May 2,  2006 - Robotics Job Opportunity

Dear Richard, 
We are currently helping a client fill the following position:

Position: Automation Software Engineer - Richardson, TX [4299], 
Job Id: 4299 
Job Location: Richardson, TX 
Job Type: Employee


Description:
Our client is small but rapidly growing manufacturing company. They are currently seeking an Automation Software Engineer. This individual is responsible for maintaining current and developing new system control software for products. Responsibilities include:
- Identify, specify, architect, develop, test, integrate, and support software control system & software user interface (UI) for existing manipulation/robotics system products.
- Responsible for automation software of manipulation/ robotics system products.

This person will work with other Software Engineers serving primarily in a hands-on technical role generating revenue through aggressive product development, and secondarily, helping to secure new business via application development with process engineers & scientists.

To qualify, you must have a BS in Engineering, Computer Science, Math or other related field from an accredited university. MS preferred. 7+ years of product development and support experience in automation & robotics system solutions required. Advanced knowledge of C#, .NET and C++ is required along with a broad skill set and experience in software & control system architecture. Motion control and vision analysis experience is preferred. You must also have the following required skills:

Knowledge of applications and associated manufacturing techniques for manufacturing automation systems
Experience developing and managing suppliers/vendors
Ability to quickly learn new technical concepts
Ability to work within a project plan, adhering to the plans goals and milestones
US citizenship or Permanent Residency is required for this position
Fluently speak, read and write English
Good technical communication skills both writing and speaking
Basic skill level using Word, Excel, & PowerPoint
Exercise reasonable judgment (without supervision)
Detail-oriented
Organized
Self-starter
Team player

The Company offers a competitive compensation and benefits package, including medical and dental insurance, stock options, incentive compensation, 401k and more. 


******************* 

If you or anyone you know are interested and feel you are qualified for this position, please contact us by sending a copy of your resume in WORD format. 

We hope to hear from you,

Stephanie

March 10,  2006 - Liquid water on Saturn moon Enceladus may well support life

The most exciting discovery imaginable. We should send a robotic spacecraft to investigate as soon as possible. Can someone please tell GW Bush that we've already sent people to the moon? He must not be aware of that because he's making a big deal of his plans to send people to the moon. That's diverting much-needed funding that should go to robotic missions.

February 17,  2006 - Job Opportunity - Interested candidates please send a resume to  jennie.gardino@framatome-anp.com

First let me thank you for your site - I personally have learned more about telerobotics (and robotics) in the last hour on your web site then I thought I would ever know and understand. 

Second - the reason I was looking to begin with is that I have been asked to help source candidate for a 
Telerobotics Tooling Engineer opening. (I have put the details below.) I'm assuming with your network that occasionally people asked you for career leads - I would hope you would be willing to pass the below information along in that case. It would be much appreciated. 

Telerobotics Tooling Engineer

Framatome ANP (Advanced Nuclear Power), an AREVA and Siemens Company, is the world's premier nuclear supplier. Framatome ANP's focus includes comprehensive engineering, instrumentation and control, nuclear services, heavy component manufacture, modernization, fuel assemblies for many reactor designs, and the development and construction of nuclear power plants and research reactors.

We are looking for a Tooling Specialist to design machined and welded components for complex Tele-Robotics systems in our CR&R organization in Lynchburg Va. This team provides turn-key component design, replacement and remediation services for nuclear power plant primary system components. Engineers will perform machine tooling design and equipment design used in the replacement of RV Heads, Steam generators and other primary system components. The selected individual will be responsible for the entire life cycle of the tooling, from concept, detailed specification, design, testing through implementation into remote, hazardous locations. Design cycles have very short lead times. This design engineer will work on exciting, multi-million dollar design projects and emergent work using 3D modeling techniques to design detailed tooling and machined equipment used in telerobotics and TWS systems. Design projects vary according to customer needs and are typically first-of-a-kind projects. Candidate must be able to design tools that are leak proof, corrosion resistant, etc… for remote hazardous locations. 

Engineer must travel to utility customers during implementation of equipment and tooling during outage seasons, so qualified candidate must be able to obtain access to nuclear facilities. Travel can be up to 4 weeks at a time, usually in the spring and outage seasons. Engineer may be called to site to address any issues that are encountered with their equipment. 

Requirements: B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering OR Mechanical Engineering Technology required with min. of 5 yrs relevant design experience in 3D CAD Modeling and machined tooling design. Prefer candidate that has SolidWorks 3D CAD Modeling experience. Design experience for robotic applications ideal. Must be able to provide examples of 3D CAD drawings. Geometric dimensional tolerancing knowledge required and experience with machining and welding processes preferred. 

Interested candidates should submit resume with “ToolingEng” in subject line to:

February 6,  2005 - Job Opportunity - Interested candidates please send a resume in Word format to sdwyer@automationtechies.com

Position: Applications Engineer - Any TX Location, 
Job Id: 4229 
Job Location: Dallas, TX 
Job Type: Employee

Our client is a distributor and value added reseller of Industrial Automation Products. They are currently seeking an Applications Engineer to support their sales of Robotics and Motion Control products. 

Candidates should have at least a 2-year technical degree and 5 years of work experience, or a 4-year technical degree and 3 years of work experience. Experience working in a similar role is a plus. 

The job will be based out of Dallas, TX, however we will take applicants from elsewhere in Texas since the customer base will require traveling throughout the state.

December 21,  2005 - Passfaces

This company has a pretty cool idea to add an additional layer of security to traditional login and password user verification. I recommend giving it a try at the above link by clicking the "Try Passfaces." It's kind of fun. The system makes use of our brain's natural ability to recognize faces. Basically, you pick your passfaces out of a crowd to verify your identity. There are a lot of benefits to this approach. You can't write your passfaces down, you can't tell them to someone else, they can't be phished and they are very hard to steal.

