IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - December 2019 - 130

within the next 50 years as did main-
stream IT and the Internet over the last
half a century" [6]. For some time now, I
have been writing these lines often and
in different forms, and you, the mem-
bers of our Society, know that. In fact, it
is the reason we are IEEE's RAS, because
we know that our topic is there, that it is
big, and that it has come to stay and dis-
rupt the world. Many of you, having
worked in the domain for decades, will
agree; some might smile, and a few
might roll their eyes, but we all are cer-
tain of it. But what we are not so very
sure about is the "when."
To answer this question, the RAS
IAB initiated what will be the biggest
global Delphi Study, "Future of Robot-
ics 2050+" [7], [8]. The study seeks to
question more than 200 worldwide
robotics experts (mostly from our
community) to gain maximum diver-
sity and collect as much input as pos-
sible. Since the kickoff in 2016, several
preparation workshops have been held
at major IEEE RAS conferences, and a
senior advisory committee has been
instantiated, involving Wolfram Bur-
gard, Oussama Khatib, Henrik Chris-
tensen, Raja Chatila, Satoshi Tadokoro

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

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IEEE ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION MAGAZINE

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References
[1] T. Haidegger and D. Boesl, "Industry forum
at ICRA 2019 [Industry Activities]," IEEE
Robot. Autom. Mag., vol. 26, no. 3, pp. 93-94,
2019.
[2] T. Haidegger and D. Boesl, "Looking back
at IROS 2018," IEEE Robot. Autom. Mag., vol.
26, no. 2, pp. 107-108, 2019.
[3] C. Schlenoff, S. Balakirsky, H. Li, F. Ami-
goni, S. Redfield, and A. Downs, "IEEE RAS

standards update [Standards]," IEEE Robot.
Autom. Mag., vol. 26, no. 3, pp. 105-111, 2019.
[4] C. Schlenoff, "IEEE RAS standards update
[Standards]," IEEE Robot. Autom. Mag., vol.
26, no. 2, pp. 109-110, 2019.
[5] C. Schlenoff, "Results of the IEEE RAS
Standards Strategy Meeting," IEEE Robot.
Autom. Mag, vol. 26, no. 1, pp. 105-107, 2019.
[6] D. Boesl and B. Liepert, "4 Robotic Revolu-
tions-Proposing a holistic phase model
describing future disruptions in the evolution
of robotics and automation and the rise of a
new Generation 'R' of robotic natives," in
Proc. IEEE IROS, 2016. doi: 10.1109/IROS
.2016.7759209.
[7] D. Boesl, "A look into the crystal ball: Pre-
dicting the future of robotics [Industrial
Activities]," IEEE Robot. Autom. Mag., vol. 23,
no. 4, pp. 10-19, 2016.
[8] D. Boesl, E. Prassler, and M. Bode, "Propos-
ing a Delphi-study as non-biased alternative
to studies and roadmaps predicting the future
of robotics, automation and A.I.," in Proc.
IEEE Int. Conf. Current Trends Computer,
Electrical, Electronics and Communication
(ICCTCEEC), 2017. doi: 10.1109/CTCEEC.
2017.8455133.
[9] D. Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the
Galaxy. London: Arthur Baker, 1979.

(continued from page 6)

student members of our Society or stu-
dents from developing countries.
Further student-directed initiatives
include our Best Student Paper Awards
and the variety of educational material
we create for the benefit of our young
members. Thus, our Society is doing
a lot for young members, but we are
aware that we can always do more

130

and Dong-Soo Kwon. After being dis-
cussed at this year's IEEE/Robotic
Society of Japan International Con-
ference on Intelligent Robots and
Systems in Macau, China, the ques-
tionnaire has been finalized and is
now ready to be distributed to the
experts. The goal is that, by ICRA
2020, the first round of answers will
have been collected and analyzed so
that the results can be presented in
Paris before the second round starts.
The experts taking part in the study
will be carefully selected, and the list
will be approved by the senior adviso-
ry committee. To learn more about the
Delphi Study, please visit the website
at www.robotics2050.org or contact
me at boesl@ieee.org.

and so are constantly considering
additional ideas. We would be partic-
ularly happy to consider initiatives
coming directly from our young mem-
bers, who may have good ideas about
the best options for their and, thus,
our Society's future.
I end this column with a personal
statement, because this is the last one I

DECEMBER 2019

will write in my role as president of the
RAS. I particularly enjoyed serving you
all, and I truly hope that you viewed
everything my team and I did through-
out the past two years as what we all
aimed for-a positive development of
our Society.
Thank you for your support!
http://www.robotics2050.org
IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - December 2019

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