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Robots
00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 5G, Robots and Transportation Watch Closely Informs Strategy Act Now
3RD YEAR ON THE LIST
Robots-as-a-Service (RaaS)
KEY INSIGHT EXAMPLES DISRUPTIVE IMPACT EMERGING PLAYERS
Autonomous vehicles are robots that use Using the cloud certainly offers advan- • Amazon AWS Robomaker
Cloud robotics and a network to access maps, understand tages: greater efficiencies and opportu- • Google Cloud Robotics
automation is a field spatial information, and more in order nities for data sharing and insights, as
to make decisions. Each vehicle’s data is well as collective learning across robotic • Fetch Cloud Robotics
in which physical
indexed to the network and optimized networks and shared platforms. Soon,
robots share data and for further use by researchers and other businesses will be able to take advantage
code, and perform vehicles. This is an example of cloud of cloud-based robotics for a variety
robotics, which is used within auton- of uses, including strategic warehouse
computations remotely omous driving as well as in warehouse selection in anticipation of seasonal
Microsoft’s partnership with Open Robotics will
via networks, rather automation and logistics. Amazon’s AWS retail spikes, security in large buildings,
open the Azure cloud platform to ROS developers. than within their RoboMaker is a cloud robotics service and factory automation. There will be
created to develop, test, and deploy millions of implementations of RaaS over
containers alone. intelligent robotics applications at scale. the next five years, which could generate
Its partners include Nvidia, Qualcomm, billions of dollars of revenue.
and UP Squared, and it supports the
most widely used open-source robotics
software framework, Robot Operating
System (ROS). Google’s Cloud Robotics
Core is an open-source platform that
provides digital infrastructure essential to
building and running robotics solutions
for business automation.
21 © 2021 Future Today Institute
00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 5G, Robots and Transportation Watch Closely Informs Strategy Act Now
4TH YEAR ON THE LIST
Cobots
KEY INSIGHT EXAMPLES DISRUPTIVE IMPACT EMERGING PLAYERS
Collaborative robots are finding more As 5G comes online and reduces latency, • Massachusetts Institute
Collaborative robots— widespread use in industrial settings, cobots will process spatial data at fast of Technology’s Interactive
or cobots—work which can often prove challenging for enough speeds to adapt to environmen- Robotics Group
humans alone. ABB’s YuMi is a cobot tal changes. Today, collaborative robots
alongside humans • Sapienza University of Rome
that works alongside humans, assisting make up just 3% of the current installed
or together with with repetitive tasks. In China, auto- robot base around the world, but that’s • Johns Hopkins Applied
Physics Laboratory
other machines. motive components supplier Hella uses going to change. According to the Inter-
YuMi to help workers assemble parts. national Federation of Robotics, collab- • Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
Teams of robots can Comau’s Advanced Use Robotic Arm orative robots are the fastest growing
communicate with one (AURA) is a high-payload cobot that segment of new robot sales.
another about when combines vision technology, laser area
scanners, and a touch-sensitive tactile
Cobots are used in a variety of settings.
to wait, when to move, skin that allows it to slow its speed and
when to carry out an force when it comes into contact with a
human operator.
activity, or even to ask
what to do next.
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00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 5G, Robots and Transportation Watch Closely Informs Strategy Act Now
3RD YEAR ON THE LIST
Autonomous, Programmable Robot Swarms
KEY INSIGHT EXAMPLES DISRUPTIVE IMPACT EMERGING PLAYERS
Researchers at Harvard University’s The possibilities are staggering: Auton- • Academy of Opto-Electronics at
Autonomous Wyss Institute are experimenting with omous robot teams could be used to in- the Chinese Academy of Sciences
robot swarms are different form factors drawn from spect dams and bridges, build complicated • Wyss Institute at Harvard University
nature. They developed robots that can 3D structures, and lay protective barriers
coordinated and • Amazon Robotics
autonomously drive interlocking steel in the case of toxic chemical spills—free-
distributed to perform sheet piles into soil. In the future, robots ing up their human counterparts and
complex tasks in a like these could be used to build retaining keeping them out of harm’s way.
walls or check dams for erosion control.
Robot bees could be the future of agriculture. more efficient way Another project, called Kilobots, involves
than a single robot or 1,024 tiny robots working collectively to
non-networked group self-assemble and perform a programmed
task. Walmart filed a patent for robot
of robots could. bees, which would work collaboratively
in teams to pollinate crops autonomous-
ly. If the project works at scale, it could
potentially counterbalance the effects of
the world’s honeybee population decline.
