The Network Robot Business Seminar

R&D on new services using network-connected robot systems: current circumstances and issues

On December 2, 2008, the Robot Laboratory held a seminar entitled “Network Robot Business Seminar” at the Hotel Keihan Universal Tower, Konohana-ku, Osaka City.

The fast-paced development of the IT sector is characterized by a range of issues including changes in the industrial sector and globalization. In particular, we can name the declining birthrate/aging society phenomenon as well as environmental and energy problems. Meanwhile, the public continues to hold expectations for the industrial sector to provide them with a stable living environment and sources of wealth creation.

Japan is at the leading edge in network-connected robots, a field that integrates ubiquitous networks and robots. This field is believed to hold great potential for the resolution of these IT issues. Network robots not only help resolve problems related to the graying society and medical/nursing care: they also contribute greatly to the creation of a new lifestyle, and indeed to a new IT-based society with its beginnings in Japan.

The following is an overview of the seminar in digest form.

The Network Robot Business Seminar (digest form, first half)

Three lectures were held following opening addresses by Kenichi Kawabata (Division Manager, New Industry Policy Development Department, Osaka City Economic Affairs Bureau, and Takashi Mori (Director, Strategic Information and Communications R&D Promotion Programme, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications).

¡ Keynote Speech: “The Cutting Edge of Network Robots”

Lecturer: Paolo Dario (Professor, Scuola Superiore Sant’ Anna)

Dr. Dario gave an overview of “The DustBot” development project, an urban sanitation robot that runs on network beacons embedded throughout the urban setting as well as through Internet connections.

The DustBot is a two-wheeled robot that operates on the same mechanism as the Segway scooter. The front of its body features a 12-inch touch screen, which means that its exterior can be easily replaced. The DustBot walks around the town collecting wastes such as glass, paper, wet garbage, plastics, and more. In addition to this, it also features an information monitor (touch screen) that provides information on air pollution, weather forecasts, and more.

At present, “The DustBot” is being further developed with a view to demonstration in 2009 the prototype has already been completed. The demonstration will be conducted in a real urban setting beginning in March 2009. In addition to his description of The DustBot, Dr. Dario also gave an overview of a number of other kinds of networks robots currently under development, including water quality-testing robots, wireless sensor networks for environmental testing, and more. His talk illustrated how network robot R&D is moving forward in Europe.

“The field of network-connected robots brings cutting-edge robot engineering together with applications for the environment and for society. If these applications are successfully popularized, we believe they will bring about a revolutionary new technical paradigm that will be hugely beneficial for modern society,” says Dr. Dario.

■Guest Lecture: “Collaboration on Robots in the Urban Setting”

Lecturer: Dr. Alberto Sanfeliu (Professor, Polytechnic University of Catalonia)

Dr. Sanfeliu gave an overview of the European initiatives of Network Robot Systems (NRS), a company that carries out R&D on network-connected robotic systems.

R&D at NRS focuses on autonomous robots and communication networks, embedded sensors, and human-robot collaboration. The Group’s major projects include URUS (Ubiquitous Networking Robotics in Urban Settings). This project enjoys the participation of technicians and experts from many European countries including Italy, Spain, and France. Field testing for the project is conducted at Spanish universities.

The theme of these demonstrations is to show how well a series of autonomous robots, working through environment-embedded sensors and the Internet, can work together to perform the following tasks: acting as guides for people, monitoring peoples’ actions, transporting goods, and automatically mapping out the areas in which they operate. According to hypotheses, these groups of robots are capable of creating formations, anticipating the actions of randomly moving people, and guiding them to a specified location.

Mr. Sanfeliu comments: “The human-robot collaboration led by NRS is a broad-based project that involves not only robots but also environment-embedded networks and sensors, as well as humans. However, at the current phase, there remains much research to do on each of the robot functions. We are now working to identify and analyze these areas. In order to popularize network-connected robots in the future, we need to take a comprehensive approach to resolving the legal, social, and economic issues involved.”

■Guest Lecture: “Bringing Together Ubiquitous Networks and Network Robots to Create Innovative Ubiquitous Network Services”

Lectures: Hideyuki Tokuda, Professor and NRF Representative, Keio University

First, Mr. Tokuda gave an overview of R&D trends in the field of international network robots. Specifically, he talked about the NW and AP technology exhibitions shown at UNS2007, as well as the “Live! Commerce Akiba” exhibition held in Akihabara. In examples of overseas indicatives, he described “u-City,” “ARTEMIS,” and “UbiCom” of Korea.

At the lecture, Mr. Tokuda explained the importance of enabling ubiquitous network services in all zones, including spaces contained in close-at-home networks as well as areas that fall outside of networks. The key to this is integrating the three fields of 1) real space and cyberspace, 2) real objects and IT objects, and 3) IT services and non-IT services.

Says Mr. Tokuda, “We are working toward the creation of an all-new business model through the integration of ubiquitous networks and network-connected robots. To this end, we are already working on a demonstration of guidance services, as well as a collaborative platform involving different types of network robots. We are now in the second stage of this project, which is to popularize the network robots. Though we are faced with a variety of issues that need to be resolved, we are working toward realization of our goals.”

Issues for the Future

The two key issues related to the creation of new services combining ubiquitous networks and network robots are 1) the social aspect and 2) the economic aspect. On the social aspect, in addition to security and privacy guarantees, there are a range of other issues that must be addressed in order to provide services that offer safety and peace of mind, e.g. traceability (who did what for whom), who has the rights to access a given piece of information, and who controls and uses a given technology. These kinds of new services have a significant impact on society, as in Google’s SV (Street View). More than ever before, industry-academia-government tie-ups must examine the impact of the integration of ubiquitous networks and network-connected robots on society and move ahead with R&D in the field.