architecture.
Robotic systems are complex and tend to be difficult to develop. They
integrate multiple sensors with effectors, have many degrees of
freedom and must reconcile hard real-time systems with systems which
cannot meet real-time deadlines [Jones93]. System developers have
typically relied upon robotic architectures to guide the construction
of robotic devices and for providing computational services (e.g.,
communications, processing, etc.) to subsystems and components. These
architectures, however, have tended thus far to be task and domain
specific and have lacked suitability to a broad range of applications.
For example, an architecture well suited for direct teleoperation
tends not to be amenable for supervisory control or for autonomous
use.
One recent trend in robotic architectures has been a focus on
behavior-based or reactive systems. Behavior based refers to the fact
that these systems exhibit various behaviors, some of which are
emergent [Man92]. These systems are characterized by tight coupling
between sensors and actuators, minimal computation, and a
task-achieving "behavior" problem decomposition.
The other leading architectural trend is typified by a mixture of
asynchronous and synchronous control and data flow. Asychronous
processes are characterized as loosely coupled and event-driven
without strict execution deadlines. Synchronous processes, in
contrast, are tightly coupled, utilize a common clock and demand hard
real-time execution.
Subsumption/reactive references
-------------------------------
Arkin, R.C., "Integrating Behavioral, Perceptual, and World Knowledge
in Reactive Navigation", Robotics & Autonomous Systems, 1990
Brooks, R.A., "A Robust Layered Control System for a Mobile Robot",
IEEE Journal of Robotics and Automation, March 1986.
Brooks, R.A., "A Robot that Walks; Emergent Behaviors from a Carefully
Evolved Network", Neural Comutation 1(2) (Summer 1989)
Connell, J.H., "A Colony Architecture for an Artificial Creature", MIT
Ph. D. Thesis in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 1989.
Asynchronous/synchronous (i.e., "traditional", "top-down", etc.)
------------------------
Amidi, O., "Integrated Mobile Robot Control", CMU-RI-TR-90-17,
Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, 1990.
Albus, J.S., McCain, H.G., and Lumia, R., "NASA/NBS Stanford Reference
Model for Telerobot Control System Architecture (NASREM)" NIST
Technical Note 1235, NIST, Gaithersburg, MD, July 1987.
Butler, P.L., and Jones, J.P., "A Modular Control Architecture for
Real-Time Synchronous and Asynchronous Systems", Proceedings of SPIE
Applications of Artificial Intelligence 1993, Orlando, FL, 1993.
Fong, T.W., "A Computational Architecture for Semi-autonomous Robotic
Vehicles", AIAA Computing in Aerospace conference, AIAA 93-4508, 1993.
Lin, L., Simmons, R., and Fedor, C., "Experience with a Task Control
Architecture for Mobile Robots", CMU-RI-TR 89-29, Robotics Institute,
Carnegie Mellon University, December 1989.
Schneider, S.A., Ullman, M.A., and Chen, V.W., "ControlShell: A
Real-time Software Framework", Real-Time Innovations, Inc., Sunnyvale,
CA 1992.
______________________________________________________________________________
+++Graduate Program in Robotics:
Any good four-year school undoubtedly offers robotics courses within
engineering programs. Departments of mechanical and electrical
engineering and computer science are all good candidates for
coursework in Robotics. However, a number of schools have established
track records and a focus on robotics and those are listed here.
The list is not exhaustive and a number of entries are incomplete, but
it's a good starting point for those interested in graduate programs.
UNITED STATES-------
Boston University
Dept. of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering:
John Baillieul: Control of Mechanical Systems and Mathematical
System Theory.
Pierre Dupont: Robot Kinematics and Dynamics, Friction Compensation
in Robotics.
Ann Stokes: Theoretical Dynamics and Control.
Matt Berkemeier: Legged Robots, Robot Control.
California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
Pasadena, CA
Joel Burdick - serpentine manipulation, control
Carnegie Mellon University (CMU)
The Robotics Institute is a 150 person organization that offers
a PhD in Robotics but students from other programs (engineering and
computer science mostly) do research in the Institute as well. Lots
of mobile robot work, computer integrated manufacturing, rapid
prototyping, sensors, vision, navigation, learning and architectures.
