Prof. Dr. Henrik I. Christensen KUKA Chair of Robotics
Director Robotics and Intelligent Machines Georgia Institute of Technology Robotics: the next transformative technology „Robotics is a set of ideas and technologies that will transform our lives by enabling computers to interact intimately with the physical world. The transformational potential of robotics is already evident. Robots now perform almost all welding and painting tasks in the automotive industry. Robotics is also beginning to impact health care. Telerobotic systems such as the Da Vinci system are performing heart and prostate surgery, resulting in shorter recovery times and more reliable outcomes. The potential in rehabilitation is even greater.” Prof. Naoki Muramatsu Nagoya University
The possibility of gripping technology using buckling phenomenon of long column „Previously, in many cases of the small opening and closing
mechanism, a piezoelectric element has been used as an actuator.
The whole mechanism, however, has tended to become
larger and complicated since it needs a special mechanism for displacement enlargement
because of the infi nitesimal output displacement. So in this study, utilizing
the buckling phenomenon of a long column was tried for the opening and closing
mechanism of the gripper.” Prof. Dr. Axel Gräser Institute of Automation, University of Bremen
90 minutes independence for disabled people by using rehabilitation robots Robotics: the next transformative technology „Severely disabled people (people with tetraplegia, ALS or
similar disabilities) usually need personal care for 24 hours a
day and their chances for a professional live are very limited.
On the other hand, these persons are very interested in temporally independence
from the care giving persons. In the research project AMAROB, several cooperation
partner work together to make this vision come true.” Riccardo Schiavi Faculty of Engineering,
University of Pisa
DAVID – a rover for the moon „Design and development with a very strict deadline of the
mechanics and the control part of the “David”, a vehicle
designed for outdoor exploration, in particular able
to be teleoperated and to work on sand craters.”
Luc Degaudenzi Aldebaran Robotics
Nao – a humanoid robot „Nao is a humanoid robot, with 25 Degrees
of freedom, Inertial sensors, FSRs, sonars, infra-red, sensitive
cap, two cameras, four microphones and two loudspeakers,
connected with WiFi and Ethernet, and is delivered with a full
Software Development kit, including a complete intuitive graphical programming
tool, Choregraphe, and a cross tool chain to develop programs in C++/ Linux for
advanced programming as well.”
Dr. Ioannis Iossifidis Head of the Autonomous Robotics Group, University of Bochum Anthropomorphism as a pervasive design concept for a robotic assistant „The structural characteristics of living organisms are
determined by their environment and the resulting demands
on their behavior. Biological systems exhibit characteristics such as autonomy and
adaptivity, based on a powerful sensor mechanisms fi ltering only relevant signals,
in order to directly generate motor behavior, to control a metabolism, or to build
internal representations of a complex environment.
As a consequence, a robotic system, interacting with humans and sharing a common
working area, has to adapt to its environment and the tasks it has to perform, just
like evolution adapts creatures to their environment and ecological niche.”
Dipl.-Ing. Markus Fritzsche Department of Robotic Systems Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation (IFF) LiSA – a robot with a sense of touch „Safe human-robot interaction, particularly in shared workspaces
in industrial, public and household environments, will
be a key feature of future service robot and assistance systems. While the physical
contact feasible between humans and robots in such scenarios opens new options
for system design and modes of interaction, it also poses a high risk potential for
humans. The robot LiSA is endowed with a novel tactile sensor system that provides
it a sense of touch. Its applications include a collision detection system and a tactile
touch interface for control. The sensor system holds great promise to measure pressure
distributions in numerous nonrobotic applications.”
Dr. Andreas Bley Managing Director MetraLabs GmbH Intelligent interactive mobile service robots – today and tomorrow „As intelligent interactive mobile service robots, especially for
the retail business are able to provide useful services reliably
and autonomously to a large extent now, the robots’ technology, the cooperation
with research institutions, applications for public environments, feedback of the
users and the European project CompanionAble will be presented.”
Dr. Lorenz Kramer Bayer Material Science AG Developments, trends and challenges of materials for mobile robotics „Renowned for its multidisciplinary
approach, robot technology is
created primarily by collaboration
of mechanical, electrical
and software engineers. Up to now, material science
has played only a minor role in these developments.
However, new material contributions
are enhancing the functionality, aesthetics and
acceptance of mobile robots in users’ environments.
Furthermore, unlike their factory fl oor ancestors,
the eventual ubiquity of service robots in everyday life necessitates
the thoughtful consideration of how robots look, feel
and even smell in order to cohabit with humans.”
Dipl.-Ing. Martin Hägele M.S. Head of Department of Robotic Systems Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing, Engineering and Automation (IPA) From industrial robots to service robots: markets, research and product visions „In the early 90ies service robot designs started to emerge in
the called professional service domains such as fl oor cleaning, inspection, security,
transportation, and medicine. Meanwhile more some 200 companies are reported to
develop and produce service robots worldwide.
