technical activities report

Technical ActivitiesReport

Ciro Montedoro, VP TA

Technical ActivitiesReport

Ken Goldberg, VP TA

january 2007

RAS Technical Activities Board

• Ken Goldberg, VP Technical Activities

[email protected]

• RAS Officers• 45 TC co-chairs• 15 DLs• Frank van der Stappen, Assoc. VPTA• Katsu Yamane, Assoc. VPTA• “At-large” members: Tatsuo Arai,

Alicia Casals, Satoshi Tadokoro, and Sebastian Thrun

TAB Meeting, ICRA, Rome, April 2007

1. GOLD Lunch, Future of Robot Operating Systems2. Review of TCs and DLs: Most Active TC and DL3. Revisions to RAS Field of Interest (FOI) Statement 4. Proposed Wiki on RAS Research Milestones5. Increasing TC's role in ICRA, IROS, CASE Session

Assignments6. "Birds of a Feather" meetings during conferences7. Other Topics

TAB Report, ICRA, Orlando, 20 May 2006

1. Approved: Establish 2 New TCs:• Algorithms for Planning and Control of Robot Motion• Space Robotics

2. Approved: Expanding DL program from 15 to 24 DLS3. Approved: Most Active DL Award (+$1000/year)4. Approved: Expand Young Professionals Lunch to IROS (+

$5000/year)5. Approved: Approve TAB Charter

TAB Report, IROS, Shanghai, Oct 2006

1. Review Past Work: TAB meeting, Young Professionals Lunch 2. Proposal: Name Change:

1. Young Professionals Lunch2. GOLD Lunch (Graduates of the Last Decade)

3. Selected RAS Technical Milestones4. Quick Review of TCs5. Proposal: Name Change

1. TC on Semiconductor Factory Automation2. TC on Semiconductor Manufacturing Automation

6. Proposal: Establish New TC:• Technical Committee on Haptics (TCH)

7. New DL Candidates from Under-Represented Areas8. Future Work: RAS Focus of Interest, other ideas

1. Committee Last Updated2. Aerial Robotics and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles September 30, 20063. Agricultural Robotics October 22, 20064. Bio Robotics January 25, 20075. Computer & Robot Vision April 1, 20076. Humanoid Robotics October 8, 20067. Human-Robot Interaction & Coordination September 30, 20068. Intelligent Transportation Systems April 3, 20079. Manufacturing Automation April 6, 200710. Micro/Nano Robotics and Automation February 11, 200711. Networked Robots March 1, 200712. Programming Environments in Robotics & Automation January 8, 200713. Prototyping for Robotics and Automation March 12, 200614. Rehabilitation Robotics April 6, 200715. Robo-Ethics January 25, 200716. Safety Security and Rescue Robotics August 31, 200517. Service Robotics January 12, 200718. Semiconductor Manufacturing Automation January 16, 200719. Surgical Robotics January 25, 200720. Underwater Robotics March 5, 200621. Algorithms for Planning and Control of Robot Motion January 18, 200722. Space Robotics February 27, 200723. Haptics April 4, 2007

GOLD LunchWednesday, 12:40-2:00pm

2007 IEEE Conference on Automation Science and Engineering

(IEEE CASE’07)September 22-25, Scottsdale, AZ, USA

Microsoft Robotics StudioReleased Summer 2006

Panasonic Telegarden, $5000

RAS Technical Committees1. Aerial Robotics2. Agricultural Robotics3. Bio-Robotics4. Comp. and Robot Vision5. Haptics6. Human-Robot

Interaction7. Humanoid Robotics8. Intelligent

Transportation9. Manufacturing

Automation10. Micro/Nano Robotics11. Motion Planning12. Networked Robotics

13. Programming Environments

14. Prototyping for R&A15. Rehabilitation

Robotics16. Robo-Ethics17. Safety, Security, and

Rescue18. Semiconductor &

Factory Automation19. Service Robots20. Space Robots21. Surgical Robotics22. Underwater Robotics

Aerial Robotics and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Flying opens new opportunities to robotically perform field services and tasks like search and rescue, observation and mapping. Key areas to be addressed include autonomous missions, localization and multi-vehicle coordination.