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00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 5G, Robots and Transportation Watch Closely Informs Strategy Act Now
3RD YEAR ON THE LIST
Self-Assembling Robots
KEY INSIGHT EXAMPLES DISRUPTIVE IMPACT EMERGING PLAYERS
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Self-assembling robots offer a host of • The Modular Robotics Laboratory
A new generation of developed a set of robots called M-Blocks possibilities for medicine, manufacturing, at the University of Pennsylvania
robots can now self- that use a barcode system to communi- construction, and the military. The MIT • MIT Computer Science and Artificial
cate. They can identify each other and Computer Science and Artificial Intelli-
assemble, merge, split, Intelligence Laboratory
move as needed to perform designated gence Laboratory built a self-assembling
and repair themselves. tasks, which at the moment include robot called Primer that is controlled by
forming a straight line and moving down magnetic fields. It can put on exoskeleton
a pathway. The Modular Robotics Labo- parts to help it walk, roll, sail, or glide
ratory at the University of Pennsylvania better, depending on the environment.
developed SMORES-EP robots—tiny, Researchers at Georgia Institute of Tech-
cube-shaped, wheeled robots with sen- nology and China’s Peking University
sors and cameras. Moving independently discovered a new technique that mimics
M-Blocks are tiny, cube-shaped wheeled robots and docking with nearby modules, they automatic origami—in initial testing,
with sensors and cameras.
can form different structures and even structures could fold and unfold on their
self-assemble to lift objects and drop own using inexpensive liquid polymers
them off. They also created Variable To- and LED projector bulbs. Self-assembling
pology Trusses, a new class of robot that robots will be tremendous assets in emer-
can quickly reconfigure itself. gency response situations. Imagine a set
of robots forming a temporary staircase
to rescue someone from a burning build-
ing, or a set of bots that can lock together
to form a bridge over flooded roads.
24 © 2021 Future Today Institute
00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 5G, Robots and Transportation Watch Closely Informs Strategy Act Now
4TH YEAR ON THE LIST
Robot Compilers
KEY INSIGHT EXAMPLES DISRUPTIVE IMPACT EMERGING PLAYERS
Today, the process of designing, pro- Researchers from the Laboratory for Em- • MIT Computer Science and Artificial
We will soon tell gramming, and building robots is bedded Machines and Ubiquitous Robots Intelligence Laboratory
computer systems time-intensive—and the robots’ capabili- at the University of California, Los Ange- • Laboratory for Embedded Machines
ties are limited by original specifications. les; MIT Computer Science and Artificial
what tasks we need and Ubiquitous Robots at the Universi-
In the future, advanced compilers will Intelligence Laboratory, University of ty of California, Los Angeles
completed, and they enable much faster conceptualization and Pennsylvania; and Harvard University
will automatically fabrication for a host of different tasks. are developing new methods for rapid
robot fabrication. 3D robotic systems can
fabricate new robots now be produced using basic software
for the job. Robot and programmed using natural language
compilers would offer commands. Fabricating programmable
robots may not exactly be a simple, DIY
greater efficiencies, weekend project, but promising research
big cost savings, and indicates that robot compilers could soon
enable people with limited technical
increased production knowledge to sketch, design, fabricate,
for manufacturers in and control a robot drawn straight from
every industry. their imagination.
Advanced compilers will supercharge robot
fabrication.
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00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 5G, Robots and Transportation Watch Closely Informs Strategy Act Now
5TH YEAR ON THE LIST
Soft Robotics
KEY INSIGHT EXAMPLES DISRUPTIVE IMPACT EMERGING PLAYERS
Researchers at Worcester Polytechnic In- Massachusetts Institute of Technology • Harvard Biodesign Lab
Soft robotics are stitute created a robotic snake that could engineers created soft and compact 3D • Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies
created to mimic living navigate through rubble or confined printed structures that can be guided
spaces. Bioengineering researchers at the using magnets. The hope is that they can • University of California, Los Angeles,
organisms. Made of Samueli School of Engineering
University of California, Los Angeles, someday help control biomedical devices,
flexible materials, they developed a tissue-based soft robot that take images within the body, clear arte- • MIT Computer Science and Artificial
move in fluid ways and mimics the biomechanics of a stingray. rial blockages, deliver targeted drugs to Intelligence Laboratory’s Soft Contact
Scientists at the BioRobotics Institute specific body parts, or even extract tissue Modeling Group
adapt in real time to Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies in samples. Researchers at Cornell Univer- • Worcester Polytechnic Institute
their surroundings. Italy created a robot octopus, capable of sity developed a robot capable of “sweat-
emulating the animal’s agile motions. To ing.” They built a soft robotic muscle that
replicate the biology of an octopus, they can autonomously regulate its internal
built computer models using exact mea- temperature, just like living organisms
surements and then experimented with do. Someday soon, soft robotics will
a number of soft actuators to develop let us enter and explore environments
artificial muscles. previously unreachable by conventional
methods: deep ocean waters, the terrain
of Mars, and perhaps even the gushing
rivers of blood inside our own bodies.