Program is taking a set of qualifiers and a program of research
leading to a thesis and the degree.
Facilities include about a dozen mobile systems with more under
design and construction. Many manipulator systems and lots of
compute cycles/person. Faculty include:
Takeo Kanade - Vision and Autonomous Systems Center
Pradeep Khosla - Advanced Manipulator Laboartory
Matt Mason - Manipulation Laboratory
Tom Mitchell - Learning Robots Lab
Hans Moravec - Mobile Robots Lab
Mel Seigel - Sensors Laboratory (non vision)
Steve Shafer - Calibrated Imaging Laboratory
Red Whittaker - Field Robotics Center
and many others.....
Graduate program contact:
Graduate Admissions Coordinator
The Robotics Institute
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Cornell
Ithaca, NY
Mechanical Engineering
Sam Landsberger
Jeff Koechling
Bruce Donald
Harvard
Roger Brockett
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science both have strong
robotics efforts. Asada, Slotine, Brooks, Raibert and others
are known and respected for their work in direct-drive arm, control
techniques, architectures, running machines etc.
New York University (NYU)
Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences.
Richard Wallace - vision
North Carolina State Univerisity
Raleigh, NC
Professor Ren Luo
919.515.5199
Purdue
Avi Kak: Vision and mobile robots
Antti Koivo: Manipulation
Mirek Skibiniewski: Construction Robotics
Rennsalear Polytechnic Institute (RPI)
Center for Intelligent Robotic Systems for Space Exploration (CIRSSE)
George Saridis
Arthur Sanderson
Jon Wenn
Appro. 20 PhD and 30 MS students working in the center. Path
planning and multi-arm control are current focus.
Stanford University
Palo Alto, CA
Mechanical Engineering:
Bernard Roth (kinematics of manipulators)
Mark Cutkosky: destrous manipulation and concurrent manufacturing
Larry Liefer (rehabilitation, user interfaces)
CS Department:
Nils Nilsson
Mike Genesereth
Jean-Claude Latombe (path planning and geometric reasoning)
Leo Guibas (geometric reasoning)
Tom Binford (vision)
Yoav Shoham (agents)
Oussama Khatib
Aerospace Robotics Laboratory:
Bob Cannon (teleoperation, free flyers, space robotics,
flexible manipulators)
University of California at Berkeley
Faculty in Robotics at UC Berkeley
Dept. of EE&CS:
Prof. J. Canny: motion planning
Prof. R. Fearing: tactile sensing, dextrous manipulation
Prof. J. Malik: computer vision
Prof. S. Sastry: multi-fingered hands, control
Dept. of Optometry/EE&CS:
Prof. L. Stark: telerobotics
Dept. of Mechanical Engineering:
Prof. R. Horowitz: control of robotic manipulators
Prof. H. Kazerooni: man-robotic systems
Prof. M. Tomizuka: control of robotic manipulators
Richard Muller - micro mechanisms
University of Kansas
Space Technology Center (Telerobotics)
University of Kentucky
Center for Robotics and Manufacturing Systems
(founded 1990)
University of Massachusetts
Laboratory for Perceptual Robotics
Computer Science Department
Faculty:
Rod Grupen
Robin Popplestone
The lab is equipped with two General Electric P-50 robots, two GE
A4s, a Zebra Zero, and a Denning mobile platform. In addition, the
P-50s are fitted with a 4-fingered Utah/MIT and a 3-fingered
Stanford/JPL* dexterous hand, respectively. The lab includes
VxWorks distributed VME controllers and an experimental real-time
kernel (Spring kernel). Research conducted at the lab includes:
o controller composition for coordinating multiple robots
o grasp planning
o geometric reasoning for robust assembly & fine motion control
o learning for admittance control & path optimization
o biological models of motor planning
o proprioceptive, tactile, & visual model acquisition
o trajectory planning, coarse reaching
o state-space decomposition
The laboratory also engages in collaborative research with the
Computer Vision (A. Hanson, E. Riseman, directors) and Adaptive
Networks (A. Barto, director) groups within the department.
