Robots everywhere: our one-armed friends in the factory are no longer alone

Robots are no longer a feature only of manufacturing plants — they are moving into our everyday lives and are getting ready to make a dramatic impact.

As automation engineering professionals, most of the readers of this publication are familiar with robots and their application in industries such as manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, and food and beverage. And of course the latest advancements have been mainly in the area of collaborative robots (or cobots) that can work safely alongside and assist human skilled workers.

While the heavy and powerful (and relatively dumb) industrial robot arm that has been evolving slowly since the 1960s will continue to be used in the near future — doing the heavy lifting and repetitive drudgery — it will be interesting to see how knowledge gleaned from the development of cobots will alter even these familiar workers. A cobot that can pack a pallet safely without safety fencing? Not sure about that one… after all, there are other dangers than just the robot in that situation.

But as we are all well aware, robotics is nowadays no longer just the domain of the industrial automation industry. Other industries are heavily investing in robotics research, and in many cases their research is arriving at practical and realistic possibilities. The robots envisaged in science fiction in the 20th century are beginning to look like distinct possibilities in our present generations. Automation engineers will no longer be the only people who work with robots — they will be in our daily lives and many other areas of life and the economy as well.

I have noticed that the level of awareness of these developments in the broader society is quite variable. While the geeks and engineers of the world may be well interested in the progress of robotics, many in the general public seem to be quite unaware — and I suspect unprepared for the changes to come. Recently in a conversation with my younger brother I mentioned that we would have driverless cars on our roads very soon, but he didn’t believe me. “Not in my lifetime” were his actual words. He thought that bureaucracy would slow it down, and I tried to explain to him that the technology is no longer new, that it is in the final stages of refinement, and that we are already at the ‘pointy end’ of bureaucratic decision-making about allowing driverless cars. Only weeks later Singapore announced its driverless taxi trial¹ and now Uber is doing the same in the US.

Needless to say, some people might be in for a bit of a shock.

In this article I’d like to present a broader overview of how our friends the robots are beginning to make inroads into our lives, whether we are aware of it or not. And the key concept is autonomy.

What we have now

So far, industrial robots do not act autonomously — they do repetitive tasks as they are taught to do them — but they nevertheless act on their own to do those tasks once they are taught.

Coming at it from a different direction, we see machines taking on robot-like qualities with the application of mechatronics and advanced software, but they are remote controlled by humans. Examples include Rio Tinto’s mines in the Pilbara — using driverless trucks, trains and other equipment, but mainly involving long-distance remote control — or the now relatively familiar drones, whether they be military weapons or $300 toys, which are also remote controlled by humans. So while they use similar physical technology to robots, they are not acting totally on their own, neither autonomously nor on a program. The same goes for the current state of robotic surgical machines assisting surgeons for some procedures.

There are, however, two areas of technology where actual (non-remote control) robots are making inroads right now: driverless cars and service robots.

Cars and friendly faces?

There have been attempts to build driverless cars going way back to the 1920s, but most of the major advances have occurred since 2000. Most major car makers and other companies (most notably Google) have been actively pursuing the development of their own driverless cars. Many of the more expensive luxury models of cars available today, such as the Tesla Model S and the Mercedes-Benz S-class, already include extensive semi-autonomous, hands-free driving capabilities. In July 2015 Google revealed that in all their driverless car road tests between 2009 and 2015, only 14 minor collisions had occurred, and 11 of them were caused by other drivers. And as recently as early October, Audi announced it would be releasing a new model of its A8 saloon in 2017 (2018 in Australia) that will be the world’s first ‘Level 3’ (totally hands-free) car². At this stage it would be safe to say that driverless car research has done more to extend and provide impetus in the field of robotics research than perhaps any other automation research endeavour.