Activities:•IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine Special Issue "Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: Enabling Technologies and Roadmap for Autonomy", Guest Editors: K.P. Valavanis (USF) and G.J. Vachtsevanos (Georgia Tech)

•Springer-Verlag Book on UAVs (to be published)

•2006 2nd Annual Indoor Aerial Robot Competition, May 7, 2006 - Philadelphia•ICRA 2006:

•Full day workshop, “UAVs: Missions and Payloads”•Full day tutorial, “Hands-on Lessons for UAV Construction”

•To Join, Contact Paul Oh: [email protected]

IEEE Robotics & Automation SocietyAgricultural Robotics Technical Committee

Australia and theNational Centre for Engineering in Agriculturedevelop Vision/GPS/Inertial guidance systemsfor farm machinery

University of Southern Queensland researchers and the National Centre for Engineering in Agriculturedevelop image processing systems for livestock recognition

University of Georgia researchers develop networked autonomous GPS guided farm vehicles

To Join: Jason Stone: [email protected] John Billingsley: [email protected]

Contact email to join: • Jorge Solis (Waseda University) [email protected]

Recent Advances:

TC Co-Chairs:

Atsuo Takanishi, Waseda University

Blake Hannaford, University of Washington

TC on Bio Robotics

The WABIAN-2R reproduces more closely the human-like walking with stretched knees, heel contact and toe-off motions. Reference: Y. Ogura, K. Shimomura, H. Kondo, A. Morishima, T. Okubo, S. Momoki, H. Lim, A. Takanishi. “Human-like walking with knee stretched, heel-contact and toe-off motion by a humanoid robot,” In Proc. IROS 2006, pp. 3976-3981.

A novel bio-inspired articulated robotic probe (HARP) was developed based on a snake-like mechanism for minimally invasive surgery. Reference: S. Au, P. Dilworth, H. Herr. “An ankle-foot emulation system for the study of human walking biomechanics”, In Proc. ICRA 2006, pp. 2939-2945.

A novel bio-inspired articulated robotic probe (HARP) was developed based on a snake-like mechanism for minimally invasive surgery. Reference: A. Degani, H. Choset, A. Wolf, T. Ota, M.A. Zenati, “Percutaneous Intrapericardial interventions using a highly articulated robotic probe”, Proc. BIOROB 2006, pp. 7-12.

Remote-controlled surgical robots promise to save lives by imitating surgeons’ dexterity in cases where patient cannot be transferred to the hospital. Reference: J. Rose and B. Hannaford, “DOC at a distance”, IEEE Spectrum, Vol. 43, No. 10, pp. 28-33, October 2006.

Algorithms for Planning and Control of Robot Motion

To Join: Oliver Brock ([email protected])Tsutomu Hasegawa ([email protected]); Steve LaValle ([email protected])Thierry Simeon ([email protected])

Funding:SToMP: $7.8 million DARPA program headed by UIUC to investigate sensor-based planning and associated mathematical and algorithmic challenges; others: Penn, U of Chicago, Rochester, Carnegie-Mellon, Melbourne University, Arizona State, and Bell Labs/Lucent

Applications in Molecular Biology:Protein folding kinetics (Texas A&M, Stanford); Simulating large-amplitude molecular motion (LAAS); Protein structure prediction (UMass Amherst); other results at CMU, Rice, …

Integration of Planning and Control:Planning based on local feedback

control policies (Connor, Choset, Rizzi, CMU); others results at UIUC, UMass

Amherst, …

Real-World Implementation:Motion planning algorithms are being implemented on real-world humanoid

robots at U Tokyo, AIST, CMU, …

..

To join: [email protected]

IEEE Robotics & Automation SocietyComputer and Robot Vision Technical Committee

Chairs: Danica Kragic (KTH) and Ioannis Kakadiaris (UH)

Vision Based Simultaneous Localization and Mapping

Real-time, Stereo Based Object Recognition and Pose Estimation

Vision Based Activity Interpretation for Robot Learning by Demonstration

Haptics Technical Committee

Contact co-chairs to join: Hong Tan [email protected] Harders [email protected] Kajimoto [email protected]

Recent advances: 2006 conferences best papers:

Q. Wang and V. Hayward, “Compact, Portable, Modular, High-performance Distributed Tactile Display Device Based on Lateral Skin Deformation”, Haptic Symposium, pp. 10-16, 2006.

Y.-S. Lee, S. Lai-Yuen, “Energy-Field Optimization and Haptic-Based Molecular Docking and Assembly Search System for Computer-Aided Molecular Design”, Haptic Symposium, pp. 34-40, 2006.

