Networked Robots

A "networked robot" is a robotic device connected to a communications network such as the Internet or LAN. The network could be wired or wireless, and based on any of of a variety of protocols such as TCP, UDP, or 802.11. Many new applications are now being developed ranging from automation to exploration. There are two subclasses of Networked Robots:

1) Tele-operated, where human supervisors send commands and receive feedback via the network. Such systems support research, education, and public awareness by making valuable resources accessible to broad audiences.

2) Autonomous, where robots and sensors exchange data via the network. In such systems, the sensor network extends the effective sensing range of the robots, allowing them to communicate with each other over long distances to coordinate their activity. The robots in turn can deploy, repair, and maintain the sensor network to increase its longevity, and utility. A broad challenge is to develop a science base that couples communication to control to enable such new capabilities.

Networked robots pose a number of technical challenges related to network noise, reliability, congestion, fixed and variable time delay, stability, passivity, range and power limitations, deployment, coverage, safety, localization, sensor and actuation fusion, and user interface design. New capabilities arise frequently with the introduction of new hardware, software, and protocol standards.

The IEEE RAS Technical Committee on Internet and Online Robots was founded in May 2001. It originally focused on Internet-based tele-operated robots, but expanded to reflect a broader set of problems and applications. The name Networked Robots was approved and adopted in May 2004.

Networked Robots Technical Committee Co-Chairs:
Wolfram Burgard, Nak-Young Chong, and Gaurav Sukhatme
Founding Co-Chairs: Ken Goldberg and Roland Siegwart

Activities:

• IROS 2005 Plenary Talk: Networked Robotic Observatories for the Biosciences, by Gaurav S. Sukhatme.
• IROS 2005 Tutorial on Network-based Robot Simulation and Remote Control Using Open Technologies Java and Java3D, Organized by Igor Belousov.
• IROS 2005 Tutorial on Task-oriented Mobile Actuator and Sensor Networks Organized by Yang Quan Chen, Hairong Qu.
• Our Technical Committee shared the award for Most Active Technical Committee, announced at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Barcelona on April 20, 2005.
• Workshop on Network Robot Systems: Toward Intelligent Robotic Systems Integrated with Environments. Organized by Norihiro Hagita (ATR), Alberto Sanfeliu (Technical University of Catalonia, Spain), and Hiroshi Ishiguro (Osaka University). IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Barcelona, Spain, April 2005.
• Japan's ATR Intelligent Robotics and Communication Laboratory announces its Networked Robot Project Led by Norihiro Hagita (ATR), its mission is to develop network-based intelligent robots for applications such as service, medical, and safety, Spring 2005.
• Networked Robot Forum , chaired by Hideyuki Tokuda (Keio University), it promotes R&D and standardization on network robots through activities to support awareness campaigns and verification experiments in collaboration among wide-ranging parties. Includes over 100 industry and academic members.
• Networked Robotics: Issues, Architectures and Applications. Organized by Gerard T. McKee (Univ. of Reading, UK) and Paul S. Schenker (Jet Propulsion Lab., USA). IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2004, Sendai, Japan, October 2004.
• Workshop on Wireless and Networked Robots. Organized by Wolfram Burgard, Ken Goldberg, and Yasuharu Kunii. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, April, New Orleans, 2004.
• Networked Robot Forum Organized by Prof. Hideyuki Tokuda of Keio University.
• Korea's Ministry of Information and Communication announces the Ubiquitous Robotic Companion (URC) Project to develop network-based intelligent robots, Spring 2004.
• Special Issue on Online Robots and E-Automation: International Journal of Automation and Computing. H. Hu, G. Liu, G. McKee, eds. Submissions closed. Contact: Prof. Huosheng Hu, hhu@essex.ac.uk
• EURON 2003: International Summer School on Internet and Online Robots for Telemanipulation. Web Page. Jaume I University, Spain. Sept 15-19, 2003 . Organized by: Raul Marin, Klaus Schilling, and Pedro Sanz. Also, Special Issue of the Journal of Robotic Systems Submissions closed.
• IEEE ICIT'03 (International Conference on Industrial Technology 2003). Special Session on Internet Teleoperation. December 10-12 2003 in Maribor, Slovenia. Conference Web Page.
• 2003 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation: Workshop on New Research Directions in Internet Tele-Robotics. Taipei, Taiwan, Sept 14/15, 9:00am-4:20pm. Organized by: Imad H. Elhajj, Oakland University and Liu Yun hui, Chinese University of Hong Kong
• Published: Special Issue of IEEE Proceedings on: Networked and Intelligent Robots Through the Internet, Ren Luo and Toshio Fukuda, eds. March 2003, 91(3).
• Published: Special Issue of Autonomous Robotics Journal on Online and Internet Robots. 2003, v15
• 2002 IEEE Workshop on Educational Applications of Online Robots. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Washington, DC. May 12, 2002. Workshop Summary by Gerard McKee (.ppt slides, 80K)
• Prof. John Gallagher's web-based course on Autonomous Robotics at Wright State University. Uses the Khepera online robot.
• Beyond Webcams: An Introduction to Online Robots Anthology of articles on Online Robots from MIT Press, 2002.
• "Open Source" research database for papers relating to online robots. (Back Online!).
• New Scientist Article on Online Robots (Dec 2001)
• The Robot in the Garden (MIT Press, 2000)
• Archive of Internet Robots
• IEEE RAS Technical Committees Home Page

