IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - December 2011 - 9

*
making its way into industrial robotics with hundreds of AGVs deploying Adept Mobile's open navigation
to be installed in short term.
In agriculture, automation promises
a dramatic reduction in waste more than
labor. Certainly, automated tractors and
AGVs increase productivity, but waste
reduction is even more important. For
example, vision-based classification of
orange and apple ripeness fine-tunes
growers' crop forecasts, reducing waste
and shortfalls.
Surveillance, reconnaissance, and
inspection robots such as iRobot's
and Foster Miller's ground robots and
SSI's and Bluefin's submersibles have
broken out of the military market.
Special weapons and tactics (SWAT)
teams, utility line inspectors, EOD
squads, and hazardous cleanup crews
are just a few applications.
The automated ground transport
industry is being aggressively funded
by GM, Toyota, and other automotive
manufacturers; Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)'s
Grand Challenges have demonstrated
viability. Even Google is developing
autonomous vehicle navigation and
its offshoot, street view mapping. Autonomous transport should reach military applications within the decade.
Although self-driving cars have many
safety hurdles to pass, range sensing
and avoidance are becoming commonplace as geotracking in agricultural, mining, industrial, and consumer vehicles.
The use of geotracking increases traceability critical to product safety and
improves throughput. Inebriated driver
lockout, vehicle tracking, and driving-

risk analysis are other examples of
increasing automation to reduce loss of
life or improve business productivity.
We cannot ignore the symbiotic
interaction of hit entertainment products with robotic technologies. The
manufacture of millions of inertial
sensors for the Nintendo Wii interface lowered the price of those sensors,
spurring better proprioception for
mobile robots. Likewise, the Kinect
deploys face-, voice-, and shaperecognition techniques from roboticists and supplies them with modest-priced structured light devices
in exchange. Virtual reality games
were among the first to deploy BCIs.
Aldebaran and Willow Garage's research and education androids have
attracted venture moneys from deeppocketed investors willing to keep
hundreds of roboticists for years
before achieving profitability.
Although one might question the
promise of any one of the examples
cited, how can anyone view the sum
of them as anything but proof that we
are on the verge of an era of unprecedented productivity improvement
and economic growth, thanks to decades of dedication by roboticists and automation engineers.
Employment stagnation occurs during economic growth if the skills of the
available workforce do not match
the needs of the employers. Roboticists and engineers have also led the
way in worldwide workforce education, with the Open Courseware
movement spearheaded by the University of Tuebingen and MIT. Now
robotics torchbearer Sebastian Thrun

along with Peter *
The robotics and
Norvig, in generous partnership
automation
with Stanford
community is
University, has
extended Open
providing both the
Courseware to
meat and the means
a new level. Its
introduction to
for economic growth.
the AI online
*
course includes a
completion certificate and course grade at no charge.
The implications of this concept are
momentous. Realigning workforce capabilities with the ever-changing needs
of employers becomes much more feasible if anyone, anywhere, has access
to certified training.
The robotics and automation community is providing both the meat
and the means for economic growth.
If only our financial and political communities would hold up their end, our
economic future should be anything
but bleak.

Erratum
In the September "News and Views"
column [1], the acronym ABS, which
stands for acrylonitrile butadiene
styrene was incorrectly expanded.
We regret the error and any confusion it may have caused.
[1] J. Dietsch, "Engineering from
prank to product [News and Views],"
IEEE Robot. Automat. Mag., vol. 18,
no. 3, pp. 8-9.

Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MRA.2011.943478
Date of publication: 8 December 2011

Special Issue Call for Papers
IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Publications
IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine
Aerial Robotics and the Quadrotor Platform. Submissions due 22 January, 2012. http://www.ieee-ras.org/issue/
aerial-robotics-and-the-quadrotor-platform.html.
Assistive Robotics. Submissions due 1 March 2012. http://www.ieee-ras.org/issue/assistive-robotics.html
IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering
Micro-Assembly for Manufacturing at Small Scales. Submissions due 15 March 2012. http://www.ieee-ras.org/
issue/micro-assembly-for-manufacturing-at-small-scales.html
Discrete Event Systems for Automation. Submissions due 1 September 2012. http://www.ieee-ras.org/issue/
discrete-event-systems-for-automation.html
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MRA.2011.943504

DECEMBER 2011

IEEE ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION MAGAZINE

http://www.ieee-ras.org/issue/ http://www.ieee-ras.org/issue/assistive-robotics.html http://www.ieee-ras.org/ http://www.ieee-ras.org/issue/

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - December 2011