Hands free: an autonomous Audi test car. Source: Audi/Adelaide Advertiser

And then there are ‘service robots’. According to the International Federation of Robotics, a service robot is a robot which operates semi or fully autonomously to perform services useful to the wellbeing of humans and equipment, excluding manufacturing operations. Personal service robots are service robots that educate, assist or entertain at home. These include domestic robots that may perform daily chores, assistive robots (for people with disabilities) and robots that can serve as companions or pets for entertainment. Humanoid service robots have been deployed in many customer-service applications around the world (most notably in Japan), but so far with limited success and acceptance. People don’t seem all that ready to take them seriously just yet — or maybe they are just not helpful enough, or realistic enough yet. Some argue that robots that look too human can be seen as ‘creepy’ and a more non-human appearance is more readily accepted.

The most common readily available robot for domestic use thus far is the already familiar robot vacuum cleaner — a relatively simple application — and in 2015, Moley announced the world’s first robotic kitchen, which will be released in a consumer version in 2017 with “an iTunes-style library of recipes”³.

Market research reports have indicated an annual growth rate in the service robot market of 16.5% over the next five years⁴. But some have argued that referring to a piece of technology as a robot can have a detrimental effect on its uptake, because many equate the concept of a robot as ‘future tech’ that is unproven and unreliable. Robotic technology now currently available and accepted is often not even seen to be a robot — a Roomba is just a vacuum cleaner and a hospital robotic catering trolley is just a food trolley. In time, driverless cars, which are really at the forefront of robot technologies today, will just simply be ‘cars’.

Medical robotics and disability support

Another area where robotics is making great inroads is in medical services and prostheses for the disabled. The current use of robotic technology in operations is limited to the robot acting as a slave device under the control of a surgeon, but companies such as Cambridge Medical Robotics have already completed cadaveric trials using robots for some types of pelvic, upper gastrointestinal and colorectal surgeries⁵.

While medicine has traditionally been slow to change, given that the safety of the patient is its primary concern, it is expected that financial pressures will force the medical industry to recognise that when robots can do something better and for the same price as humans, the robot way will be the best way forward.

Similarly, increasing advancements in robotic manipulators, including touch- and heat-sensitive fingertips, have been extending robotic capabilities to prosthetics for the physically disabled. Ekso Bionics, for example, has released a robotic exoskeleton — essentially a pair of powered legs — that assists a paraplegic patient to walk.⁶

Bionic exoskeleton. Source: Ekso Bionics

Drones

Originally drones were the domain of the military, initially used as unmanned reconnaissance tools in war zones, and later as fearsome weapons delivery systems, allowing military personnel in the US to make strikes against opponents on the other side of the world. Drones available to the general public can cost as little as $250, and for the most part are merely a flying camera (although one amateur in 2015 created a controversial YouTube video showing an automatic handgun being fired from a drone).

Because they are mainly only used for photography, the main uses thus far for commercial drones have been in commercial photography (such as for magazines or real estate advertising), public safety or service uses (such as police and fire services in rescue and surveillance applications), the media, agriculture (farmers remotely checking on herds or crops) and wildlife conservation (filming wildlife without disturbing them).

There are, of course, talks of drones delivering parcels (Amazon’s idea), but this may be some way off, since it will require a greater capability for autonomous operation. However, great strides forward have been made in drone development in making them autonomously able to avoid obstacles⁷. Newer and cheaper sensing technologies and software algorithms can make them much safer and less easy to inadvertently crash. For example, current models of personal drones are available that will automatically follow their owner, adjusting their flight path to avoid obstacles such as telegraph poles, cars and tree branches as they go.

What interests me about this is the possibility of merging a robot and a drone to literally produce a flying robot. This is probably where the development of robotic parcel delivery will lead.

The military leads the way in autonomy

In recent years, enormous strides in artificial intelligence (AI) research have been opening up more possibilities for robot autonomy. Robots that make their own decisions on the fly, depending on the circumstances they encounter, will make them more effective at carrying out their assigned task.