December 18,  2005 - These Technicians Are Better Than Robots

Japan is turning to hyper-skilled supaa ginosha, or super technicians, to preserve its manufacturing edge 

Behind the locked doors of a Sharp Corp. (SHCAY ) factory in the central Japanese city of Nara, Rina Masuda spends her days at a task most people would find both mind-numbing and infuriating. With the searing tip of a soldering iron, she guides droplets of molten metal on a circuit board to the edges of a microchip. In less than a minute she has the chip standing on dozens of tiny metal legs separated by a hair's breadth to keep electrons flowing smoothly. Masuda's job seems at odds with the bank of machines just a few yards away that spit out hundreds of circuit boards every hour. Yet Masuda doesn't fear losing her job to automation, at least not until the equipment is as precise as she is. When the machines botch a job, she's called in to fix up the chips. "The soldering I do by hand is far superior to anything the machines can do," says the 33-year-old.

August 20,  2005 - Entertainment & Humanoid Robots

I recently had a question about entertainment and humanoid robots in the US. It seemed to me that most entertainment robots in the movies these days were computer-generated. For actual and physical entertainment robots, I bet the Disney imagineers do it as well as anyone.

As for humanoid robots, I'm not sure who is working on that kind of beast. Maybe Rodney Brooks at MIT? Marshall Brain certainly talks about them. I don't know if he is building any of them.

Anyone out there with information, links, contacts, etc. about entertainment or humanoid robots in the US, please send it in and I will be happy to post it.

July 26,  2005 - Motion Control Is Robotics - Job Opening

Dear Richard:
We are currently helping a client fill the following position:

Position: Motion Controls Engineer , 
Job Id: 3926 
Job Location: Dallas, TX 
Job Type: Employee


Description: 
Our client is a Systems Integrator based in Texas, with offices around the country. They are looking for a controls engineer with extensive experience in a variety of motion control platforms. 

-BS Degree in Engineering 
-Wonderware/ControlLogix/Allen Bradley-SERCOS Motion 
-experience with Kinetix SERCOS would be a plus. 
-Interpersonal skills and project management is a big plus. 

When applying please list the different types of motion controllers, servos, or steppers you have experience with. 


******************* 

If you or anyone you know are interested and feel you are qualified for this position, please contact us by sending a copy of your resume in WORD format. 

We hope to hear from you,

Kristy

July 23,  2005 - Robot Camel Jockeys "I almost could not believe it"

The robots were developed after the United Arab Emirates Camel Racing Association banned the use of jockeys under the age of 16 in March 2004 (they increased the age limit to 18 in July 2005). It may sound crazy, but if it is helping to keep children out of dangerous situations, then I'm all for it. Human operators carrying handheld radio units, in a convoy of sports utility vehicles, following ten camels each with a remote-controlled mechatronic jockey must have been something to see. I wish I had been at that racetrack in Abu Dubai.

July 3,  2005 - "Robotics Job Opening"

Rich, I need a software engineer who understands robotics. We make semiconductor process systems that employ servo motors and some pneumatics to process and handle the wafers. We are located in Northern New Jersey and I need a good reliable guy. Can you help. To see what we do visit our web site at www.s-cubed.com Thank you. Gary Hillman 973-263-0640

Dear Richard, 
We are currently helping a client fill the following position:

Position: Manufacturing Process Engineer-TX8802, 
Job Id: 3881 
Job Location: El Paso, TX 
Job Type: Employee


Description: Manage and participate in new technology development and automation projects targeted to support corporate key initiatives. Work closely with R&D, Technology Development, and Software Engineering team members to develop and deploy state of the art production manufacturing equipment. Design process control strategies to support quality improvement goals and objectives using SPC and Six Sigma methodologies. Maintain and support daily production equipment uptime requirements. Works on significant and unique issues where analysis of situations or data requires an evaluation of intangibles. Exercises independent judgment in methods, techniques and evaluation criteria for obtaining results. Contacts pertain to significant matters often involving coordination among groups. 

REQUIREMENTS 
-BS in Electrical or Mechanical Engineering 
-7+ years hands on experience directly related to state of the art Machine, Robotic and Material Handling Automation in R&D or Production Engineering. 
-5+ years experience managing automation related projects. 
-1-3 years SPC / Six Sigma training and experience with Six Sigma Green Belt preferred. 
-Robotic Programming 
-Experience working with minimal supervision and directing resources. 
-Project Management 
- Must posses the ability to effectively communicate in both oral and written form with emphasis on requirements and specifications. In addition must have the ability to report project status accurately and timely to Manager level. 

Contact lreitz@automation.com if interested

April 30,  2005 - "Finally, A Reasonable Plan to Service the Hubble"

I read in the paper today that the new NASA chief is thinking aloud about a shuttle mission to service the Hubble. As I've said before on this site, I consider the Hubble Deep Field images to be some of the great contributions of human kind. As much as I love robots, I believe that it makes the most sense to use astronauts, rather than robots, to service the Hubble. A number of my good friends in the robotics field feel otherwise. Here's a report from Dr. Craig Carignan of the University of Maryland Space Systems Laboratory that I've previously posted:

"In the Space Systems Laboratory at the University of Maryland, we have developed a highly capable robotic system called Ranger which has performed several Hubble servicing tasks in neutral buoyancy, including changeout of the electronic control unit (ECU) and batteries, as well as tasks supporting the replacement of radial instruments such as the Wide Field Camera and Fine Guidance Sensor. These tasks involve grabbing handrails, unscrewing bolts, removing large modules, and installing connectors, all of which are EVA "friendly" but still require a high level of dexterity."

April 20,  2005 - "Robotics Job Opening"

Aerotek’s Automotive division has an immediate opening for a Robotic Installation Engineer.  You must have previous work experience installing and programming Fanuc robots.  Installations will take place at automotive suppliers throughout the country.  This position requires between 80-100% travel and salary is negotiable.  This is a contract to hire position.  If interested in the position please email Jim Wellington at jwelling@aerotek.com

March 29,  2005 - "How Do I Become a Robotics Engineer"

I get emailed this question two or three times a week from people in elementary school, high school, college or graduate school. I'm trying to develop some thoughtful and age-appropriate responses to post on the site. I would really appreciate it if anyone would like to send in their own experiences. That will help me give a broader perspective.

