IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - March 2011 - 2

A Publication of the IEEE ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION SOCIETY
Volume 18, No. 1 March 2011 ISSN 1070-9932 http://www.ieee-ras.org/ram

EDITORIAL BOARD
Editor-in-Chief
Peter Corke
School of Engineering Systems
Queensland University of Technology
Brisbane, Australia

COLUMNS & DEPARTMENTS

4 FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK
6 PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

Associate Editors
Davide Brugali
Universita degli Studi di
Bergamo (Italy)
Raffaella Carloni
University of Twente
(The Netherlands)
Eugenio Guglielmelli
Universita Campus Bio-Medico
di Roma (Italy)

8 RAS FINANCES

You-Fu Li
City University of Hong Kong

12 NEWS AND VIEWS
14 COMPETITIONS

Srikanth Saripalli
Arizona State University (USA)

16 INDUSTRIAL ACTIVITIES

Bram Vanderborght
Vrije Universitaet Brussel (Belgium)

19 ROS TOPICS
21 FROM THE GUEST EDITORS
90 STUDENT'S CORNER
99 INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT

Past Editor-in-Chief
Stefano Stramigioli
University of Twente (The Netherlands)
Industry Editor
Raj Madhavan
NIST and Oak Ridge National
Laboratory (USA)

100 SOCIETY NEWS
106 ERRATA

Video Editor
Jonathan Roberts
CSIRO (Australia)

107 CALENDAR
112 TURNING POINT

Web Editor
Bram Vanderborght
Vrije Universitaet Brussel (Belgium)
COLUMNS
Research/Industry News: Jeanne Dietsch
Adept Mobile Robots, Inc. (USA)
Competitions: William Smart
Washington University
From the Editor's Desk: Peter Corke
ROS Topics: Steve Cousins
Willow Garage (USA)
Education: Andreas Birk
Jacobs University (Germany)
Student Corner: Tamas Haidegger
University of Budapest (Hungary)

IFRR (International Foundation of
Robotics Research): Oussama Khatib
Stanford University
Turning Point: Peter Corke
Editor-in-Chief
IEEE RAS Vice-President
for Publications
Peter Luh
University of Connecticut (USA)
RAM homepage:
http://www.ieee-ras.org/ram
Robotics and Automation
Society Administrator
Rosalyn Graham Snyder
(administrator@ieee-ras.org)
Advertising Sales
Susan Schneiderman
Business Development Manager
Tel: +1 732 562 3946
Fax: +1 732 981 1855
ss.ieeemedia@ieee.org
IEEE Periodicals
Magazines Department
Debby Nowicki
Managing Editor
(d.nowicki@ieee.org)
Janet Dudar
Senior Art Director
Gail A. Schnitzer
Assistant Art Director
Theresa L. Smith
Production Coordinator
Felicia Spagnoli
Advertising Production Manager
Peter M. Tuohy
Production Director
Dawn M. Melley
Editorial Director
Fran Zappulla
Staff Director,
Publishing Operations
IEEE-RAS Membership
and Subscription Information:
+1 800 678 IEEE (4333)
Fax: +1 732 463 3657
http://www.ieee.org/membership_
services/membership/societies/
ras.html

IEEE prohibits discrimination, harassment, and bullying. For more information,
visit http://www.ieee.org/web/aboutus/whatis/policies/p9-26.html.

*
IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine (ISSN 1070-9932) (IRAMEB) is published quarterly by
the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. Headquarters: 3 Park Avenue, 17th Floor,
New York, NY 10016-5997 USA, Telephone: +1 212 419 7900. Responsibility for the content rests
upon the authors and not upon the IEEE, the Society or its members. IEEE Service Center (for
orders, subscriptions, address changes): 445 Hoes Lane, P.O. Box 1331, Piscataway, NJ 08855 USA.
Telephone: +1 732 981 0060. Individual copies: IEEE members $20.00 (first copy only), non-members $96.00 per copy. Subscription rates: Annual subscription rates included in IEEE Robotics and
Automation Society member dues. Subscription rates available on request. Copyright and reprint
permission: Abstracting is permitted with credit to the source. Libraries are permitted to photocopy

IEEE ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION MAGAZINE

MARCH 2011

beyond the limits of U.S. Copyright law for the private use of patrons 1) those post-1977 articles
that carry a code at the bottom of the first page, provided the per-copy fee indicated in the code is
paid through the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923 USA; 2)
pre-1978 articles without a fee. For other copying, reprint, or republication permission, write Copyrights and Permissions Department, IEEE Service Center, 445 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, NJ 08854.
Copyright @ 2011 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. All rights reserved.
Periodicals postage paid at New York and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address
changes to IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine, IEEE, 445 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, NJ 08854
USA. Canadian GST #125634188
PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.

http://www.ieee-ras.org/ram http://www.ieee-ras.org/ram http://www.ieee.org/membership_ http://www.ieee.org/web/aboutus/whatis/policies/p9-26.html

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