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI
Elec. Eng. and CS, relevant to robotics
includes machine vision, systems and control, multiple cooperating
agents (arms and mobile), and application of SOAR to robots (arms and
mobile). (in conjunction with SOAR groups at CMU and elsewhere)
Contacts: Johann Borenstein <johann_borenstein@um.cc.umich.edu>
Yorem Koren <yorem_koren@um.cc.umich.edu>
University of Pennsylvania.
UPenn offers Masters and PhD programs in Robotics and Robotics related
fields of study. These programs are offered through the Departments of
Computer and Information Science, Systems Engineering, and Mechanical
Engineering and Applied Mechanics. The bulk of the robotics research
is conducted in the inter-disciplinary General Robotics and Active
Sensory Perception (GRASP) laboratory. Active areas of research are
Telerobotics, Multiple Arm Control, Robotic Vision, Learning Control,
Multi-agent Robotics and Mechanical Design. Leading Faculty members
are Drs. R. Bajcsy and R.P. Paul.
University of Southern California (USC)
USC has a new MS Program called: Master of Science in Computer
Science with specialization in Robotics & Automation
Beginning in Fall, 1993, this new MS program seeks to prepare
students for a career in the application of Computer Science to
design, manufacturing, and robotics. It also serves as an
introduction to this area for students who wish to pursue advanced
studies and research leading to a Ph.D. A major goal is to produce
a steady stream of graduates who are qualified to tackle challenging
problems in the development of software for CAD/CAM (Computer-Aided
Design and Manufacturing) and robotics.
There is a strong focus on designing and building within the
program Exposure to the practical aspects (and difficulties) of
robotics and automation is strongly encouraged through laboratory
work, and an optional thesis, conducted in collaboration with
industry and research laboratories.
For additional information, a complete set of degree requirements,
and application materials, contact our Student Coordinator:
Ms. Amy Yung
Computer Science Department
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0781
tel: 213.740.4499
net: <amy@pollux.usc.edu>
Faculty include:
George Bekey : Assembly planning, design for assembly,
neural nets for robot control, autonomous robots.
Ken Goldberg : Motion planning, grasping, machine learning.
Sukhan Lee : Assembly planning, sensor-based manipulation.
Gerard Medioni: Computer vision.
Ramakant Nevatia: Computer vision.
Keith Price: Computer vision.
Aristides Requicha: Geometric modeling, geometric uncertainty,
planning for manufacture and inspection
About twenty other faculty member associated with the Institute for
Robotics and Intelligent Systems and many others associated with
USC's Information Sciences Institute (ISI).
Brochure can be obtained from:
Ken Goldberg, Asst Professor
IRIS, Dept of Computer Science
Powell Hall Room 204
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0273
Internet: goldberg@usc.edu
University of Maryland
Space Systems Laboratory. Facilties include a large neutral bouyancy tank,
and a number of free-flying teleoperators used underwater in the
NBT. Much teleoperations research.
Dave Akin - director
Dave has flown shuttle experiments and his research is in the areas
of teleoperation, control, man-machine interaction and is one of the
very few in the robotics community to fly hardware in space.
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Mechanical Engineering & Electrical Engineering:
Roland Chin - machine vision, pattern recognition
Neil Duffie - teleoperation, autonomous systems, sensors
Robert Lorenz - actuators and sensors, robot control algorithms
Vladimir Lumelsky - motion planning, real-time sensing and navigation
Computer Science:
Charles Dyer - machine vision
Wisconsin Center for Space Robotics and Automation (WCSAR) -
Interdepartmental NASA center: work is done on various applications
of robotic systems for space.
University of Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah 84112
Steve Jacobsen
Center for Engineering Design
3176 MEB
Hands, manipulators, biomedical applications, teleoperation. Micro
electro-mechanical systems design.