March 20,  2005 - Darpa Grand Challenge "What  will it be this year?"

Last year I predicted that no team would even come close to finishing (March 11, 2004) http://www.learnaboutrobots.com/archives.htm  I was right then and I'll go out on the same limb now. No team will make it even half way. There is a $2Meg prize, but that is a pittance compared to what these teams are spending. Clearly they are doing it for more than just the prize money. There's the fame, the glory and as Red Whittaker told me himself, “never spend your own money…”

Feb 11,  2005 - Shaking Hands with a Robot "Robotic Hands"

This is a fantastic article that primarily discusses haptics (a category of technology that allows users to “touch” or “feel” virtual objects via mechanical simulation), but also considers some of the affects of robots on society. The difficulty associated with haptics has to do with the frequency response of the feedback mechanism. Typical robotic systems have a first mode around one Hertz. This means that if you try to command them to do something faster than about once a second they'll either start vibrating or will just ignore the command. To convey a sense of touch, such as the texture of a surface, the frequency response has to be around 100 times better than that. I find it interesting that the very early telerobotic systems developed during the 1940's had superb haptic feedback because of their purely mechanical nature.

Feb 8,  2005 - Austin Team in the Darpa Grand Challenge "Will this year be different?"

Last year I predicted before the Darpa challenge competition that no team would even come close to making it. I'm still working on a prediction for this year. Austin, Texas (the town I live in) is represented by a team this year. I've been helping them with their safety strategies. I would love to participate more, but time is pretty short these days.

January 28,  2005 - New Robot on the Space Station "This one was built by Germany"

They've got the robot up to the space station and installed.

December 16,  2004 - Robot Going to the Space Station "This one was built by Germany"

I'm becoming more and more convinced that the only reason to send people into space is to study the effects of people being in space. Between robots, automation and remote control; there really is no need for humans to control the spaceship or conduct experiments.

December 11,  2004 - Jellyfish Robot "It's only $29K"

A Japanese firm said it has created a jellyfish-shaped robot that can alert homeowners to burglars or house-sit for their pets. When not at work, it can lounge about and be "beautiful." Just like me.

December 05,  2004 - But What About the Eels? "Replicating an Eel’s Nerve Circuitry May Aid Paralyzed People"

This does not have much to do with robotics, but it's still pretty cool. These scientists are studying the nervous system of the Lamprey eel to try to learn how the creature controls its locomotion. They then want to use this knowledge to help people with spinal cord damage.

December 02,  2004 - Watch Out for Cats "New robot uses real mouse whiskers to navigate tight quarters"

I'm pretty sure I don't even want to know how they go the real mouse whiskers. This effort follows along the lines of making robots that mimic biology. I find it interesting that the whiskers not only sense when the robot bumps into things, but they can also sense vibrations in the ground and air.

November 15,  2004 - Neuromorphic Engineering "Combining Electrical Engineering and Neurobiology"

This approach to machine vision uses a computing architecture modeled on a fly's brain. A common fly has a brain about the size of a sesame seed with only about a million neurons, yet the fly is an autonomous creature that finds it's own food; mates; and , well, flies. In many ways these behaviors are far beyond the capabilities of even the most advanced of today's robots.

October 15,  2004 - Robot Machine Gun "You would not want to see one of these rolling towards you"

This is not really a robot. It is a remote-controlled vehicle on tank treads that also sports a remote-controlled machine gun. It is a take on the remote controlled reconnaissance vehicles they use to search in caves and such. They can also mount rocket launchers on these things. Given the military's budget and the rapidly-progressing state-of-the-art in robotics, we are going to be seeing some very scary robots in the very near future.

September 24,  2004 - Austin, Texas Engineering Jobs "Very low BS factor"

The company I work for is trying to hire some electrical engineers, mechanical engineers, software engineers and a project manager. I think it is a great place to work. There is a constant supply of very high tech and interesting projects. We have very few meetings and no Dilbert managers. Email me your resume and a short note if you are interested. I posted the job descriptions on the page linked to above. 

September 15,  2004 - Robot Venus Fly Trap "Maybe if they could make it catch mosquitoes..."

The article describes a small robot that generates its own power by catching and digesting flies. Of course the power generated by digesting flies is quite small so the robot moves very slowly. I think they should make a robot that catches and digests mosquitoes. Here in Texas mosquitoes are a big problem. People even install "misting systems" that essentially blast their whole yard with insecticide on a pre-programmed basis. The robot would not even need to move around the yard. In fact, it would not even need to be a robot. It could just sit out in the far corner of the yard digesting mosquitoes. It would use the energy from digesting the blood-suckers to generate carbon monoxide to lure more mosquitoes. In Houston that would be a virtual perpetual energy machine. 

September 1,  2004 - Robot Foosball "So now robots are going to hang around in bars?"

I can't decide whether this is a robot or not. No matter, Foosball was one of my favorite games growing up so I have to write about this one. These researchers at the University of Freiburg in Germany connected the rods on one side of a foosball table to high-powered motors and an electronic control system. The bottom of the table is made from a see-through green material and underneath is a camera that scans the position of the ball and then sends the data to a computer. The computer is preprogrammed with knowledge of the dynamics of the ball, the rules of the game and a goal of hitting the ball towards the opponent's side of the table. So far the robot system can't come close to beating an expert player, but the makers of the system claim that they will be the world champs within five years. I'm not so sure about that. Foosball is not all about reflexes and tracking. A good portion of the game is anticipating the moves of your opponent. I have another question. Who is funding this research? I want some too!

August 12,  2004 - Job Opening "Telerobotics Tooling Engineer"

I got this inquiry via email and thought it would be easiest just to post it on this site. Areva Framatome is looking for a Tooling Specialist to design machined and welded components for complex Tele-Robotics systems.