M. Reiner, D. Hecht, G. Halevy, M. Furman, “Semantic Interference and Facilitation in Haptic Perception”, EuroHaptics Conference, pp. 31-35, 2006.

E. van West, A. Yamamoto, T. Higuchi, "Development of ‘Haptic Tweezer’, a non-contact object handling system using magnetic levitation and haptic device“, EuroHaptics Conference, pp. 87-92, 2006.

New consumer level low-cost haptic interface (Novint Falcon)

Human-Robot Interaction and Coordination Co-Chairs: Cecilia Laschi , Cynthia Breazeal, Yasushi Nakauchi

• Recent Technical Developments– Computational models of core human socio-

cognitive skills (such as perspective taking and shared attention) have been successfully demonstrated to improve the quality of human-robot teamwork and interaction

– HRI frameworks have successfully been applied to traditional machine learning methods to enable humanoid and mobile robots to learn from natural human interactions via imitation, demonstration, and tutelage.

– The HRI community has embarked on developing evaluation metrics that embrace multi-disciplinary perspectives such as human factors, psychology, robotics, etc. for diverse areas of HRI such as Urban Search and Rescue, Social Robotics, H-R teams for Space Exploration, and more.

• To Join: [email protected] (teleop)-astronaut teams at NASA JSC

DB learning by demonstration to play air-hockey at ATR

Leonardo sharing attention during collaborative tasks at MIT Media Lab

Humanoid RoboticsIEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots 2005 Event - conference December 5, 2005 - Tsukuba, Japan The conference theme was "Humanoid Robots that Interact with Humans and the Society," reflecting growing interests in personal service and entertainment robots that can interact with humans. The conference was part of a series started in Boston in 2000, and traveled through Tokyo (2001), Karlsruhe/Munich (2003), and Santa Monica (2004), and brought the spirit to Tsukuba. The 2005 World Exposition, Aichi, Japan had taken place from March 25 to September 25, 2005 with a theme on "nature's wisdom" for rediscovering the relationship between humanity and technology, and featuring the robotic exposition. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, anthropomorphism in robotics (hardware/software/theory), Robotics for human science (behavioral/psychological/cognitive/neural science), Human science for robotics, Human-robot interaction, Humanoid robot applications, Key-components for humanoid robots.

•To Join:Sugano, Shigeki ([email protected])Hirukawa, Hirohisa (hiro. [email protected])Lee, C. S. George ([email protected])

The DARPA Grand Challenge

•The first race ever that saw 5 autonomous vehicles reach the finish line after 130+ miles of desert, rough terrain, and extreme conditions.

•The first time that unmanned vehicles succeed in this extremely complex task.

Christian Laugier; Urbano Nunes; Alberto Broggi

Cybercars: a new approach for sustainable mobility

Emerging as an alternative to the private passenger car, cybercars try to offer the same flexibility and much less nuisances based on fully automated electrical vehicles with on-demand and door-to-door capability. Fleets of such vehicles are being deployed in several worldwide cities and are already operational in specific environments such as shuttle services for passenger transportation.

Steering Control

Combination of Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) and Lane Keep Assist System (LKAS).

Join: Urbano Nunes, [email protected]

Manufacturing Automation

Co-Chairs:• Michael Yu Wang

Chinese University of Hong Kong

• Zexiang Li Hong Kong University of Science & Technology

• Kin Huat LowNanyang Technological University, Singapore

"Steady-State Throughput and Scheduling Analysis of Multi-Cluster Tools for Semiconductor Manufacturing"Jingang Yi, (Lam Research Corporation), Shengwei Ding, (University ofCalifornia at Berkeley) and Dezhen Song, (Texas A&M University, USA)

"Geometric Computation for Assembly Planning with Planar Toleranced Parts"Yaron Ostrovsky-Berman and Leo Joskowicz (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel)

"Analysis of Andon Type Transfer Production Lines: A Quantitative Approach"Jingshan Li and Dennis E. Blumenfeld (General Motors Research & Development Center, USA)

To join:• Kin Huat Low

[email protected]

Micro / Nano Robotics and Automation TC

Contact Co-Chairs to Join: Fumihito Arai [email protected] Chaillet [email protected] Requicha [email protected]

Recent Advances:Electron micrograph of a nanoactuator built from telescoping carbon nanotubes. Note the difference in length between top and bottom panels. Reference: L. Dong, B. J. Nelson, T. Fukuda and F. Arai, “Towards Linear Nano Servomotors”, IEEE Trans. on Automation Science & Engineering, 2006, pp. 228-235.

