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Wednesday, April 15, 2009
RoboBusiness: Natural controls to spark robotics revolution
By Brendan Lynch
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Manipulation and automation will be key drivers of the robotics market in the near future, according to keynote speakers at the RoboBusiness 2009 conference.
Microsoft Corp. general manager Tandy Trower said the robotics market could take off like the personal computer market did after the graphical user interface was introduced -- if roboticists can get their products to manipulate objects safely and nimbly in a manner similar to human hands.
“When we get to that point I think it’s unlimited in terms of what we see in the marketplace,” Trower said.
More natural controls will also be a factor in robotics having a PC-like revolution, Trower said.
Robotics are gradually creeping into everyday life, Trower said, though consumers may not see them or recognize them. As examples he cited military robots and toys -- he called Mattel Inc.’s Elmo Live toy an “awesome piece of technology.”
Trower also highlighted the importance of robotics in addressing the aging population, noting that Toyota Motor Corp. could emerge as the “IBM” of the robotics industry with its Partner Robots division -- humanoid and semi-humanoid robots aimed at helping the elderly.
Retired U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Joe Dyer, president of iRobot Corp.’s government and industrial robots division, said robotics, like any military technology, will eventually move from redundant controls to automation. Currently, all military robots are remotely controlled by soldiers. Dyer said incremental automation, such as a cruise control function instructing a robot to keep doing something until its human controller tells it not to, would be a logical next step.
“You’re not going to go from where we are to the governor of California, even if the sequel is coming out,” he said.
Dyer also predicted robotics evolving from reconnaissance missions to strike. He said armed robots would eventually be made, and it would be helpful to begin the ethical debate about it.
“Are we going to see autonomous killing machines? I don’t think so, and I don’t think we should,” Dyer said.
All of iRobot’s military robots under the Future Combat Systems program, among the programs planned to be cut by secretary of defense Robert Gates, will be continued, Dyer said.
Dyer also took the opportunity to lobby the crowd to support the Small Business Innovation Research program, which will be up for renewal in the fall.
“That has been the engine, the hydraulic fluid, that has moved much of the robotics industry,” he said.
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