Yale University - Vision and Robotics Group
There is a broad spectrum of research activities in vision and
robotics at Yale. The members of this group include faculty from
Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Psychology, Neuroscience,
and the Yale Medical School. Active areas of research include
machine vision, humanand computer object recognition, geometric
reasoning, mobile robotics, sensor-based manipulation, control of
highly dynamic nonlinear systems, planning, and learning. There is
also a wide spectrum of interdisciplinary work integrating robotics
and machine vision.
Faculty:
James S. Duncan: Geometric/physical models for analysing biomedical
images.
Gregory D. Hager: Sensor-based/task-directed decision-making and
planning.
David J. Kriegman: Model-based object recognition, mobile robot
navigation.
Drew McDermott: Planning and scheduling reactive behavior, knowledge
representation, cognitive mapping.
Eric Mjolsness: Neural network approaches to vision and visual
memory.
Pat Sharpe: Computational models of hippocampal spatial learning.
Michael J. Tarr: Behavioral and computational approaches to visual
cognition.
Kenneth Yip: Automated reasoning about complex dynamical systems.
CANADA------------
McGill University
Department of Biomedical Engineering
3775 University Street
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
H3A 2B4
Faculty: Ian Hunter and John Hollerbach
Interests include: Master-slave manipulators for precise surgery
University of Alberta
Center for Machine Intelligence and Robotics
UNITED KINGDOM--------------
Bristol Polytechnic, UK
Mr Khodlebandelhoo
Bi arm research
Path planning for redundant robots
Wall climbing robots
Hull University, UK
Prof Alan Pugh
Garment Manufacturing
Arm/controller design
University of Oxford
Robotics Research Group
The Robotics Group currently comprises about seventy academics,
postdoctoral research staff, overseas visitors, and graduate
students. A broad range of topics in advanced robotics is studied
in collaboration with industry and government establishments
throughout Europe.
Robot Design and Control
A number of projects are concerned with the design and control of
compliant robot arms.
Parallel Architectures
Real-time sensor-based control of systems such as robot vehicles is
a topic of increasing interest. For low bandwidth sensors such
sonar, the emphasis is on Transputer architectures. For high
bandwidth sensors such as vision, hybrid SIMD/MIMD architectures are
being developed. A rapidly growing effort is concerned with the
design, implementation, and application of neural networks. Digital
and hybrid digital/analog chips have been designed and are being
fabricated. Algorithms and TTL circuits have been constructed for
text-to-speech synthesis.
Vision and Active Vision
The theory and applications of vision accounts for approximately
one-third of the laboratory's effort. Current projects include edge
detection and texture segmentation and the computation of visual
motion by a parallel algorithm that estimates the optic flow field.
Sensors and Sensor Integration
Includes laser rangefinder development in addition to analog and
digital sonar sensors, as well as infrared rangers, have been
developed for the AGV project (below).
Autonomous Guided Vehicles
Work on a research prototype of a fielded industrial AGV cuts across
many of the separate themes of the laboratory's work. The goal of
the initial project is to equip the AGV with sonar, infrared, laser
ranging, trinocular stereo, and model-based vision sensors to enable
it to avoid unexpected obstacles and to locate pallets.
Reading University, UK
Prof Kevin Warwick
Using neural nets in robotics and novel control algorithms.
Salford University
Dr D.P.Barnes
Dept. Of Electrical and Electronic Engineering.
Mobile Robots Research Group.
Autonomous mobile robot system with a behaviour-based architecture are
designed and built with the intent to study the processes of
cooperation with and without communication. Such an approach has led
us up a number of paths with present work in behaviour synthesis and
evolutionary robotics. Expertise in: Robotics, Sensors,
Communication, Connectionist Systems, Genetic Algorithms and Genetic
Programming. Possible studies in PhD and MSc work and courses at
undergraduate level.
Dr D.Caldwell
Dept Of Electrical and Electronic Engineering.
Multi-Functional Tactile Sensing and Feedback (Tele-taction)
Tele-presence of an operator with a full mobile robot with two
manipulator arms, stereo vision and sound. Tactile sensing
datagloves are used to control the manipulators and video camera is
used to move head (!). Expertise: Manipulators, Sensors,
Tele-presence. Possible studies at PhD and MSc and courses at
undergraduate level.