Founding Members:

1. Paul Backes
2. George Bekey
3. Massimo Bergamasco
4. Antonio Bicchi
5. Rod Brooks
6. Wolfram Burgard
7. Shawn Brixey
8. David Cannon
9. John Canny
10. Olivier Carmona
11. Billy Chen
12. Nak Young Chong
13. Peter Coppin
14. Diana Domingues
15. Judith Donath
16. Aydan Erkman
17. Imad Hanna Elhajj
18. Bob Farzin
19. Manuel Ferre
20. Paolo Fiorini
21. Philippe Fraisse
22. Toshio Fukuda
23. John Gallagher
24. Steven Gentner
25. Stelios Gerogiannakis
26. Steve Goldberg
27. William Hamel
28. Blake Hannaford
29. William Harris
30. Hideki Hashimoto
31. Hirohisa Hirukawa
32. Steve Hsia
33. Huosheng Hu
34. Han Pang Huang
35. Masayuki Inaba
36. Eduardo Kac
37. Pradeep Khosla
38. T. John Koo
39. Tetsuo Kotoku
40. Yasuharu Kunii
41. Jose LM Lastra
42. Anthony Levandowsky
43. Rafael Lozano-Hemmer
44. Ren Luo
45. Raul Marin
46. Maja Mataric
47. Gerard McKee
48. Sang-Rok Oh
49. Eric Paulos
50. Rick Rinehart
51. Javier Ruiz-del-Solar
52. Daniela Rus
53. Sudhir Sannarevappala
54. Riko Safaric
55. Jurek Sasiadek
56. Patrick Saucy
57. Gaurav Sukhatme
58. Klaus Schilling
59. Paul Schenker
60. Reid Simmons
61. Petr Simacek
62. Rory Solomon
63. Dezhen Song
64. Matthew Stein
65. Poornima Suresh
66. Jean-Jacques Slotine
67. Carl Sutter
68. Kazuo Tanie
69. TJ Tarn
70. Ken Taylor
71. Sebastian Thrun
72. James Trevelyan
73. H.F. Machiel Van der Loos
74. John Wen
75. Jeff Wiegley
76. Ning Xi
77. Shinichi Yuta
78. Alex Zelinsky

We maintain a mailing list of over 200 members to report experiments, projects, and new initiatives. Anyone is welcome to join by sending email to Wolfram Burgard (burgard@informatik.uni-freiburg.de).