This robot snake would investigate disasters.
Image credit: Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
26 © 2021 Future Today Institute
00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 5G, Robots and Transportation Watch Closely Informs Strategy Act Now
4TH YEAR ON THE LIST
Smart Dust
KEY INSIGHT EXAMPLES DISRUPTIVE IMPACT EMERGING PLAYERS
If you watched the “Arkangel” episode It sounds fantastical, but the use of • University of Southern California
Smart dust, also known of “Black Mirror” (season four), you’re MEMS is becoming more common. Robotics Research Lab
as microelectromechan- already familiar with smart dust. For They’re the accelerometer sensors for • CardioMEMS
years, researchers have been hard at our airbag systems and are also found in
ical systems or MEMS, • The Center for Advanced Materials
work on miniaturization, trying to biosensors. Scientists at the University
represents a new way of shrink computers as much as possible, of California, Berkeley, developed what Processing at Clarkson University
atomic-level materials down to the size of grains of sand or they call neural dust, which compris- • Whitesides Research Group at Harvard
specks of dust. Each particle-computer es microscopic computers that work University
engineering. consists of circuits and sensors capable alongside remote ultrasound to send and • Center for Research in Advanced
of monitoring the environment, and receive data about the brain. Meanwhile, Sensing Technologies and Environ-
even taking photographs. They can also researchers at the University of Stuttgart mental Sustainability at Binghamton
harvest energy while suspended, using figured out how to print tiny 3D lens- University
passive Wi-Fi and human body heat to es—120 millionths of a meter in diameter,
power themselves. or about the size of a fine grain of sand.
In health and medicine, this technology
will dramatically change our approach
to imaging. Rather than relying on our
current endoscopic technology, which is
bulky and invasive, a patient could simply
inhale smart dust. Beyond medicine,
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agen- trillions of smart dust particles could be
cy’s miniaturized “laboratories on a chip” were released in the wind to measure air quali-
developed to detect biological weapons in the field,
ty or take photos.
among other uses.
27 © 2021 Future Today Institute
00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 5G, Robots and Transportation Watch Closely Informs Strategy Act Now
2ND YEAR ON THE LIST
Commercial Quadrupedal Robots
KEY INSIGHT EXAMPLES DISRUPTIVE IMPACT EMERGING PLAYERS
By emulating the form and mobility of For now, Boston Dynamics is the only • Boston Dynamics
Quadrupedal robots four-legged animals, these robots can be company selling advanced robots like
have four articulat- deployed in situations that wheeled or Spot for commercial, nonmilitary pur-
tread-equipped robots cannot navigate poses. The ecosystem is still forming, but
ed legs and can move
and that may be too dangerous or phys- as developers build applications across
around difficult terrain, ically inaccessible for human interven- different industries, we expect to see
making them useful tion. Boston Dynamics started selling a new use cases emerge, particularly in
quadruped in October 2019 and released safety, security, maintenance, emergency
tools for inspections and an enterprise model last year. The robot, response, military, and even consumer
security applications. named Spot, looks like a headless dog and contexts.
moves with the agility and athleticism of
a border collie. Spot can map environ-
ments, move around difficult terrain, and
interact with a range of different objects.
It docks and charges on its own.
Spot is a robotic dog from Boston Dynamics.