July 22,  2004 - I, Robot "I'll give it a 2 out of 5"

I'm going to give away some of the plot twists in this review, so if you have not seen "I, Robot" you may want to quit reading now. I did enjoy watching this movie, but then again, I enjoy most everything about robots so that is not saying too much. The movie has boatloads of action and armies of cool robots, but it's obvious the three laws of robotics are just shoehorned in. They should have called it "2001: A Space Odyssey Remade into a Summer Blockbuster," because the basic premise behind "I, Robot" is that a central computer goes out of control and decides it's ok to kill humans. They try to fit in the Asimov's first law by saying that the computer is saving humanity from itself by killing-off a few bad apples; thus still following the first law. This is one of the things that really bugs me about this movie. They get the first law wrong. The first law states that a robot may not injure a human being. Not even one. Not for any reason. The robots are constantly trying to kill Will Smith and somehow that is still following the first law? Preposterous. Speaking of preposterous, hundreds of robots go after Will Smith, platoons of them at a time, and somehow he beats them all off. They would have easily gotten him halfway through the movie. In the final scene the robots are swarming around Will and the obligatory babe/possible-love-interest like a swarm of mad bees and of course the heroes make it. Just writing this review is making me like the movie less. That pretty much sums it up. This movie was fun to watch, but afterward I started liking it less and less. 

Since I'm ranting about robots and movies. I'll give you a list of my favorite robot movies in roughly chronological order. Note that "I, Robot" does not make this list: Metropolis, The Day the Earth Stood Still, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Silent Running, Sleeper, Westworld, The (original) Stepford Wives, Star Wars, Alien, Blade Runner, The Terminator, Robocop and A.I.

July 15,  2004 -

The Omnibot was a cool little robot made in the mid 1980's. For you vintage robot collectors, this site has some parts you might be able to use.

July 7,  2004 - Hospitals turn to robot couriers "I'm not sure about this one"

These are essentially delivery units that can bring around mail, meals and maybe a clean pillow.  I'm not all for this application of robots. There's a human element to hospitals and people can really make a difference. I've been in the hospital a time or two due to being a pretty accident-prone kid. Those few visits by the nurse or the guy with the meals really helped break-up the day. They would chat for a couple of minutes and ask how you were doing. Rolling robot cabinets just are not going to have the same effect.

June 30,  2004 - Robot Floor Scrubber "Entrepreneur Henry Hillman Jr. starts yet another venture"

I like this application. These robot floor scrubbers can clean thousands of square feet of commercial space. They are replacing what has to be a horribly boring job for humans and the autonomy challenges are not too great. Basically, a perfect job for robots!

June 19,  2004 - It's Official "NASA proposes to award a sole-source contract for robotic servicing of the Hubble Space Telescope"

It's not quite the National Enquirer, but for me, this is a pretty good scoop. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) intends to issue a SOLE SOURCE Request for Proposal (RFP) to MD Robotics for the development of a robotic grapple arm and a double-armed dexterous robot that would be needed to accomplish the hardware exchange during a potential space-flight mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), called the HST Robotic Servicing and De-orbit Mission (HRSDM).

MD Robotics are the folks who developed the Canadarm robot arm, a version of which has flown on every Space Shuttle flight for the last twenty years. The arm has a shoulder with 2 DOF, an elbow with 1 DOF and a 3 DOF wrist. It is routinely used as a mobile work platform for the astronauts, for "tossing" satellites into space and for retrieving faulty ones. Non-routine uses have included: knocking a block of ice from a clogged waste-water vent, pushing a faulty antenna into place, and activating a satellite that failed to go into proper orbit. Several of these arms have been in service for twenty years.

That being said, why on earth is this a SOLE SOURCE RFP!? There are plenty of other robotics companies that should at least be allowed to bid on this project.

June 15,  2004 - Robotic Space Servicing "Will robots service the Hubble?"

Craig Carignan of the University of Maryland Space Systems Lab sent the above link to a cool robot animation. He writes, "In May, 2004, we were offered an opportunity to integrate the Ranger dexterous arms into the rendezvous and docking simulator at the Naval Research Laboratory for some joint tests, which simulate a spacecraft flying up to a satellite, grappling the berthing bars on the aft bulkhead, then performing an electronics box changeout. This test had a very short turn-around time, and the Ranger team deserves a great deal of credit for making it happen."

There's some more information on the Ranger here.

May 20,  2004 - FDA Approves Miniature Back Surgery Robot "The European Union has also given its CE approval for the robot"

At only $100,000 this robot seems curiously inexpensive. I would think $100K/robot would barely cover the liability insurance. In any case, this is just the latest in what is sure to be a continuing trend of robots in the operating room. I've already reported on robots participating in open-heart surgery, brain surgery and now back surgery.

May 11,  2004 - Robots Are Our friends "I've been saying this all along"

This article discusses how robots in the movies almost always transform from fearsome creatures into our friendly servants. I like to use the Terminator example. In the first Terminator Arnold was a killing machine dispatching humans with wanton abandon. Towards the end of the movie he was one ugly mess with rotting organic skin full of bullet holes - but still killing humans at full-throttle. At the very end he was barely able to crawl and ultimately crushed in a machine press. By the third Terminator he was a Hollywood hunk doing his best to save humanity. I took the paragraph below directly from the article above. Hopefully this will entice you to read it.

"When Mary Shelley's Frankenstein first lays eyes on what his science has wrought, he thinks, "I had gazed on him while unfinished; he was ugly then; but when those muscles and joints were rendered capable of motion, it became a thing such as even Dante could not have conceived." When Boris Karloff wakes up in James Whale's "Frankenstein" (1931), however, the audience, primed for horror, is actually relieved; the forehead's on the massive side, and those things sticking out of his neck are a little unfortunate, but he's not so bad, considering. And by the end of the picture we've become so used to the monster's ungainly appearance that he's hardly scary at all: he's kind of likable."

April 16,  2004 - Robots Can Service the Hubble "Today we have a guest commentator."

The  article at the link above discusses robotic options for servicing the Hubble space telescope. This idea has generated quite a bit of controversy. In March's IEEE Spectrum Anne Kinney said that the task was not feasible for robotics. A few days ago I wrote that we should  just use the shuttle missions as previously planned. The following is a differing opinion from a friend of mine.