I haven’t mentioned much about military robots, but it is in the military sphere where robot autonomy is being heavily researched, and also the most controversial. I am inclined to reserve judgement on whether ‘killer robots’ like in the Terminator movie series are a future thing to worry about or not. I think most experts in the robotics industry would argue that a robot, not being a conscious being, is not responsible for its actions and is only a tool of those who make it and direct it into action. There is perhaps an enormous ethical dilemma brewing here. After all, human soldiers can make ethical decisions on the fly, but as we know they have also failed many times ‘in the heat of the situation’ to make the right decision as well. But there are many other military applications for robotics than ‘robot soldiers’.

The US military is, for example, currently testing a robotic submarine hunting vessel. The 40 m unmanned vessel ‘Sea Hunter’ is designed for autonomous missions and will be able to stay at sea for three months with no crew, negotiating all weather conditions and avoiding collisions with other ships⁸.

Sea Hunter, the world’s first unmanned ship. Source: digital90210.com

Even helicopters can be robotic now. In October 2015, Carnegie Mellon University, in partnership with aircraft manufacturer Sikorsky, demonstrated a fully autonomous Black Hawk helicopter teaming up with a fully autonomous ground vehicle (UGV) to show how a robotic vehicle team can perform search missions without humans⁹. The helicopter provides speed and range, while endurance and precision sensing are provided by the UGV.

Humans only define a mission by choosing the general area to search, but the execution is autonomous. The UGV can detect, classify and reason about the environment to safely navigate through unstructured environments. The helicopter arrives at the drop-off location, hovers, autonomously descends and alerts the UGV of touchdown. The UGV then drives out of the holding ‘kennel’ to a safe distance and alerts the UAV it is clear to take off. The UAV can ascend and return to base, while the UGV autonomously drives off to perform its mission. The importance of this development is in removing humans from very high-risk missions, such as searching contaminated areas.

Most military autonomous robot applications to date have been about protecting human lives, rather than ending them, but watch this space.

References

1. Harris M 2016, Self-driving taxis roll out in Singapore - beating Uber to it, The Guardian, <https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/24/self-driving-taxis-roll-out-in-singapore-beating-uber-to-it>
2. Blackburn R 2016, Hands-free cars on Aussie roads by 2018, The Advertiser, <http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/technology/handsfree-cars-on-aussie-roads-by-2018/news-story/6ddb1d989d04ced9f7763bdbc2a33bc7>
3. Moley Robotics 2015, <http://www.moley.com/>
4. RnR Market Research 2016, Service Robot Market Moving Ahead at 16.5% AAGR for 2016-2020, PR NewsWire,<http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/service-robot-market-moving-ahead-at-165-aagr-for-2016-2020-595600051.html>
5. Cambridge Medical Robotics 2016, Successful Preliminary Clinical Cadaveric Trials, <http://cmedrobotics.com/news/2016/successful-preliminary-clinical-cadaveric-trials/>
6. Strickland E 2016, Demo: The Ekso GT Robotic Exoskeleton for Paraplegics and Stroke Patients, IEEE Spectrum, <http://spectrum.ieee.org/the-human-os/biomedical/bionics/paraplegic-man-walks-in-ekso-robotic-exoskeleton-to-demo-its-killer-app>
7. Ackerman E 2016, Aggressive Quadrotors Conquer Gaps With Ultimate Autonomy, IEEE Spectrum, <http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/drones/aggressive-quadrotors-conquer-gaps-with-ultimate-autonomy>
8. Deamer K 2016, US Military’s Robotic Submarine Hunter Completes First Tests at Sea, Live Science, <http://www.livescience.com/55662-darpa-submarine-hunter-completes-tests.html>
9. Ackerman E 2016, Helicopter Robot Airdrops Recon Ground Robot, No Humans Necessary, IEEE Spectrum, <http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/military-robots/helicopter-robot-airdrops-recon-robot-no-humans-necessary>

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