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00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 5G, Robots and Transportation Watch Closely Informs Strategy Act Now
1ST YEAR ON THE LIST
Mars Dogs
KEY INSIGHT EXAMPLES DISRUPTIVE IMPACT EMERGING PLAYERS
Current robots designed for off-planet These biomimetic robots will work as • NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
NASA is working on exploration have wheels. While they’re teams, much as human explorers do. Au- • NASA Ames Research Center
Mars Dog, a four- designed to roll over rugged terrain, Spots, traveling in packs, will assist each
they’re limited to generally flat surfaces other as they climb, jump, and descend • McGill University
legged robot for
or gentle slopes. Scientists from NASA’s unfamiliar terrain on Mars. • Boston Dynamics
exploring the red Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Ames
planet. Research Center and McGill Univer-
sity are developing a modified version
of Spot, the quadrupedal robotic dog
created by Boston Dynamics. Au-Spot, as
it is known, is built for Mars: It has AI to
learn about surfaces, a communications
module, and an array of sensors (thermal,
visual, motion). Au-Spot should be able
to climb over rocks, up steep hills, and
into underground caves.
A robotic dog could someday patrol Mars.
Image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech.
29 © 2021 Future Today Institute00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 5G, Robots and Transportation Watch Closely Informs Strategy Act Now
5TH YEAR ON THE LIST
Ethical Manufacturing
KEY INSIGHT EXAMPLES DISRUPTIVE IMPACT EMERGING PLAYERS
Sometimes a $5.99 T-shirt is too good As robots become more affordable and • United Nations Alliance
Robots could bring an to be true. Unfortunately forced labor is available, they could eliminate unethical for Sustainable Fashion
end to forced labor common in places including Uzbekistan, practices in manufacturing. But creating • World Fair Trade Organization
China, and Bangladesh. More humane more humane work environments could
and lead a new era of • Bluesign Technologies
manufacturing processes in fast fashion destabilize developing economies. Even
ethical manufacturing. and other industries could lead to im- with extremely low wages, a workforce • Oeko-Tex
proved working conditions for millions can sustain a local economy—when those • Ethical Trading Initiative
of people. wages are lost as workers are replaced
by robots, the flow of money through
the community can go from a trickle to
a drought.
Workers at a garment factory in Southeast Asia.
30 © 2021 Future Today Institute00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 5G, Robots and Transportation Watch Closely Informs Strategy Act Now
4TH YEAR ON THE LIST
Robot Rights
KEY INSIGHT EXAMPLES DISRUPTIVE IMPACT EMERGING PLAYERS
Instances of humans bullying or abus- When it comes to our interactions • Human Interaction With Nature and
Some believe that we ing robots have increased. The Human with robots, what constitutes a moral Technological Systems Lab at the Uni-
have moral obligations Interaction With Nature and Techno- violation? What rights should robots versity of Washington
logical Systems Lab at the University of have, given that so many companies are
to our machines, and • ATR Intelligent Robotics and Commu-
Washington discovered that children building smart interfaces and cognitive nication Laboratories
that robots should didn’t show the same kind of empathy for systems? If we are teaching machines to
have rights. robots that they do other humans. In the think, and to learn from us humans, then
study, 60% of the child subjects thought what moral codes are we programming
Children bullied a robot. that a humanoid robot named Robovie-II into our future generations of robots?
Image credit: ATR Intelligent Robotics and had feelings—yet more than half of them Answering these questions will become
Communication Laboratories. thought it was fine to lock him in the increasingly urgent as robots proliferate
closet. Researchers at ATR Intelligent in many aspects of our everyday lives.
Robotics and Communication Laborato-
ries, Osaka University, Ryukoku Univer-
sity, and Tokai University conducted an
experiment to measure human empathy
toward robots. They deployed Robovie
through a mall in Osaka, Japan, without
a human minder. If someone walked into
the robot’s path, it would politely ask the
human to move. Adults complied—but
children didn’t. And if unsupervised, the
children were intentionally mean, kick-
ing the robot, yelling at it, and bullying it.
31 © 2021 Future Today Institute00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 5G, Robots and Transportation Watch Closely Informs Strategy Act Now
1ST YEAR ON THE LIST
Robots as Essential Workers
KEY INSIGHT EXAMPLES DISRUPTIVE IMPACT EMERGING PLAYERS
Fleets of robots were deployed worldwide Do robots need worker rights, too? • Diligent Robotics
During the pandemic, in 2020. They autonomously sanitized Researchers raise this question now, • UBTech Robotics
robots became hospital rooms, monitored patients re- especially as robots are predicted to take
motely, picked up and delivered prescrip- on more meaningful roles within the • Sanbot
essential workers.
tions, took our temperatures, made pizzas workplace and in society. The European • Zipline
and salads, and assisted front-line medical Union is already discussing whether • Starship Technologies
workers. Some robots required direct there ought to be a special legal status of
supervision, but many of them worked “electronic persons” to protect sophisti- • JD.com
alone. In Austin, Texas, robots developed cated robots. • ZoraBots
Governments need to create by Diligent Robotics retrieved supplies
• UVD Robots
national registries of robots. for hospital rooms, which freed staff to
spend more time with their patients.
