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Submission + - Contradictory dictionary definitions of "robot" causing confusion in US case law (medium.com)

Submitted by Hallie Siegel
Hallie Siegel writes: A new paper covering 60 years of robotics in American case law shows that a growing mismatch between how judges *think* about robots and what contemporary robots can *actually do* is resulting in inconsistent treatment of how robots are dealt with in the courts.

Interestingly, much of this confusion comes down to the definition of the word robot, even though dictionaries definitions often contradict each other. This article presents the case that lawmakers and policy makers need to work more closely with technology experts to develop a more nuanced understanding of robotics, lest new technologies overwhelm our legal systems.

Submission + - How robotaxis might mitigate electric car depreciation (robohub.org)

Submitted by Hallie Siegel
Hallie Siegel writes: Autonomous car expert Brad Templeton argues that we’re in for a period of about 5 years in electric cars where each year's new model is a lot better, and that could be a problem for people trying to sell them. Further exacerbating Moore's Law for cars is that autonomous features (like traffic jam assist) rely heavily on computers. Unfortunately cars cost a lot more than computers or cell phones, so throwing them away before the end of their lifespan is a bit of a problem. How do get over the depreciation problem while autonomous cars and electric cars are going through this period of rapid development? Templeton suggests that a taxi model could be the answer, since use is so much more intense that with a private ownership model, that the cars are likely to wear out before they become worthless from a resale perspective.

Submission + - The state of telepresence: Healthcare and telemedicine (robohub.org)

Submitted by Hallie Siegel
Hallie Siegel writes: Telemedicine can let doctors and nurses check in on patients who might be recovering at home, or monitor people in remote locations where it's hard to access physician services. This article gives an overview of the different systems that are out there, what are some of the legal obstacles, and how various countries are investing in the technology.

Submission + - US navy is planning to launch a squadron of underwater drones by 2020 (robohub.org)

Submitted by Hallie Siegel
Hallie Siegel writes: According to the non-profit Autonomous Undersea Vehicle Applications Center, there are over 250 different configurations of unmanned undersea vehicles (UUVs) in service today. That number is likely to grow in the coming years as the technology improves — note that the US Navy has made UUVs a priority and is planning to launch a whole squadron of them by 2020. Dan Gettinger from the Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College gives us an overview of this technology.

Submission + - Farmer coalition offers $250K prize for blueberry picking robot (robohub.org)

Submitted by Hallie Siegel
Hallie Siegel writes: Having spent many a back breaking hour in deep woods Ontario picking wild blueberries in summer time, I can only imagine the challenge of farming and harvesting these awesome little flavour nuggets. Blueberries are in record demand (probably my son alone accounts for a significant percentage of that!) so it's no surprise, really, that a coalition of farmers has banded together to offer a prize for automated blueberry picking solutions. We've seen competitions and challenges spur innovation in other areas of robotics — think robocar — why not blueberry picking? Can't wait to see the results of this one.

Submission + - Why Tesla's Autopilot and Google's car are entirely different animals (robohub.org) 1

Submitted by Hallie Siegel
Hallie Siegel writes: Developers and futurologists have long talked of two paths to autonomous cars: the incremental path (where autonomous features such as adaptive cruise control, autonomous parking etc are slowly added to make the car increasingly autonomous) and the revolutionary path that abandons the human driver altogether — the Google car approach. Robocar expert Brad Templeton compares Tesla's latest autopilot technology to the approach Google is taking, explaining why some people think autonomous cars are still decades away, while others believe they are just around the corner.

Submission + - What effect will VW's scandal have on robocars? (robohub.org)

Submitted by pRobotika
pRobotika writes: It’s looking bad for Volkswagen, German car manufacturers and possibly even car manufacturers as a whole. But the revelations that VW put software in their cars to deliberately cheat on emissions tests could have even greater repercussions. Robocars’ Brad Templeton looks at the knock-on effect for manufacturers of autonomous vehicles.

Submission + - Morphological computation: The hidden superpower of soft-bodied robots (robohub.org)

Submitted by Hallie Siegel
Hallie Siegel writes: Ever wonder why most robots are built with hard bodies? It's because they are easier to control that way. But now researchers are embracing the complexities of soft bodies, by using their complex dynamics as an asset for solving some of the control computation, instead of using digital computation to solve it. Not surprisingly, many soft robots are inspired by nature. Researcher Helmut Hauser talks about his research in 'morphological computation', including OCTOPUS, a bio-inspired robotic silicon arm.

Submission + - Solar-powered flight for 81 hours: A new endurance world record (robohub.org)

Submitted by Hallie Siegel
Hallie Siegel writes: A team of researchers from ETH Zurich have just set a new endurance record for solar powered flight of an unmanned autonomous aircraft, achieving over four days of solar-powered flight in a range of weather conditions. Being able to demonstrate more than 24 hours of endurance is important because overcast skies can inhibit recharging and poor weather or high winds can effect power consumption. Nice achievement for this class of aircraft.

Researchers have long worked on building a solar powered aircraft capable of continuous flight. During the day, with the help of the solar cells that cover its wings, the aircraft collects energy from the sun in order to power the propulsion and control systems while any surplus power charges the battery. During the night, the batteries take over powering the propulsion and control systems, slowly discharging until the next morning when a new cycle begins.

