Robotics and Cyber-Physical Systems
Special Sessions with Presentations and Position Papers
IEEE/RSJ 2008
Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2008
A sequence of two special sessions is being organized at the IEEE/RSJ 2008 International Conference
on Intelligent RObots and Systems (IROS 2008) to address the relationships between robotics and the emerging area of cyber-physical systems (CPS). The plans for these special sessions, including a call for position papers and a description of travel support for presenters, are described below.
CPS refers to the deep and seamless integration of computational and physical resources to realize engineered systems that far exceed today's systems in autonomy, functionality, efficiency, usability, safety, and reliability. Examples of such systems and applications include future transportation systems, the intelligent power grid, and nano-scale precision manufacturing systems. The goals of research in CPS are to understand the fundamental science and to develop rapid, reliable design and integration techniques applicable to a wide variety of application domains.
Robotic systems are an important class of CPS. The ability of robots to interact intelligently with the world rests upon embedded computation and communication, real-time control, and perception of the world around them. Future robotic systems that will realize the vision of CPS include increasingly intelligent robotic surgery systems, robots for assisted living in smart-homes, and robot teams for exploration and emergency response. The goal of special sessions at IROS 2008 will be to inform the robotics community about opportunities in CPS research, and to identify research themes in robotics that generalize to the larger CPS domain and general themes from CPS that could advance robotics research.
Further information about CPS can be found by clicking here, which will take you to the web site for the CPS Summit, April 24-25, St. Louis, MO. This workshop sponsored by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) was held in conjunction with CPS Week, St. Louis, MO, April 22-24, 2008. The CPS Summit web site includes some relevant documents and links to web sites for a number of other CPS meetings and workshops.
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Case Studies in Cyber-Physical Systems:
Smart Prosthetic Hands and In-Vivo Platforms for NOTES Surgery
Prof. Peter Allen,
Columbia University
Absract
Cyber-Physical systems are emerging as an important component of
next-generation computing systems. In this talk, we first describe a a
new approach to prosthetics that use computational glue to link human
neural activity with control of a dexterous robotic hand to perform
grasping tasks. This requires an understanding of both how the neural
processes operate and how physical grasping is accomplished with
hands. Once the physical and computational requirements of these two
systems are understood, intelligent algorithms can be developed to
link the two systems.
In the second part of the talk, we discuss how Cyber-Physical systems
can be used in the emerging field of Natural Orifice Translumenal
Endoscopic Surgery (NOTES). We present a fully insertable
stereoscopic 3D imaging system that can serve as the basis for a
full-functioned end-effector platform to do surgery remotely inside
the body. These platforms combine computer augmented sensing and
control with the surgeon's own expertise to create a new generation of
Cyber-Physical surgical systems.
Overview of Cyber-Physical Systems
Prof. Michael Branicky,
National Science Foundation
Absract
The U.S. National Science Foundation is interested in supporting transformative research on the theory and applications of cyber-physical systems (CPS). The term "cyber" refers to the integration of computation, communication, and control. The CPS challenge is motivated by systems in which cyber and physical elements are deeply integrated and networked at all scales. This talk will present the motivation and vision behind CPS research and suggest connections between CPS and robotics.
A Roboticist's Take on Cyber Physical Systems
Prof. John Hollerbach,
University of Utah
Absract
The Cyber Physical Systems initiative is breathtakingly broad in scope
and ambition. Rationales for this initiative, that time and the
physical world need a stronger representation in computer science, and
conversely that computer science concepts need a stronger
representation in deployed computer-networked physical systems, are no
doubt generally true. The difficulty will be to find meaningful
commonalities among diverse applications. To a considerable extent,
robotics has been addressing many issues of importance for Cyber Physical
Systems, and this talk will lead a discussion as to what might be the
interaction of the robotics community with this initiative.
TBA
Prof. Takeo Kanade,
Carngegie Mellon University
Architectures, Abstractions and Algorithms for Networked Cyber Physical Systems
Prof. Vijay Kumar,
University of Pennsylvania
Absract
Cyber Physical Systems (CPS) require an integrated approach to control,
perception and communication which poses many challenges for large-scale
networks. Nature offers many proofs of concepts of collective behaviors
arising from local interactions between simple organisms. In many cases,
these behaviors are robust to noise in sensing and actuation, and resilient
to disturbances from the environment. Modeling such systems and developing
low dimensional abstractions are critical to understanding nature and to
designing networked CPS. We will describe a framework where low-dimensional
abstractions for the group can be used to design control systems for
individual units with guarantees at the group level. Case studies from
biology and robotics will be used as illustrative examples.
