Citation
(2009), "RoboDevelopment 2008", Industrial Robot, Vol. 36 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/ir.2009.04936dab.001
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2009, Emerald Group Publishing Limited
RoboDevelopment 2008
Article Type: News From: Industrial Robot: An International Journal, Volume 36, Issue 4
The 2nd Annual RoboDevelopment Conference and Exposition, the international technical design and development event for the personal, service and mobile robotics industry, was held in Santa Clara, CA, on November 18-19, 2008. The RoboDevelopment Conference and Exposition, sponsored by Robotic Trends, is a multifaceted educational forum and trade show dedicated to addressing the technical issues involved with the design and development of commercial robotic products.
The two-day conference program consisted of five keynote presentations by world-renowned leaders, as well as dozens of informative conference sessions in four dedicated tracks: achieving autonomy; enabling technology; systems, design and development; and tools and platforms. These tracks addressed issues that included:
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The state of the art in design and development solutions for the production of robots and robotic technology.
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The functionality requirements and design issues that must be addressed when producing commercial robotics products.
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The latest developments and newest products among enabling robotics technology.
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What emergent technology is coming out of the lab and into the open market that could assist in the development of robotics systems.
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What is required for robots to navigate with minimal human intervention and be able to detect anomalies and deal with them effectively.
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How robots can be designed to manage limited resources, including power and computation, and use them in an efficient manner.
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The languages and operating systems, as well as hardware and software platforms, that can be utilized to optimize the design and development process, as well as deliver robust commercial products.
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How diverse, specialized robotic structures and subfunctions can be integrated to optimize overall system function and achieve maximum compatibility of the parts.
The keynote speakers featured Tandy Trower, the General Manager of Microsoft’s Robotics Group. During his keynote, Trower emphasized Microsoft’s commitment to addressing the growing needs of the emerging robotics community and described the evolution of their successful platform and toolset, Microsoft Robotics Studio.
Sebastian Thrun, Director of the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at Stanford University, gave a keynote presentation entitled, “Making Cars Drive Themselves.” Thrun focused on the fascinating world of robotics cars and the impact that self-driving cars will have on society once the technology has sufficiently matured. Sebastian Thrun led the development of the robotic vehicle, Stanley, which won the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge. The artificially intelligent car traversed 132 miles of desert in less than seven hours, yielding both a $2 million payout and a well-deserved spot in robotics history. His team also developed Junior, which placed second at the DARPA Urban Challenge in 2007.
Maja J. Mataric´, Founding Director of USC’s Center for Robotics and Embedded Systems, delivered the final keynote presentation. Mataric´’s presentation, entitled “Inventing the Future of Socially Assistive Robotics,” explored the vision, challenges, and advancements of socially assistive robotics as a major emerging robotics trend.
Complete event details are available online at www.robodevelopment.com