Submission + - Beyond safety: Is robotic surgery sustainable? (robohub.org)

Submitted by Hallie Siegel
Hallie Siegel writes: The release last week of the study on adverse events in robotic surgery led to much discussion on the safety and effectiveness of robotic surgical procedures. MIT Sloane's Matt Beane argues that while the hope is that this dialogue will mean safer and more effective robotic procedures in the future, the intense focus on safety and effectiveness has compromised training opportunities for new robotic surgeons, who require many hours of “live” surgical practice time to develop their skills. Beane says that robotic surgery will likely continue to expand in proportion to other methods, given that it allows fewer surgeons to perform surgery with less trauma to the patient, but no matter how safe we make robotic surgical procedures, they will become a luxury available to a very few if we fail to address the sustainability of the practice.

Submission + - When do robocars become cheaper than standard cars? (robohub.org)

Submitted by Hallie Siegel
Hallie Siegel writes: With all the extra sensors and technology that have to go into autonomous cars, you'd expect them to cost more. Afterall, autonomous features like park assist and auto lane changing are charged as added-value components that you pay extra for. But autonomous car expert Brad Templeton thinks it could be that the overall cost of autonomous vehicles per mile driven will lower than traditional cars. Not only because features of traditional cars, like dashboards and steering columns, will not be necessary in robocars, but also because autonomous cars are more likely to be shared and constantly in use, rather than sitting in your driveway 90% of the time. Some insightful ideas presented here.

Submission + - Robots appear to raise productivity without causing total work hours to decline (robohub.org)

Submitted by Hallie Siegel
Hallie Siegel writes: We often read about the economic impact of robots on employment, usually accompanied with the assertion that "robots steal jobs". But to date there has precious little economic analysis of the actual effects that robots are already having on employment and productivity. Georg Graetz (Professor of Economics at Uppsala University) and Guy Michaels (Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics) undertook a study of how robots impacted productivity and employment between 1993 and 2007, and found that "industrial robots increase labour productivity, total factor productivity and wages." And while there is some evidence that they reduced the employment of low skilled workers, and, to a lesser extent, middle skilled workers, industrial robots had no significant effect on total hours worked.

This is important because it seems to contradict many of the pessimistic assertions that are presently being made about the impact of robots on jobs.

What I am especially curious about is post 2007 data, however, because it's just in the past few years that we have seen a major shift in industrial robotics to incorporate collaborative robots, or co-robots. ie. Robots specifically designed to work alongside humans, as tools for augmenting human performance. One might reasonably suspect that some of the negative impact of industrial robotics on low and middle skilled workers pre 2007 could be offset by the more recent and increasing use of co-bots, which are not designed to replace humans, but instead to make them more efficient.

I sincerely hope that Graetz and Michaels continue in their line of research to look at the more recent phenomenon of collaborative robotics. The field is moving so quickly now, and technologically speaking, eight years is a long time. Yet with so much speculation out there about the impact of robots on employment, it's critical that we acquire more empirical data so that correct taxation, education and social policies can be developed.

Submission + - Solar powered autonomous flight completes full day/night cycle; 28 hrs w/o fuel! (robohub.org)

Submitted by Hallie Siegel
Hallie Siegel writes: Researchers have long worked on building a solar powered aircraft capable of continuous flight. The general idea seems achievable enough: during the day, with the help of the solar cells that cover its wings, the aircraft collects energy from the sun in order to power the propulsion and control systems while any surplus power charges the battery. During the night, the batteries take over powering the propulsion and control systems, slowly discharging until the next morning when a new cycle begins.

To actually pull it off has required a fair bit of innovation in flexible solar cells, high energy density batteries, miniaturized MEMS and CMOS sensors, and powerful processors ... but researchers at ETH Zurich have just recently managed to keep their unmanned UAV aloft for 28 hours without any fuel, building on their previous record by over an hour. Having more than 24 hours of endurance is important because overcast skies can inhibit recharging and poor weather or high winds can effect power consumption.

Really nice accomplishment from the folks at the AtlantikSolar project — we're looking forward to their next goal, which is to achieve 80 hours of endurance flight. Now that would be something.

Submission + - Are tethers the answer to the safety issues of follow-me drone technology? (robohub.org)

Submitted by Hallie Siegel
Hallie Siegel writes: Camera-equipped follow-me drone technology is hitting the scene in spades, promising extreme sports enthusiasts and others amazing aerial shots. Imagine, your own dynamic tripod that follows you on command. But what about the safety issue of having follow-me drones crowding the ski slopes? The tethered Fotokite addresses these concerns while sidestepping FAA regulations.

Submission + - EU launches world's largest civilian robotics program; 240,000 new jobs expected (robohub.org)

Submitted by Hallie Siegel
Hallie Siegel writes: The European Commission and 180 companies and research organisations (under the umbrella of euRobotics) have launched the world’s largest civilian research and innovation programme in robotics. Covering manufacturing, agriculture, health, transport, civil security and households, the initiative – called SPARC – is the EU’s industrial policy effort to strengthen Europe’s position in the global robotics market (€60 billion a year by 2020). This initiative is expected to create over 240,000 jobs in Europe, and increase Europe’s share of the global market to 42% (a boost of €4 billion per year). The European Commission will invest €700 million and euRobotics will invest €2.1 billion.

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