Fully automatic manipulation of nanoparticles with sizes ~ 10 nm. Planned sequence of operations on left AFM image result on the pattern on right. Reference: B. Mokaberi, J. Yun, M. Wang and A. A. G. Requicha, “Automated Nanomanipulation with Atomic Force Microscopes”, ICRA 07, Rome, Italy, 2007.

Networked RobotsA "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.

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.

Wolfram Burgard, Nak-Young Chong, and Gaurav SukhatmeFounding Co-Chairs: Ken Goldberg and Roland Siegwart To Join: [email protected]

Programming Environments in Robotics & AutomationAdvances in Robot Software Development• Domain Analysis : identification of issues and challenges in

robot software development– Hardware heterogeneity– Prototype/Simulation/Reality

• Component-based Development : definition of reusable software component models– Component internal behavior– Component external interface– Component integration

• Framework-based Development : definition of software architectures for robot control application– Middleware for distribution– Functionality customization

To Join:Brugali, Davide Brugali.unibg.it

Prototyping for Robotics & Prototyping for Robotics & AutomationAutomation

• TC Chairs:TC Chairs:– I-Ming Chen (Nanyang Technological I-Ming Chen (Nanyang Technological

UniversityUniversity– Metin Sitti (Carnegie Mellon Metin Sitti (Carnegie Mellon

University)University)• Recent Technical DevelopmentsRecent Technical Developments

– Spherical Actuators (3-DOF ball-joint Spherical Actuators (3-DOF ball-joint like direct-drive actuator)like direct-drive actuator)

– Micro- & Nano manipulation Micro- & Nano manipulation components (Flexure-based components (Flexure-based Electromagnetic Linear Actuator for Electromagnetic Linear Actuator for high precision force control and high precision force control and positioning)positioning)

– Reconfigurable Automation Reconfigurable Automation (Reconfigurable and modular robotics)(Reconfigurable and modular robotics)

• To Join: I-Ming Chen To Join: I-Ming Chen ([email protected])([email protected])

Spherical actuator

Flexure linear actuator

Reconf. automation

Rehabilitation Robotics

Michelle J. Johnson Eugenio Guglielmelli Takahori Shibata Marquette University, USA Università Campus Bio-Medico, Italy AIST, Japan

(From RAS Area 1: Americas) (From RAS Area 2: Europe, Middle Est & Africa) (From RAS Area 3: Asia & Oceania)

• MEMOS is a novel low-cost, 2 d.o.f. mechatronic system for elbow-shoulder rehabilitation

• Developed by the ARTS Lab of the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna (Pisa) and experimented at Fondazione S. Maugeri (Veruno), Italy

• Preliminary clinical trials on post-stroke patients show very encouraging results

• This robot consists of two Stewart Platform type legs and waist with a passenger seat

• Developed by Waseda University (Tokyo) in co-operation with the TMSUK company

• Preliminary tests confirmed the stability and effectiveness of the system carrying one 60 Kg passenger

• The KineAssist is a robotic device for gait and balance motor training

• It results from a partnership of the Rehab Institute of Chicago with the IDEO company

• Key novel feature is therapist-robot physical interaction and co-operation for assisting the patient exercise

RECENT ACHIEVEMENTSROBOT-THERAPIST CO-OPERATION FOR LOWER LIMB MOTOR THERAPY

A NEW SIMPLE SYSTEM FOR ROBOT-MEDIATED UPPER LIMB MOTOR THERAPY

THE WL-16 LEGGED CHAIR FOR MOBILITY OF THE ELDERLY AND THE DISABLED

Gianmarco Veruggio <[email protected]> (Corresp. Co-chair)Ronald C. Arkin <[email protected]> (Co-chair)Atsuo Takanishi <[email protected]> (Co-chair)

Roboethics is Ethics applied to Robotics. It is the human-centered ethics guiding the design,

construction and use of the robots.

[email protected]

MEMBERCOUNTER

78

RECENT DEVELOPEMENTS• New website http://www.roboethics.org/ieee_ras_tc/ • Humanoids’06: During the Poster Session of the IEEE-

RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots, poster displaying the TC activities and announcing the ICRA07 Workshop on Roboethics.