"I read with great dismay Anne Kinney's remarks regarding an all-robotic servicing mission of Hubble as being "unfeasible" and "beyond the state of the art" [see "Can the Hubble Space Telescope Be Saved", March]. The statement that today's robots are incapable of making "delicate repairs" is simply not accurate and does a great disservice to the community of engineers who have been working on robotic servicing systems such as "Robonaut", "Ranger TSX", and "CanadArm/SPDM" to name just a few.

In the Space Systems Laboratory at the University of Maryland, we have developed a highly capable robotic system called Ranger which has performed several Hubble servicing tasks in neutral buoyancy, including changeout of the electronic control unit (ECU) and batteries, as well as tasks supporting the replacement of radial instruments such as the Wide Field Camera and Fine Guidance Sensor. These tasks involve grabbing handrails, unscrewing bolts, removing large modules, and installing connectors, all of which are EVA "friendly" but still require a high level of dexterity.

While we cannot do a complete fourth HST servicing mission robotically (at least not yet), we have demonstrated the most critical robotic servicing tasks (battery and rate sensor changeouts) needed to extend Hubble's life expectancy to a planned deorbit after the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) comes online. After seeing such a comment, it makes me wonder if the NASA scientific community is really unaware of the true state of the art, or it just views HST and JWST as a zero sum game – one in which they have already clearly picked the winner."

Craig Carignan, Adj. Prof.
Dept. of Aerospace Engineering, University of Maryland

April 15,  2004 - Robots have it made. They face neither death nor taxes.

April 13,  2004 - Robotics Education "I thought this site was supposed to be about robotics education..."

Given that this site is dedicated to education, I've been remiss in not supporting other sites also devoted to scientific education and robotics. I guess the first one I will start with is FIRST. FIRST stands for For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. Probably their most famous educational activity is their robotics competition. The FIRST Robotics Competition challenges teams of students and their mentors to solve a common problem in a six-week timeframe using a standard "kit of parts" and a common set of rules. Teams build robots from the parts and enter them in a series of competitions. They have two leagues, the first for ages 15 to 18 and a Lego league for kids 9 to 14. The teams come from Canada, Brazil, Great Britain, and almost every U.S. state. In 2004 the competition will reach more than 20,000 students on over 900 teams in 27 competitions.

April 9,  2004 - NASA Considers Using Robots to Repair Hubble Space Telescope "This is one time when I am not in favor of using robotics."

As I've said before, I consider the Hubble Deep Field to be one of the great contributions of human-kind. The view is of a patch of sky 1/30th the diameter of the moon (in other words, a very small patch of sky). Each of the hundreds of spiral structures you see in this view is a galaxy, just like the Milky Way galaxy we occupy. Our sun is one of 200 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy. When we humans look out into the night sky we see a very small fraction of the stars in our galaxy. When the Hubble looks out into the sky it sees billions of galaxies, each with billions of stars. Of course there is other intelligent life in the universe. There are probably billions of civilizations.

Recently, NASA announced that it would not use the Space Shuttle to send needed replacement parts to the Hubble because of the danger. They said all future shuttle missions should be to the International Space Station because that was more safe. In reality, missions to the space station are only a tiny bit safer than a mission to the Hubble would be. Honestly, when is the shuttle going to have a catastrophic failure? On take-off and re-entry. Furthermore, the Hubble does not have the propulsion it needs for controlled re-entry. NASA would need to design some kind of new "space tug" to control the telescope's re-entry and keep it from landing on our heads. My advice is to just use the shuttle as had been planned.

March 30,  2004 - Monkey Controls Robot Arm via Neural Implants "Beware the Borg Monkey!"

There are a bunch of articles on these monkeys since the topic is so cool. I'm linking to this one since it has the best Flash animation I've ever seen: http://news.mc.duke.edu/filebank/2003/10/41/Robot_arm.swf  Couldn't you just sit and watch that for hours? The story itself is about how these scientists mapped the brains of some macaque monkeys to discover which parts controlled arm movements. The scientists then surgically implanted electrodes to electronically connect the monkey's brains with a robot controller. After some training, the monkeys were able to control the robotic arm to very good precision via direct brain-wave connection! Amazing. The field of bionic prosthetics is moving at a very good clip right now.

March 13,  2004 - Robots Lose Darpa Challenge "None of them even came close"

This ended pretty much like I predicted below. None of the robots even came close to completing the 250 mile course. I think two of them made it seven miles. The CMU team spent $3 million dollars just on this project and leveraged technology they have been developing for years. It's been this way since the 1970's. You can build a robot, but you can't educate it.

March 11,  2004 - Darpa Robot Race Begins "At stake is a $1 Million first prize"

The publicity for the this race has been brewing for months. The basic challenge is this: a fully-autonomous (no human control) car has to travel a fixed-course 250 miles through the Nevada desert. The quickest time that also averages at least 15 mph wins. As of now, the favorite in the race is Red Zone Robotics (associated with Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh), though my bet is that none of the cars will make it. The Red Zone team has spent roughly $3 million developing their entry; so they are clearly not in it for the prize money. What I find interesting is that the task itself seems so simple. Any human with a $5,000 ATV could do it. This clearly illustrates just how far robotics has to go in terms of approaching human intelligence. I'm sure the Red Zone entry has more sensor and computing power than anyone will be able to cram into a human-scale robot within the next ten years. Marshall Brain predicts that by 2050 we will have $10,000 robots with computing power roughly on-par with humans. He may be right about the raw computing power, but it's contests like this Darpa challenge that make me believe that those robots will have no where near a human's  ability to cope with unstructured environments.

February 28,  2004 - Robot Powered By Live Muscle "Tiny robot activated by microscopic living heart muscle"

This tiny robot (about half the width of a human hair) is powered by living heart muscle. This article is really short so I'll let you read it. Too cool!

February 14, 2004 - Robosapien "Rambunctious, realistic, recreational robot who is easily programmed and mastered with a remote control."

This little toy sounds almost too good to be true. It is 14 inches tall and can perform up to 67 pre-programmed functions including pick-up, throw, high-five, whistle, dance and three different karate moves. It has sensors throughout its body that allow it to WALK and avoid obstacles. All of this and it costs only $99. It is supposed to be available this summer. I can't wait to get one! Because of the low price-point, this could be a great tool for robotics education.