Robotics as Computation for Interaction with the Physical World
Prof. Daniela L. Rus,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
The recent progress in computation and hardware has given the age
of robotics a great leap forward. Computers have evolved from
mainframes to desktops, laptops and pervasive computing. Today's
computers are connected pervasively and often have perception
as a main operation goal. The next logical step in the evolution of
computation is the addition of actuation, which will transform the
world of personal computers into a world of personal robots.
This talk will discuss current opportunities for applying the
science of robotics to cyber-physical systems. Many existing
cyber-physical systems rely deeply on robotic technology.
We will survey recent technical advances in design, control, planning, perception, and networked control that can have a direct impact on
physical problems such as creating (1) intelligent transportation systems
that minimize congestion, (2) developing model-based sensor networks
with predictive powers such as warning for floods, and (3) developing
pervasive adaptive sampling and monitoring systems. We will close with
some challenges toward achieving highly capable cyber-physical systems.
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FIRST ROBOTICS-CPS SESSION (Chair - Jeff Trinkle)
(Rhodes 10, Track 18, 13h30-15h30)
- Invited Speakers
- CPS Initiative Overview (slides)
- Micheal Branicky, National Science Foundation
- A Roboticist’s Take on CPS (slides)
- John Hollerbach, University of Utah
- Architectures, Abstractions and Algorithms for Networked Cyber Physical Systems (slides)
- Vijay Kumar, University of Pennsylvania
- Position Papers
- Building Planet-Scale Macroscopes using Multitudes of Sensors and Robots (pdf) (slides)
- Gaurav S. Sukhatme, University of Southern California
- Think Globally, Act Locally (pdf)
- Geoff Gordon, Carnegie Mellon University
- Decision Theoretic Execution Strategies for Modularized Problem Solvers (pdf) (slides)
- Kris Hauser, Jean-Claude Latombe, Stanford University
- Panel Discusson
- Jeff Trinkle, Moderator
SECOND ROBOTICS-CPS SESSION (Chair - Jeff Trinkle)
(Rhodes 10, Track 18, 15h50-17h50)
- Invited Speakers
- CPS Initiative Overview (slides)
- Michael Branicky, National Science Foundation
- Case Studies in Cyber-Physical Systems:
Smart Prosthetic Hands and In-Vivo Platforms for NOTES Surgery (slides)
- Peter Allen, Columbia University
- Robotics as Computation for Interaction with the Physical World (slides)
- Daniela Rus, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- TBA
- Takeo Kanade, Carnegie Mellon University
- Position Papers
- Markov Random Fields Models for Multi-Robot Teams in Cyber-Physical Systems (pdf) (slides)
- Odest Chadwicke Jenkins, Brown University
- Human-Cyber-Physical Systems for Emergency Response (pdf) (slides)
- A. Ames, R. Murphy, D. Woods, J. Valasek, T. Zourntos, Texas A&M; M. Branlat, The Ohio State University
- Panel Discusson
- Jeff Trinkle, Moderator
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Robotics researchers are invited to submit brief position papers (no more than three pages) discussing issues related to all aspects of the relationships between robotics research and the CPS vision. Possible topics include:
- successes in robotics research that can be generalized to the broader CPS domain
- important robotics problems that could be addressed by a more general theory for CPS
- grand challenge problems
Submitted position papers will be posted on this web site. Also, a small set of position
papers will be selected for presentation in the special sessions.
To be considered for presentation at IROS 2008, position papers must be submitted no later than Friday, September 5, 2008.
Position papers not exceeding three pages should be submitted as pdf files to Bruce H. Krogh ( krogh@ece.cmu.edu).
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A proposal has been submitted to the U.S. National Science Foundation to provide
travel support up to $1,000 for U.S. presenters of position papers selected for presentation
in the IROS 2008 Special Sessions on Robotics and CPS. Submissions are particularly encouraged
from graduate students, young professors, minorities and women for consideration for
this support.
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The IROS 2008 Special Sessions on Robotics and CPS are being organized by:
Jeff Trinkle
Professor and Chairman
Department of Computer Science
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Troy, NY 12180-3590
Email: trink at cs dot rpi dot edu
and
Bruce H. Krogh
Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Email: krogh@ece.cmu.edu
Feel free to contact either of the organizers for further information.
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