• ICRA’07 Workshop on Roboethics, Rome, 14 April 2007. http://www.roboethics.org/icra07The goal of the Full Day Workshop is a cross-cultural update for engineering scientists who wish to monitor the medium and long effects of applied robotics technologies.

Robo-Ethics

Safety Security and Rescue Robotics

* IEEE International Workshop on Safety, Securitiy and Rescue Robotics (SSRR 2006) Workshop August 25, 2006 - NIST, Gaithersburg, MD, USA Contact Information: Adam Jacoff (adam dot jacoff at nist dot gov) * IEEE International Workshop on Safety, Security and Rescue Robotics (SSRR 2005) Workshop June 9, 2005 - Kobe, Japan

o Nardi, Daniele ([email protected]) + Univ. Roma "La Sapienza", Dip. Informatica e Sistemistica o Voyles, Richard (voyles.cs.umn.edu) + University of Minnesota o Matsuno, Fumitoshi (matsuno.hi.mce.uec. Ac.jp) + The University of Electro-Communications + corresponding chair - send email to join committee * Committee Chairs Emeritus: o Tadokoro, Satoshi (tadokoro.rm.is.tohoku.ac. jp) + Tohoku University

To Join: : Satoshi Tadokoro ([email protected])

Service Robots: Robotics and Automation TC

Contact Co-Chairs to Join: Hadi Moradi [email protected] Muscato [email protected]

Recent Advances:Robot learns to grasp everyday chores, Stanford Report, November 8, 2006.

Brain Waves Guide Walking Robots, Discovery News, 1/10/07.

Space Robotics

• Founding co-chairs :• Rick Wagner (NGC)

• Dimi Apostolopoulos (CMU)

• Hobson Lane (Northrop Grumman Corp.)

• Richard Volpe (JPL)

• Membership increased to 13 in 2006.

• Cooperation with other organizations initiated

• The TC membership voted overwhelmingly to broaden the initial scope of the TC from orbital (in-space) robotics only to include planetary robotics.

• An ICRA ’07 workshop on Space Robotics was proposed and accepted by the ICRA committee.

To Join: [email protected]

IEEE Robotics and Automation's Technical Committee on

Surgical Robotics

To join, please contact Corresponding Chair:Jaydev P. Desai - [email protected]

Some examples of recent applications…

Locomoting Devices

MRI-Compatible Robotics

Credit: S. DiMaio et al., BioRob 2006

Credit: Metin Sitti, CMU

TC Co-Chairs:Jaydev P. Desai, [email protected] Tendick, [email protected]

Mamoru Mitsuishi, [email protected]

Automatic Detection of Instruments in Laparoscopic

Images

Credit: (Voros, et. al., TIMC)

Underwater Robotics Co-Chairs: J. Yuh and Dan Stilwell

The Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) has developed a deep-sea vehicle, URASHIMA for ocean science and exploration of ocean resources. This vehicle is one of the first underwater vehicles powered by fuel cell technology. http://www.jamstec.go.jp/

The Autonomous System Laboratory (ASL) of the University of Hawaii, MASE, Inc, and The Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) have developed the SAUVIM AUV for intervention missions in up to 6,000m depth and demonstrated its autonomous robotic arm operation in 2005. http://www.eng.hawaii.edu/~asl/

To Join: stilwell.vt.edu

RAS Technical Committees1. Aerial Robotics2. Agricultural Robotics3. Bio-Robotics4. Comp. and Robot Vision5. Haptics6. Human-Robot

Interaction7. Humanoid Robotics8. Intelligent

Transportation9. Manufacturing

Automation10. Micro/Nano Robotics11. Motion Planning12. Networked Robotics

13. Programming Environments

14. Prototyping for R&A15. Rehabilitation

Robotics16. Robo-Ethics17. Safety, Security, and

Rescue18. Semiconductor &

Factory Automation19. Service Robots20. Space Robots21. Surgical Robotics22. Underwater Robotics

EuropeWolfram BurgardAlicia CasalsJean Paul LaumondBruno SicilianoRoland Siegwart

AmericasNancy AmatoVijay KumarPeter LuhDeirdre MeldrumMetin Sitti

RAS Distinguished Lecturers

Asia and PacificHugh Durrant-WhyteShuuji KajitaYoshihiko NakamuraShigeki SuganoMichael Wang