February 4, 2004 - UD Engineers Build Flying Robot "Military could use Micro Air Vehicles for reconnaissance"

These guys are trying to build micro robots that fly by flapping their wings. I applaud this effort in the context of robotics education, but as far as having something practical, all I have to say is "Good luck." Certainly biomimetics (mimicking natural biology) is a branch of robotics, but ornithopters (heavier-than-air flying craft propelled by flapping wings) are laughable. Whenever I read or hear about them I can't help thinking of those old news-reels with all the ridiculous attempts at mechanical flying machines with flapping wings. Sure, nowadays you can make an ornithopter that flies, but do it just for fun. And please don't tell me the military might use them. I can't imagine a scenario where an ornithopter would have a technical advantage over standard aircraft. If it needs to hover, make it a helicopter. People think that nature must have "engineered" the best designs via many thousands of years of natural selection. In some cases that may be true, but nature does not make continuous turning joints. That's why there is nothing in nature that can accelerate as fast as a dragster, or fly as fast as a jet airplane, or carry as much weight as a turbine-powered helicopter.

Feb 1, 2004 - Robotics Halts the Flow of Jobs Offshore "But it is not what you may be hoping for..."

I've long held the opinion that robots are best for environments that are dangerous for humans. These environments include outer space, nuclear plants and under the sea. Robots are also great at extremely repetitive tasks, like spot welding on an assembly line. Unless the task is dangerous or repetitive, humans can do it better and more cheaply. The reason for this is not the cost of building the robot, but rather the cost of teaching the robot (and re-teaching the robot if anything about the task or its environment changes). The article above by Marshall Brain holds the basic premise that by 2050 we will have robots that cost $10,000 and have computing power roughly on-par with the human brain. The slippery-slope implications of this premise are startling. This article should be part of your robotics education.

January 22, 2004 - The Age of Robots has Begun "First -half 2003 orders for robots up 26% over previous year"

This article is actually a few months old. I am only including it to show how misleading statistics can be. Take a look at this article and see if you can get any of the numbers to add-up properly. I sure could not. There is also an incredibly misleading statistic cited that "robots sold last year cost a fifth of what they did in 1990." Sure, that's because now they are including robot vacuum cleaners and robot toy dogs in the statistics. In an apples-to-apples comparison the price of robots has not changed much, though today's robots are much better in terms of speed, accuracy and payload.

January 18, 2004 - President Bush Announces New Space Initiative "The President announced new plans to build a manned station on the Moon and send humans to Mars."

Clearly just about anything the President does is going  to generate controversy and this one is no different. The Democrats question whether the $12 billion over the next five years would be better spent on domestic programs. Of course the use of real logic in politics is prohibited, but it is actually quite clear. The money is an investment. The government is investing money in NASA in the hopes that the technology they develop will be worth more to the country in the future. NASA has enough of a history that we should be able to measure their performance in this respect. I always hear about Velcro being a technology NASA developed, but what other technologies that are having economic impact have they developed? I'm sure there are some. It's just that I don't know what they are. A non-partisan study should be able to determine the economics, though. How much have we spent versus how much has been returned? I certainly question whether these should be "manned" operations. Why not make them fully robotic missions? Developing the required robot technology could have just as great (or greater) of an economic impact as developing the technology to keep humans alive on the missions. Also, when one of the space-craft blows-up, as some of them inevitably do, the damage to space program will be far less. A $500 million robot blasted to smithereens will barely make the news. A crew of seven humans perishing will ground the program for at least a year.

January 15, 2004 - Spirit Rolls onto Martian Soil "I don't have any fingernails left to bite!"

Yes I know the rover is already getting tons of publicity. I just can't help writing a little bit about it. As you have probably heard, a partially inflated airbag was blocking the main ramp Spirit was to use to roll off the lander. That bag could have snagged one of Spirit's metal wheels and then that would have been that. The rover would have been a fancy $500 million camera on Mars. Fortunately, the NASA engineers included a back-up ramp. The rover used  it and is now sitting with all six wheels on Martian soil. Over the next few days it will stretch its robotic arm and test its various scientific instruments. Then, sadly, the NASA engineers are going to put it in sleep mode while they focus their attention on the next lander set to bring the rover "Opportunity" to the other side of Mars on January 29th. No way would I do that. If the rover is working, I would start using it. There is still so much that could go wrong.

January 5, 2004 - Rover Lands Successfully: "Hooray! We made it."

By all accounts the spacecraft made a near-perfect landing Saturday night. After a few hours, Spirit began beaming black and white pictures of the landing site back to earth. For at least the next week Spirit will be charging its batteries and testing systems before shedding the umbilical with the landing craft and beginning its land explorations. There's still a million things that have to go right, so keep those fingers crossed! I hope this mission inspires millions of kids to continue their education.

January 2, 2004 - New Mars Rover to Touchdown Saturday: "After 7 years and 303 million miles a new NASA robot is set to deploy on Mars"

"It's not the fall that kills you. It's what you hit at the end," said Pete Theisinger, project manager of the $820 million project. The rover, named Spirit, is set to touchdown Saturday night. The mission also includes a twin rover, Opportunity, set to arrive on Mars on January 24th.  Like the Sojourner rover that NASA successfully landed on Mars in 1996, these rovers will be encased in giant airbags that will hit the Martian surface and then bounce a few times before coming to rest. Assuming they survive this much of the harrowing adventure, the airbags will unfurl and the rovers will begin a ninety-day  journey exploring the Martian surface. The odds of making it are not good. Of the twenty-three space craft that have attempted to land on Mars, only three have made is successfully. The most recent casualty, Britain's Beagle, was to have landed December 25th of 2003. British scientists have been unable to contact the craft since it was supposed to have touched-down. Keep your fingers crossed for Spirit!

