1. Autonomous Robots Cool stuff at the intersection of AI and Robotics Dylan A. Shell 19 th April 2011, CSCE 181

2. “Autonomous”

3. “Robot”

4. “Programmable”

5. Autonomous robot in practice?

8. Trends: Actuator Systems, Materials and Fabrication Physical assistance of humans by robots Example: Carrying humans. Power suits, prosthetics, wearable robots High-power actuators to complement and enhance. Micro mobile sensor nodes Applications: Security, pervasiveness Challenges: Fabrication of nano- and micro-scale robots Domestic robotics: domestic and assistant robots Challenge: low-cost, low-inertia.

9. Trends: Energy and Power Harvesting Idea: Constraints on storage can be relaxed once you can actively acquire energy Efficiency How can we use less energy for the task? Miniaturization Challenge: one size does not fit all robots!

10. Trends: Human-Robot Interfaces Learning from Demonstration Idea: Robots don't need an expert programmer, but learn from observation and mimicry Example: Industrial and logistics robots learn task from experience. Adaptation How to improve task execution automatically? Group interfaces Example: coordinated deployment of search and rescue vehicles. How does the team of humans interact with the team of responders?

11. Trends: Planning and Control Novel environments How to move to different environments without reprogramming? Task variation and dynamics Problem: Brittle to changes in task. Logistics problems Example: move goods through a network from producers to consumers, given production, delivery and time constraints Speed How do we improve response times? How do we control fast-moving vehicles?

12. Trends: Perception and Learning New sensors How do we go from a task-description to the sensors required? What are the fundamental physical phenomena that should be exploited? Sensing doesn't solve the whole perception problem Questions: Representation, scaling, integration with planning What to learn? How do we improve response times? How do we control fast-moving vehicles?

13. Credits Richard Vaughan's of SFU's CMPT889 Autonomous Robots Notes, Summer 2004. Oxymoron and definitions verbatim from his notes. A roadmap for US robotics – From Internet to Robotics. (The CCC report)