IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - December 2018 - 122

Are You Moving?
Update your contact information
so you don't miss an issue of this magazine!
Change your address
E-MAIL: address-change@ieee.org
PHONE: +1 800 678 4333 in the United States
or +1 732 981 0060 outside the United States
If you require additional assistance regarding your IEEE mailings,
visit the IEEE Support Center at supportcenter.ieee.org.

122

*

IEEE ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION MAGAZINE

*

december 2018

The robots we envision will not
be "just another technology." They
have the potential to create a radi-
cal transformation in current eco-
nomic structure. This is why robots
inspire concerns, ranging from their
impact on jobs to geopolitical effects.
Instead of fearing them, we should
take this unprecedented opportunity
to advance robotics and AI along
with public policies and social inno-
vations to ensure positive effects on
citizens, the environment, and the
economy. Therefore, in addition to
scientific and technological research,
the Robotics Flagship (Figure  3)
aims to investigate new economic
models and public policies for
wealth production and distribution
with robots at work.
Developing additional technological
abilities would enable robotic applications
in numerous environments, by humans'
side, to address societal and economic
challenges and promote industry growth.
However, reaching this goal presents new
scientific and technological challenges
for fundamental research, requiring in-
terdisciplinary knowledge and investiga-
tions to prove new principles, develop
new solutions, and transform new sci-
ence into new technology.

IMAGE LICENSED BY INGRAM PUBLISHING

values of sustainable develop-
ment, citizen well-being, equal
opportunities, and respect for the
ecosystem and the planet.
Central to the flagship is the
need for new technological abilities
that enable robots to thrive in our
environments, by humans' side, to
address societal and economical
challenges and promote industry
growth. Developing these abilities
presents new scientific and techno-
logical challenges, which require
fundamental interdisciplinary
research, ultimately resulting in
new technologies.
Figure 3. The logo of the Robotics Flagship
The Robotics Flagship aims to
(www.roboticsflagship.eu). FET: future and
● establish a new paradigm that
emerging technologies.
merges biology, materials sci-
ence, and AI to build learning
and collaborative robots that are
In the European Robotics Flagship,
adaptable and can coexist with 1) biology is the inspiration for simpli-
humans
fying principles to deal with a complex
● design those robots so that they
world, 2) materials science is the foun-
seamlessly integrate into the planet's dation for giving the body its proper
life cycle and preserve its resources, role in shaping behavior, 3) AI powers
rather than consume them
new forms of cognitive functions, 4)
● develop and propose new economic
information and communication tech-
and social models for a world of nologies keep all this connected, and
intelligent robots, where social inno- 5) the humanities steer the impact of
vation complements and guides tech- new machines on society in a positive
nological innovation.
way (Figure 2).
http://www.roboticsflagship.eu http://supportcenter.ieee.org
IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - December 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - December 2018