December 18, 2003 - Robotic Surgery Fatality: "Suit faults training in fatal surgery"

If robots are used for surgeries unfortunately there are sometimes going to be deaths and lawsuits. In this case doctors used the da Vinci Surgical robot in an attempt to remove a cancerous kidney. According to the article the doctors were unable to complete the operation robotically and resorted to performing the surgery in the traditional fashion. Tragically, the patient died the next day. There were several mishaps during the surgery and the hours following it. Apparently the surgeon mistakenly nicked (using the robot) the patient's aorta and vena cava (two major blood vessels) and a vascular surgeon had to repair the vessels. Also, a post-operative x-ray showed that an absorbent pad had been left inside the patient thus requiring that the patient be re-opened to remove that pad (they put metallic tape on pads and sponges so that they will show in post operative x-rays). A needle was also missing after the surgery and never accounted for, according to the lawsuit. Finally, the suit alleges that after the surgery the patient began showing signs of distress. A nurse tried to find a surgeon to assist in his treatment, but her requests went unfulfilled for more than two hours. A terrible and tragic story, but it sounds like we should not blame the robot.

December 16, 2003 - Robotic Surgery: "Indian Surgeon Performs Multiple Bypass Surgery using Telerobotic Technology"

In another coup for the da Vinci robotic surgical system, doctors at the Escorts Heart Institute and Research Centre in New Delhi telerobotically performed multiple bypass surgery. Using the da Vinci Surgical System, the surgeon operates while seated at a console a few feet from the patient and views a 3-D image of the surgical field on a display screen. The surgeon manipulates joystick-like controls below the display. The system, in turn, translates movements of the surgeon's hands, wrists and fingers into very precise movements of the surgical instruments inside the patient. The surgery required only four external incisions of about 1.4" each.  The doctors say the patient could have gone home only 24 hours after surgery, but they kept him in the hospital for a few days to monitor the results. Amazing. The next procedure on the list for the doctors and the da Vinci system is a heart valve replacement.

December 9, 2003 - Personal Robot: "Industry Set for Massive Growth"

This article predicts that the consumer robotics industry which was at about US $600 million in 2002 will grow to US $5.4 billion by 2005, US $17.1 billion by 2010 and to over US $50 billion by 2025. These robots will primarily mow lawns, clean floors, care for those that need help and amuse children. While I love to hear about growth in the robotics field, I personally believe stories like these are nuts. None of these tasks are especially dangerous or require repetition with extreme accuracy - typical characteristics that make an application good for robots. Is the world going to be so fully-employed by 2025 that we will need robots to do these jobs? No way. Robot vacuum cleaners are indeed pretty cool and I'm sure we'll be seeing quite a few of those within the next decade, but $50 billion worth? We are going to have to start using the term robot very loosely to get anywhere near that number.

December 1, 2003 - Segway Soldiers: "US Considers Turning Scooters into War Robots"

When I first saw photos of the Segway (I still have not seen one in-person) I thought, "Those would make great mobile robots." Of course, the boys at the Pentagon thought the same thing and they are already researching the idea. The "human scale" dimensions of the vehicle are what make it so attractive. It is tall enough to open doors, with the help of an attached manipulator. It could also hold a camera (or some type of weapon) high enough to get a clear shot. I can imagine them being useful to police in hostage situations where the robot could maneuver hallways and elevators to perform reconnaissance. They are also pretty fast at a top speed of 12 mph, which I bet they could increase if they wanted to. Imagine one of these babies with a forward-mounted stun gun chasing a bad guy around. That's both scary and comical at the same time. These could also make great "mules" for following soldiers around while hauling their gear. I personally expect the Segway to revolutionize mobile robotics.

November 25, 2003 - Lobster Robots: "Robo-lobsters may one day roam the seas for scents"

This is a classic case of research looking for applications. The research is the study of particles as they distribute in a gas or fluid (imagine the smoke from a cigarette as it drifts into the air). The physics behind this and the mathematical equations that describe them are very complex and hence are great for getting scholarly publications. Of course, to get anyone to pay for your research, you need to find an application. In this case the application is going to be hoards of robot lobsters roaming the sea searching for sources of pollution. They describe the robot as looking like a "dust buster with wheels and antennae." Heck, they may as well make it look like a lobster while they are at it. There is a great example of one on the undersea robots page of this site. And what about robo-lobsters looking around for pollution? Aren't they going to be using batteries? What other toxic materials will be on board? Something the size of a lobster wandering around on the bottom of the ocean will likely be eaten by whatever it is that eats lobsters. Surely the reliability of the robo-lobsters won't be 100%. Some of them are going to break or get stuck and remain on the ocean floor for whatever reasons. My point here is that these robo-lobsters will themselves become pollution. That needs to be taken into account. The very same thing happens when we use robots to dismantle nuclear facilities. When they break or finish their tasks, then they need to be disposed of as nuclear waste as well.

November 21, 2003 -  Walking Robot Carries Person: The first walking robot capable of carrying a human was unveiled on Friday in Tokyo, Japan.

I love the headline of this one. I really didn't know what to expect when I looked at the article - maybe some giant King Kong robot carrying around a Fay Wray look-alike. Well, it's not that cool, but it is really something. Basically this is a wheel-chair that has legs instead of wheels. There are two feet, each attached to six legs. With twelve legs, each having a motor and controller, you can imagine this is a pretty complicated device. It is no where near ready for prime-time yet. The walking chair can carry about a 100 pound person and can only step over obstacles an inch or two high. Still, I love the idea of it. There may be a practical version in 25 years or so (just guessing), and when there is, it will be great. A person that does not have the use of their legs could go up and down stairs or go out in the woods. I hope I'm around to see it.

November 12, 2003 - Robots Enter Hall of Fame: Carnegie Mellon Inducts Four Robots into Newly Established Hall of Fame

It is about time robots had a hall of fame. Carnegie Mellon has one of the world's leading robotics programs so they should be a good institution to manage the hall of fame. Their choices for the first four robots include two real machines and two robots from science fiction. Here they are:

Unimate: Unimation installed the world's first industrial robots on a General Motors assembly line in 1961. George Engelberger, sometimes called the "father of robotics" because he started Unimation will be accepting the award. What is really amazing is that the geometry defined by the Unimate robots is still the prevailing geometry for today's six-axis industrial robots - over forty years later! Today's industrial robots can carry heavier loads much faster and are far more reliable than the robots of 1961, but they still move in the same way.