Such a registry would let
citizens and law enforcement
Robots retrieved supplies so hospital staff could look up the owner of any
focus on patient care.
Image courtesy of Diligent Robotics.
roaming robot, as well as
learn that robot’s purpose.
It’s not a far-fetched idea:
The U.S. Federal Aviation
Administration already has a
registry for drones.
— Stacey Higginbotham, tech journalist
32 © 2021 Future Today Institute00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12
Expert Insight
The Next telepresence for tele-health. How-
ever most of these robots were
Generation of limited to simple, pre-scripted
routines or required teleoperation
Robots Must by a human.
Be Adaptable, This underscores the challenge fac-
ing robots today: Deploying robots
Customizable and in the chaos of hospitals or grocery
Trainable stores is much more complex than
deploying them in the relatively
consistent and controllable envi-
ronment of factories and ware-
Dr. Henny Admoni houses. As robotics moves forward,
A. Nico Habermann Assistant the field must grapple with dynam-
Professor, Human-Computer icism at every part of the robot’s
Interaction Institute, sense-plan-act loop.
Carnegie Mellon University One way to deal with dynamic or
surprising environments is to be
adaptable, and robot learning thus
With COVID-19 locking us all at continues to be a perennial theme.
home, robots should have had their The field has gotten pretty good
moment in 2020, taking over basic at making robots that perform
tasks that keep society functioning. pre-scripted tasks, and now the big
challenge is creating robots that
We did see some examples of
are adaptable, customizable, and
robots disinfecting public spaces,
trainable.
taking temperatures, and enabling
© 2021 Future Today Institute00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 5G, Robots and Transportation
both promising approaches. Robot much of robotics and AI, it’s more **
learning will likely continue to be a complicated than it initially seems.
hot topic in academic programs, Henny Admoni is an Assistant Pro-
Robot learning will research, and industry for several
Of course, it’s impossible to talk fessor in the Robotics Institute at
likely continue to be a years.
about robotics (and its close cousin Carnegie Mellon University, and
AI) without mentioning robot ethics. also has a courtesy appointment
hot topic in academic If the 2010s was the decade for The past year has seen increased in the Human-Computer Interac-
programs, research, dreams about autonomous vehi- social consciousness along a
tion Institute at CMU. She leads
cles, the 2020s are the decade in number of dimensions, not least
and industry for several which we wake up and realize it’s of which is the societal impact of
the Human And Robot Partners
(HARP) Lab, which studies how to
years. not as easy as we thought. (By the automated systems. In late 2020,
develop intelligent robots that can
way, I’m not picking on AVs; this is a Google fired researcher Timnit
recurring trend in robotics.) Gebru, launching a national con- assist and collaborate with humans
Deep learning (DL) continues to on complex tasks like preparing a
versation around accountability
be a dominant force in this area, The end of 2020 saw big news with meal. She holds an MS and PhD in
and ethics in AI. Even before that,
especially in perception and natu- Uber selling off its autonomous
though, we saw major AI failures Computer Science from Yale Uni-
ral language generation. However, driving unit to Aurora Innovation,
in vaccine distribution, education, versity, and a BA/MA joint degree in
people are also finding the limits a startup with deep robotics ex-
and policing. One heartening trend Computer Science from Wesleyan
of DL systems—such as their reli- pertise. Many of the bold promises
is an increased awareness and University.
ance on very large data sets and about autonomous vehicles from
interest in AI ethics. For example,
their brittleness to novel inputs. the last few years have not panned
universities are starting to offer
Human-in-the-loop learning (in out, and the industry seems to be
more tech ethics courses and
which a person curates input or settling down now to solve the very
students are increasingly asking for
provides feedback on a robot’s real, very hard problems of per-
ethics to be included in their tech-
performance) and active learning ception, prediction, controls, and
nical education.
(in which a robot seeks out the human-robot interaction. I’m con-
most relevant new information) are fident we’ll get there, but, as with
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