While robotics is known as a hot and trending field, some of its real-world applications as lesser known, said Wenshan Wang, a systems scientist at Carnegie Mellon University\u2019s Robotics Institute.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are still waiting to see if robotics can make life easier,\u201d said Wang. \u201cWe haven\u2019t seen a lot of real-world development yet, but I think it\u2019s coming soon.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said early stages of real-world robot development includes humanoid, AI-powered robots, autonomous vehicles, drones, and other tools to assist healthcare, public safety and manufacturing.<\/p>\n
That will be on display this week at the International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, held at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Downtown Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n
The event is one of the world\u2019s largest robotics research conferences, drawing more than 7,000 researchers, engineers, students and industry leaders, more than 80 workshops, tutorials and demonstrations, and more than 170 exhibitors.<\/p>\n
\u201cPittsburgh is well-deserved for a conference like this,\u201d Wang said. \u201cThis field is getting super hot. It\u2019s always on the forefront. And with all of these hypes, all of these focuses, it\u2019s how can we find a research question to explore?<\/p>\n
\u201cThis conference allows us to talk to companies and research labs to come up with what\u2019s the next big idea to ask.\u201d<\/p>\n
Philadelphia-based Ghost Robotics has developed \u201cVision 60\u201d \u2014 a robot-dog that could be used to crawl into hazardous or dangerous spaces, said JT Boylan, a software engineer with the firm.<\/p>\n
The dog has motorized legs, camera lenses, microphones, chemical and thermal sensors and GPS systems. It can be controlled through a human using a tablet, and has the ability to climb stairs and enter closed rooms through a video feed and sensors for situational awareness.<\/p>\n
That can be key in emergency situations: Boylan said Vision 60 has been used in hostage situations and search-and-rescue missions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe main advantage is rigidity,\u201d Boylan said. \u201cIt can go over a lot of different terrains.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ethan Fan, sales director for EngineAI based in China, showcased his company\u2019s full-size, general humanoid robots.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the uses is for entertainment,\u201d Fan said. \u201cWe have a robust boxing show. We think it will be a huge market.\u201d<\/p>\n
Humanoid sports leagues are growing in China, Fan said. The robots can also dance and play soccer.<\/p>\n
The Pittsburgh conference offers an opportunity to explore potential future uses with humanoid robots, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to see the development chain of humanoid robots, what it can bring us, and to show their abilities,\u201d Fan said.<\/p>\n
Jiaoyang Li, an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon\u2019s Robotics Institute, studies how robots can be used in manufacturing or industrial settings. Robots there can fill labor shortages and take jobs people don\u2019t want to do, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPanels here are asking, what will be next?\u201d she said. \u201cI believe manufacturing will be the next one. There are robots and we have the opportunity to scale up. There\u2019s a lot of growing space and need there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Li said the conference allows Pittsburgh students to interact and collaborate with developers and researchers. Researchers and companies also benefit from interacting with each other, said Boylan, the Philadelphia-based developer.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt helps see what the state of the industry is, and what impact we can make,\u201d he said. \u201cIt can open us to see new capabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While robotics is known as a hot and trending field, some of its real-world applications as lesser known,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":295783,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[73,75,74],"class_list":["post-295782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295782\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/295783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}