Advanced Robotics Research Centre
Ultrasonic wrist sensor for collision avoidance
Controller design
Stereo Vision
Dr Francis Nagy
Speech Control of a Puma-560
Control of an 'Inverted Pendulum'
Miniature tactile sensors
University of Surrey
Mechatronic Systems and Robotics Research Group
contacts:
Prof G A Parker (g.parker@surrey.ac.uk)
John Pretlove (j.pretlove@surrey.ac.uk)
Primary Areas of Research activity:
3D co-ordinate tracking system for robot metrology
Neural networks and expert systems for vision and inspection
Active stereo vision for real-time robot arm guidance
Design of controllable stereo vision systems.
Open architecture Puma controller
Mobile robots
We also offer MSc courses and undergraduate courses in automation,
control, mechanical engineering and CIM.
FRANCE-------------
University of Paris
INRIA (Nice) just started a Phd program in Robotics.
SWITZERLAND--------
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
The Institute of Robotics
Postgrad diploma in Mechatronics
The Institute of Robotics at the Swiss Federal Institute of
Technology (ETH) constitutes about 40 members of staff (including
Ph.D. students). The main research theme is Intelligent Interactive
Mechines. That is to say developing intelligent robots that in
cooperation with man solves difficult tasks. The institute takes
its students from the departments of Electrical Engineering,
Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science. Robotics lectures and
project work is offered to undergraduate students. In addition there
is the "Nachdiplom" in mechatronics (somewhere near a M.Sc.) where
robotics is a central theme. For further details on the "Nachdiplom"
see below. Finally there are about 30 Ph.D. students curently
registered working on a variety of themes and projects. Institute
facilities include: several different robot arms including the in
house developed modular robot arm (MODRO), mobile vehicles including
the in house developed modular mobile robot, walking machines,
supercomputing facilities, dedicated vision and signal processing
hardware, etc.
The head of the group is Professor G. Schweitzer.
Address:
Institute of Robotics
ETH-Center, LEO,
8092 Zurich
Switzerland
tel: (01) 256 35 84 (secretary)
fax: (01) 252 02 76.
The "Nachdiplom" in mechatronics runs over two semesters plus
three months project/thesis work. The lectures covers:
robotics, mobile robotics, micro robots, computer based
kinematics and dynamics of multibody systems, control
theory, magnetic bearings, real time software techniques,
information processing with neural networks, computer
vision, and artificial intelligence. The fees are 2400,-
Swiss Franks, founding is available. Contact:
H.-K. Scherrer
Mechatronics postgraduate course
ETH-Centre, LEO B3
8092 Zurich
Switzerland
net: <scherrer@ifr.ethz.ch>
___________________________________________________________________________
End of part1
--
aka: Kevin Dowling Carnegie Mellon University
tel: (412) 268-8830 The Robotics Institute
adr: nivek@ri.cmu.edu Pittsburgh, PA 15213
--
aka: Kevin Dowling Carnegie Mellon University
tel: (412) 268-8830 The Robotics Institute
adr: nivek@ri.cmu.edu Pittsburgh, PA 15213
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Newsgroups: comp.robotics,news.answers Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!gatech!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!fs7.ece.cmu.edu!honeydew.srv.cs.cmu.edu!crabapple.srv.cs.cmu.edu!cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!nivek From: nivek+@cs.cmu.edu (Kevin Dowling) Subject: comp.robotics Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) part 1/2 Message-ID: <part1_755152846@ri.cmu.edu> Followup-To: poster Summary: This posting contains a list of Frequently Asked Questions and their answers about robotics. It should be read by anyone who wishes to post to the comp.robotics newsgroup Sender: news@cs.cmu.edu (Usenet News System) Supersedes: <part1_751609323@ri.cmu.edu> Nntp-Posting-Host: j.gp.cs.cmu.edu Reply-To: nivek@ri.cmu.edu Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon Date: Mon, 6 Dec 1993 04:40:57 GMT Approved: news-answers-request@mit.edu Lines: 2746