10 Robots Changing The World
Driverless cars are just the beginning. Take a look at the robots we will depend on for health, work, and entertainment.
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Image: The concept Audi driverless car created for the movie I, Robot.
Self-driving cars get all the press. But there are lots of autonomous systems navigating the physical world, and more to come.
"The smart machine era will be the most disruptive in the history of IT," David Cearley, vice president & Gartner Fellow, declared recently. One in three jobs will be converted to software, robots, and smart machines by 2025, Gartner predicts.
Driving this phenomenon are improvements in hardware and software, including a profusion of fast and affordable sensors, wireless networks including short-range networks for machine-to-machine communications, GPS and other positioning technologies, machine vision, and machine learning.
Two important software platforms for autonomous, moving systems are Continuous Activity Scheduling Planning Execution and Re-planning (CASPER) and Control Architecture for Robotic Agent Command and Sensing (CARACaS), both from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Tying all this together for consumer systems -- NASA already has its Mars rover program -- will require huge amounts of engineering and testing. And there remain valid questions about autonomous systems and public safety.
Plus, as is usually the case, marketplace adoption for these systems might happen more slowly than advocates predict.
Take driverless cars. Based on the history of vehicle technologies, fully-autonomous vehicles might be available for sale and legal to drive on public roads by 2020, but they'll undoubtedly be costly and so represent a small fraction of vehicle sales.
By the 2040s, "autonomous vehicles will represent approximately 50% of vehicle sales, 30% of vehicles, and 40% of all vehicle travel," the Victoria Transport Policy Institute forecasted last year.
In the meantime, plenty of organizations are charting how autonomous cars will make their way out of R&D and onto the nation’s roads and highways. Last May, The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration produced a policy concerning vehicle automation, including its plans for research on related safety issues and recommendations for states related to the testing, licensing, and regulation of autonomous vehicles.
The NHTSA has come up with four levels of vehicle automation:
Level 1: Automation of specific control functions. These include cruise control, lane guidance, and automated parallel parking. Drivers are fully engaged and responsible for overall vehicle control, with hands on the steering wheel and foot on the pedal at all times.
Level 2: Combined function automation. This involves automating multiple and integrated control functions, such as adaptive cruise control with lane centering. Drivers are responsible for monitoring the roadway and are expected to be available for control at all times, but under certain conditions can take their hands off the steering wheel and foot off the pedal.
Level 3: Limited self-driving automation. Drivers can cede all safety-critical functions under certain conditions and rely on the vehicle to monitor for changes in those conditions that will require transition back to driver control. Drivers are not expected to constantly monitor the roadway.
Level 4: Full self-driving automation. Vehicles can perform all driving functions and monitor roadway conditions for an entire trip, and so may operate with occupants who cannot drive and without human occupants.
Of course, driverless cars aren't the only automated systems on the horizon, or even necessarily the most interesting. Click through our slideshow to see what other automated wonders are already here or coming soon.
Which of these systems are you most eager to see rolling, walking, or flying around the world? Let us know in the comments below.
The line between remote control and autonomy can be blurry. Take the uPoint Multi-Robot Control (MRC) system announced in October by iRobot Corp., the company best known for its Roomba line of autonomous vacuums. uPoint MRC, a universal control system for iRobot's line of defense and security robots, combines elements of autonomous direction with an Android-based app for operator remote control. The system will go on sale in the second quarter of 2015.
Source: iRobot
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), has upped its latest robotics challenge. For the 2015 finals in Pomona, Calif., in June, robots will not only need to drive a car but exit the vehicle and then deal with challenges common at the site of a disaster, such as lifting debris, turning off valves, and cutting through walls. A $2 million prize will be awarded to the team that best demonstrates human-supervised robot technology for disaster response.
Source: DARPA
Healthcare is a major magnet for robotics development. Panasonic's Resyone robotic bed, which lifts a patient, recently become the first to be certified under the new global safety standard for service robots, ISO13482. Besides the Resyone, Panasonic is developing a drug-dispensing robot and another robotic delivery cart for transporting food, clothing, and medicine.
Source: Panasonic
The Navy envisions swarms of unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) being used to form a defensive perimeter around larger ships and to surround enemy ships. The August test by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) involved up to 13 boats, operated either autonomously or by remote control. Interestingly, the ONR said it can automate almost any boat using a combination of sensors, hardware, and software.
Source: YouTube still of autonomous boats protecting a larger vessel courtesy of the Navy.
An emerging category are robots that follow us about, documenting our activities or carrying our stuff. Take Five Elements Robotics' Budgee, a "friendly robot assistant" designed for the elderly and handicapped. The company is reportedly working on a joystick interface, too, for those confined to wheelchairs. Budgee is available for $1,399.
Source: Five Elements Robotics
NASA's Mars rover Curiosity can function autonomously. Last August, for the first time, the rover used autonomous navigation, deciding for itself how to drive safely on Mars. Curiosity successfully drove 10 meters before reaching ground that had not been confirmed safe.
Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The Nixie, a wrist-worn drone that flies off your wrist to take a photo with its built-in camera, is still a concept. But this finalist in Intel's Make It Wearable competition generated some high-flying attention in September, and maybe it will become more than a design idea.
DARPA's Cheetah, already the fastest four-legged robot in the world, now uses a quiet electric motor for its runs and jumps. The metal beast can run at 10 mph, and might eventually reach speeds of 30 mph, according to its MIT developers. Cheetah and other animal-inspired robots are being developed and tested under DARPA's Maximum Mobility and Manipulation (M3) program.
Source: YouTube video still courtesy of MIT News.
While the Google Self-Driving Car project rolls ahead, car makers are racing to add advanced automation features. Take the just-announced Model D from Tesla Motors Inc., which puts a number of autopilot functions -- just short of self-driving -- into its high-end electric car. The autopilot uses forward-mounted radar, along with a camera and system of 12 sensors. With this, and integration with steering, brakes and GPS, the Model D can detect and avoid pedestrians and other vehicles, change lanes, read speed signs, parallel park, and pull into the owner's driveway on its own. The Model D goes on sale in December for about $120,000.
Source: Tesla
While the Google Self-Driving Car project rolls ahead, car makers are racing to add advanced automation features. Take the just-announced Model D from Tesla Motors Inc., which puts a number of autopilot functions -- just short of self-driving -- into its high-end electric car. The autopilot uses forward-mounted radar, along with a camera and system of 12 sensors. With this, and integration with steering, brakes and GPS, the Model D can detect and avoid pedestrians and other vehicles, change lanes, read speed signs, parallel park, and pull into the owner's driveway on its own. The Model D goes on sale in December for about $120,000.
Source: Tesla
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