Appointing 9 New Distinguished Lecturers:

3 from Asia:India: N. Vishu ViswanadhamTaiwan: Li-Chen FuKorea: Frank Park

3 from Europe:Sweden/Norway: Klas NilssonIsrael: Dan HalperinAfrica/Egypt/Iran: Majid Nili

3 from North Americas:Mexico: Alfredo WeitzefeldCanada: Tim SalcudeanSouth America: Mario Campos

RAS Field of Interest Statement (FOI) (1998):

The Society is interested in both applied and theoretical issues in robotics and automation. Robotics is here defined to include intelligent machines and systems used, for example, in space exploration, human services, or manufacturing; whereas automation includes the use of automated methods in various applications, for example, factory, office, home, or transportation systems to improve performance and productivity.

Scope of T-ASE

The IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering (T-ASE) publishes fundamental papers on Automation, emphasizing scientific results that advance efficiency, quality, productivity, and reliability. T-ASE encourages interdisciplinary approaches from computer science, control systems, electrical engineering, mathematics, mechanical engineering, operations research, and other fields. We welcome results relevant to industries such as agriculture, biotechnology, healthcare, home automation, maintenance, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, retail, security, service, supply chains, and transportation. T-ASE addresses a research community willing to integrate knowledge across disciplines and industries. For this purpose, each paper shall include a Note to Practitioners that summarizes how its results can be applied or how they might be extended to apply in practice.

Scope of T-RO

The IEEE Transactions on Robotics (T-RO) publishes fundamental papers on all aspects of Robotics, featuring interdisciplinary approaches from computer science, control systems, electrical engineering, mathematics, mechanical engineering, and other fields. Robots and intelligent machines and systems are critical in areas such as industrial applications; service and personal assistants; surgical operations; space, underwater, and remote exploration; entertainment; safety, search, and rescue; military applications; agriculture applications; and intelligent vehicles. Special emphasis in the T-RO is placed on intelligent machines and systems for unstructured environments, where a significant portion of the environment is unknown and cannot be directly sensed or controlled.

RAS Field of Interest Statement (FOI) (2007):

New ideas:

How to facilitate TC Chairs role in ICRA, IROS, CASE Session Assignment?

TC’s organizing informal “Birds of a Feather” meetings (lunches, dinners, gatherings at the hotel bar, etc) during conferences

TC’s promoting conference sessions based on advance conf announcements

Coordinating RAS Research Efforts:

Benchmarks, Metrics, and Milestones

TAB Report, IROS, Shanghai, Oct 2006

1. Review Past Work: TAB meeting, Young Professionals Lunch 2. Proposal: Name Change:

1. Young Professionals Lunch2. GOLD Lunch (Graduates of the Last Decade)

3. Selected RAS Technical Milestones4. Quick Review of TCs5. Proposal: Name Change

1. TC on Semiconductor Factory Automation2. TC on Semiconductor Manufacturing Automation

6. Proposal: Establish New TC:• Technical Committee on Haptics (TCH)

7. New DL Candidates from Under-Represented Areas8. Future Work: RAS Focus of Interest, other ideas

Springer Handbook of Robotics

Bruno SicilianoOussama KhatibEditors

Duties of the VPTA The Vice President of Technical Activities (VPTA) is elected by the Adcomm and serves

a 2 year term. 1. Encourage RAS Research and Technical Activity2. Organize and Chair semi-annual TAB meetings 3. Coordinate TC Activity4. Administer DL Program (and funding requests)5. Organize the annual Young Professionals Lunch at ICRA6. Serve as a reliable point of contact for the TAB7. Attend Excomm and Adcomm meetings8. Administer budget for TC promotion and website improvement9. Administer budget DL budget (check the amount)10. Administer Annual Most Active TC Award11. Administer Annual Most Active DL Award [provisional]12. Coordinate and promtly submit semi-annual reports to the Adcomm13. Maintain the TAB website14. Communicate at least twice a year with TC Chairs15. Promptly respond to inquiries from fellow researchers and the press16. Alert President about major research developments17. Propose New Initiatives to the TAB, President, and Adcomm18. Recommend TC Chairs to the President-elect19. Recommend Distinguished Lecturers to the President-elect20. Recommend two Associate VPs TAB (one per region)21. Recommend new TCs to the Adcomm22. Recommend retiring TCs to the Adcomm

technical activities report

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