Sojourner: I describe this robot on our Space Robotics page (and one of its successors immediately below). This vehicle drove around Mars! I would say the Sojourner is more of an accomplishment for our Space program than it is for robotics, but hey, it took some really spectacular photographs. Sometimes I think really cool photographs are Nasa's greatest contribution, especially the Hubble Deep Field. Have a look. Those are galaxies very much like our Milky way! Trillions of them!

R2D2: Now why R2D2 and not C3PO? C3PO is the humanoid robot with all the joints. R2D2 is pretty-much a rolling computer. C3PO would have been a much better choice.

HAL: Really the only choice here that I agree with. HAL was awesome. It made its own decisions and backed-up those decisions by moving all kinds of machinery around. The concept of a HAL captured the imagination of an entire generation of budding roboticists.

Basically, I consider three out of four of these choices pretty lame. Neither of the two real machines fit my definition of a robot. The Unimation robots were really programmable multi-axis machines and the Sojourner (as described below)  is really a remote controlled car. And clearly if any robot from Star Wars was going into a hall of fame first, it should have been C3PO.

November 7, 2003 - NASA robot conquers Aromas: After a five-year mission the K9 Rover now boldly goes where no robot has gone before.

This vehicle continues along the lines of the Sojourner project. As you may recall, Sojourner is the small wheeled vehicle that NASA successfully deployed on Mars.  It successfully took some spectacular pictures and inspected a number of Martian rocks. Though truly an amazing success story, Sojourner was not a robot. It was a remote-controlled vehicle. Because radio signals take 10 minutes to get to Mars from earth and another ten minutes to get back, Sojourner had to move extremely slowly to avoid rolling over a rock or falling into a hole. This meant at least three hours (and sometimes many more) to inspect each rock.

The current work is extending the rover functionality with true robotics. The NASA engineers tell the K9 rover the object to inspect, but the K9 automatically avoids obstacles and other pitfalls that could trap it as it proceeds to the target. Ultimately NASA wants the vehicles exploring Mars to autonomously pick the objects of interest and get to them without needing any guidance from Earth. My guess is that the next mission will be a mix of autonomous behavior and human guidance. Probably the NASA engineers will pick the interesting objects and specify the path the rover should take to get there. Then the robot will follow the path autonomously without needing direct control from Earth.

November 1, 2003 - Israel to Deploy Robot Bulldozers: 

First of all, these are NOT robots. These are remote-controlled vehicles. A soldier directly controls the bulldozers from a few miles away. There is nothing robotic about them. The Israelis do not call them robots. They call them remote controlled bulldozers. Someone erroneously called them robots probably to get a better headline.

October 30, 2003 - Robots Perform Prostate Surgery: Doctors at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit are now using a robot to perform prostate surgery.

YIKES! That's about the last place I want to see a robot. Seriously, though, these surgeons are achieving remarkable results. The recovery times for the patient are shorter and the complications reduced. These tiny seven degree of freedom robots made by Intuitive Surgical can operate through equally tiny (1 - 3 cm) incisions.  The robotic instruments along with a 3-D camera are inserted through the incisions into the abdomen. The surgeon controls the robots from a nearby console. Little robots actually operating from within the body. Amazing.

October 27, 2003 - Britain lags in robot usage: The United Kingdom is lagging far behind the rest of the world in its use of robot technology, industry experts warned today.

The British Automation and Robot Association (BARA) said new figures from the UN showed that UK investment in the field plummeted by 61% last year, but increased across the globe by 26%.

The organization, based at the University of Warwick, has called on the Government to provide more financial support for manufacturers willing to use the machines.

According to the UN report, just 36 robots were used for every 10,000 people employed manufacturing at the end of 2002, compared with 135 in Germany.

This is typical rhetoric from robotics associations. The statistics they cite are silly. Do they mean that in Germany robots replace more workers than they do in Britain? What is so good about that? The last thing either the Germans or the Brits need is more unemployed workers.

I particularly like the call to action for the government. Should the government really invest in displacing workers?

And just because the Brits use less robots than the Germans does not necessarily mean that British factories are less automated or less efficient than German factories. Perhaps the British use more fixed automation and specialized machines. This type of automation can be much faster and more efficient than robots.

October 23, 2003 - Robot performs surgery: For the first time surgeons in the U.S. are operating with four arms at once - and they are using a robot to help them do it. We take you inside the operating room at the Ohio State University Medical Center to see how the technology is working today, and what could be in store for patients in the future. 

Sitting at a console with a 3D television image, Doctor Scott Melvin is using his two hands to manipulate four hands inside the body of his patient. 

Doctor Melvin's fingers are attached to high tech sensors and as he moves his hands to operate in virtual reality, a robot a few feet away mimics his every move, cutting and sewing with the four tiny hands inside the patient - and it does it with remarkable precision. 

The technology was originally developed by the U.S. military, so doctors could send robots onto the battlefield to operate immediately on wounded soldiers and do it from a safe place hundreds of miles away.

This is a great application of telerobotics. The system can be designed so as to provide the surgeon with far greater accuracy than a human alone is capable of. For example, the actual instrument can be programmed to move only one-fifth or one-tenth as much as the surgeon's fingers move. As the technology progresses, force feedback can also be employed. This will allow the surgeon to actually feel the robotic knife as it cuts through delicate tissues. Motion filtering is also a future possibility. This would minimize the effects of small shaking of the human hand and could extend the careers of surgeons whose experience is very valuable, but whose hands are not as steady as they once were.

I do find the comment about the technology being "originally developed by the military" amusing. I'm not sure which specific technology they are referring to. There are very many different technologies at play in a telerobotic system. The military certainly provided some of the funding to the technologies, especially during the development of the atomic bomb. Telerobotics was the only way they could manipulate that nasty stuff.  Still, to say the military originally developed telerobotic systems is a stretch. Leonardo DaVinci, for example, sketched a telerobotic system hundreds of years ago.