There is an obvious cross-fertilization between industrial and service robotics. Examples
are advances components such as autonomous mobile platforms, light-weight
arms, dextrous grippers, 3D sensors for object recognition and localization, safety
sensors, and man-machine interfaces..”
Dr. Uwe L. Haass General Manager CoTeSys
Technische Universität München Cognitive technologies pave the way for a new generation of robots „Coordinated by Technische Universität München (TUM),
CoTeSys is a unique collaboration of scientists, at leading
research institutions in Munich. The Cluster of Excellence “CoTeSys - Cognition for
Technical Systems” is to bring cognition into technical systems so that they can act
in an unpredictable physical world. CoTeSys’ technical demonstrators are to work in
highly dynamic factory and household environments and execute complex activities
together with human beings.”
Prof. Marco Ceccarelli Laboratory of Robotics and Mechatronics
University of Cassino A new challenging application for service robots: problems and experiences at LARM „One of the most challenging activity in robotics consists of
looking for new designs and new applications for robots and
robotics systems. New fi elds of applications are characterized by specifi c requirements
that existing robot solutions may not be able to fulfi ll. New applications
are often related to new potential users, who may have not suitable technical
background and attitude for operating robots in their professional tasks. New robot
applications are today mainly focused on service robots and medical assistance
robots. One of the main problems consists in developing design solutions and operation
modes of robots that can be accepted and used optimally by new users.”
Dr. James English President and Chief Technical Officer
Energid Technologies Configurable Manipulation and Grasping „The ability to easily change hardware allows a robot to be
matched to a problem. Energid provides software tools for
enabling and supporting fast hardware changes, from the
earliest stages of design to fi elded application. A software
technique will be shown that works with any number of cooperating fi xed-base or
mobile robotic manipulators, with each having any kind of joint and any number of
constraints.”
Eric BayrhammerFraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation
and Automation (IFF) Applying virtual engineering in the development of modular robots „Virtual engineering furnishes opportunities to shorten the time
required to develop a product and to validate and enhance its
quality. The prerequisite to this is the expertise and tools for an integrated development
process, extending from planning, modeling, simulation and animation up
through implementation, validation, optimization and production. The Virtual
Engineering Expert Group at the Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and
Automation IFF has the requisite know-how and resources and develops appropriate
tools. The results of an ongoing project utilizing SCHUNK drive modules to plan, size,
simulate and commission modular robots in a virtual environment exemplify the
Virtual Engineering Expert Group’s work.”
Martin Wojtczyk Department of Informatics
Technische Universität München Safe design of service robots „Both robots and Personal computers established new markets
about 30 years ago and were enabling factors in automation
and information technology. However, while you can
see personal computers in almost every home nowadays, the domain of robots in
general still is mostly restricted to industrial automation. Due to the physical impact
of robots, a safe design is essential, which most robots still lack of and therefore
prevent their application for personal use.”
Dr. Marc Toussaint Head of the Machine Learning and Robotics group at the IDA lab University of technology Berlin Learning in autonomous robots - the new challenges for machine learning research „Machine Learning is a research fi eld concerned with automatic
learning from data and has, in the last 2 decades, achieved extraordinary successes
on applications such as automatic gene sequencing, speech recognition, and image
understanding. The data that arises from articulate, haptic and visual interaction
with the real world is extremely complex and, to date, the human abilities for
motion planning, object manipulation and scene understanding are unrivaled by
AI methods. To make progress on these problems, researchers need to confront
themselves with such real-world data, and they need standardized robotic research
platforms to progress the fi eld.”
Gernot Kronreif PROFACTOR Research and Solutions GmbH
Robot and play for education and therapy „Playing is an important part of daily life interactions as well
as a substantial and joyful part in the life of children. It can
be relaxing, exciting - children can play a role and it is an
important possibility to get in touch with other children. On
the other hand, disabled children have limited possibilities for
interaction with social and material environment. Main focus is on two particular
projects: PlayROB which is a robot system assisting severe handicapped children for
playing with LEGO bricks, and IROMEC which is a EC-funded project dealing with an
interactive robot system for play scenarios in education and therapy.”
M.Sc. Christopher Parlitz Department of Robotic Systems
Fraunhofer Institut for Manufacturing, Engineering and Automation (IPA) Robotic home assistant “Care-O-bot”: A case study „The development of a mobile robot assistant Care-O-bot® to
help humans in the home is a long-time development goal of
Fraunhofer IPA. The fi rst Care-O-bot® prototype was developed as early as 1998.
Home assistants don’t only allow people who need care and support to remain
independent for a longer time in their familiar surroundings, but they also represent
an enrichment of day-to-day life for everyone. Care-O-bot® 3 is the latest generation
of a successful development series. As a vision of a future household product it
unites numerous innovations in the area of control, sensors and kinematics.”
* Preliminary list of speakers. Changes may occur. |
